Pulse Jam

Motion Analysis Can Now Used Be Used To Ski Faster

Bio-mechanical analysis isn't just for baseball players anymore.  Professional skiers can now learn how to ski faster with the aid of a new system used to capture 3D motion of athletic movements called Fusion Motion Capture.

Fusion Motion Capture, developed by Massey University PhD student Matthew Brodie, is a system which uses small sensors attached to the athlete’s limbs, helmet and soles to generate raw data from an athlete’s movement. The numbers are then crunched with the aid of a computer to reproduce accurate estimates of the position, velocity and acceleration of the athlete. 

Using Fusion Motion Capture ("FMC"), it is now possible to capture motion and dynamics of alpine ski racing throughout the ski run while maintaining high resolution. This represents the first time full body motion of an athlete skiing an entire course can be captured. 

FMC is developed to capture motion in large spaces which is impractical for video motion capture. Previous video analysis required several weeks to measure only a few turns, with FMC,  it is now possible to collect and analyze several hundred turns in a single day. 

Bio-mechanical analysis through FMC can not only optimize skiing motion, but can provide insights into race strategy and equipment changes, which can increase an athlete's speed.  For example, it is now possible to measure how ski friction and wind drag can affect performance and apply this info for respective race strategies.  

And to think, I'm happy if I make down the mountain in one piece...

Motion Capture for Baseball's 2K9

Sports Illustrated magazine called Tim Lincecum "the freak," and for the motion capture specialists at 2K Sports, getting a good computer model of baseball star Tim Lincecum's unique, and violent, pitching motion presented a special challenge.

Last month, Lincecum, an average 24-year-old whom you would never pick out of a lineup as a superstar ballplayer, won the National League Cy Young award, given to the league's best pitcher. The same day, the San Francisco Giant found out that he'd been chosen as the cover athlete for Major League Baseball 2K9, 2K's hit baseball video game.

 We've highlighted several motion capture options over this past year as this is an important field to obtain accurate measurement to aid in injury prevention.  At 2K's motion capture facility, Lincecum begins by putting on a spandex suit and technicians placing a series of reflective markers all over his body. These, are designed to capture and reflect the light from 56 motion capture cameras spread throughout the facility so that the computers can record the minute movements of the athlete.  This is then translated into a 3D model of his skeletal structure that is used as the base for his in-game avatar.

To blend the many motions together and create a single smooth move for the game, the technicians take different recorded motions and blend them together creating a blended pose, thus eliminating what would normally look like a jerky transition.

Although, this motion capture activity was specifically for a video game, I look forward to the day when motion capture will be more commonplace for everyday athletes.

Wireless Motion Sensors - They Can Now Help Treat Football Injuries

Does this sound familiar?  You've just had a sports injury and during the rehab process your therapist or sports medicine specialist hooks you up to a number of sensors to start taking the necessary readings.  The challenge is with all those wires.

The Core:Tx(R) rehab product and therapy system from Performance Health Technologies looks like it solved the wire problem.  Designed to enhance existing rehabilitation as well as preventative and strengthening protocols, Core:Tx(R) turns rehabilitation into a wireless, game-like challenge that is entertaining and works for a variety of patients recovering from both neuromuscular conditions and joint injuries.

Core:Tx(R) is a patent-pending wireless system built on PHT's innovative MotionTrack(TM) platform, used by professional sports teams. It combines hardware and software operating on a PC as well as a soap bar-sized motion-sensing device that can be attached anywhere on the body with adjustable straps. This device senses the user's limb motion relative to the joint and continuously transmits that information wirelessly to the software. This real-time visual feedback helps keep the patient engaged in the therapy routine, while simultaneously aiding neuromuscular reeducation and strengthening muscles throughout an adjustable range of motion.

We are beginning to hear about more about wireless motion analysis systems, but haven't seen any in action.  If anyone has seen any, please drop us a comment.

The Athletes' High Tech Help Desk

We all know the growing popularity of competitive sports in the US, that is why we dedicate this blog to highlight technologies that assist the athlete, coach, scout, team and organization.  Given this popularity, it might not be surprising to know that 10 million sports injuries are treated each year across the nation.  The most common sports injuries, according to the NIH (National Institutes of Health) are sprains, strains, knee injuries, swollen muscles, Achilles tendon injuries, shin splints, fractures and dislocations

Sports injuries are not only reserved just for competitive sports -- they also occur while training, weight-lifting or simply going for a jog.

To extend the career of an elite athlete or for the weekend warrior to simply enjoy their favorite activity, prevention becomes of paramount importance and relies on conditioning the body and monitoring how the body is used.

Development of new technologies are enabling sports physicians to understand better what causes sports injuries, which in turn aids in preventing them. By monitoring how athletes carry out their repetitive movements, such as pitching a baseball, serving a tennis ball or throwing a football, experts can single out what types of movements strain the muscles and result in injury.

The Motion Monitor by Innovative Sports Training can give physical therapists real-time, objective measurements of joint movement in athletes' bodies and create corresponding animation of how the athlete moves.

Other technologies enable biomechanics specialists to examine athletes' movements in the same way you watch movie animation. Using high-speed motion capture cameras, hidden force plates in the floor and electromyography (yes, that was a tough one for me too)  equipment, a 3-D animation is created of the athlete's movement that can be viewed from multiple angles providing the specialists with highly valuable perspectives.

Now, I wonder if they can do something for my golf swing....

The Fastball: How It Works

The fastest recorded action in sports is the slingshot move of a pro pitcher’s shoulder.  The power of a pitch, however , is generated by his entire body. For a right-handed pitcher, the chain of kinetic energy starts as soon as he lifts his left leg and faces third base. The energy of that foot landing transfers into the rotation of the trunk and then finally unleashes in the arm whipping around at the elbow. Glenn Fleisig, the research director of the American Sports Medicine Institute, has found that the hardest throwers rotate their pelvis toward home plate and follow with their trunk less than a tenth of a second later, snapping their bodies like a whip.

Now here is some new thinking: Conventional wisdom has long warned against young pitchers throwing curveballs for fear that the extreme stress it puts on the elbow can tear the ulnar collateral ligament [see below] or even break their growing bones. A recent study published by Dr. Fleisig  in the American Journal of Sports Medicine showed that the fastball actually puts slightly more stress on the player’s arm than a curveball. The bigger risk factor, the study concluded, is how many pitches are thrown. Based on this research, Little League Baseball has instituted pitch-count limits: 50 pitches a day for eight-year-olds, scaling up with age.