Estimating Joint Contributions in Function Motions to Create a Metric for Injury Prevention using Motion Capture and OpenSim: A Preliminary Study
Faculty Sponsor
Dr. Craig M. Goehler
College
Engineering
Discipline(s)
Human Movement Research Laboratory
ORCID Identifier(s)
0000-0002-4183-1359, 0000-0002-9006-1936, 0000-0002-7193-7445
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Symposium Date
Summer 7-28-2015
Abstract
A heightened awareness of athletic safety in the field of sports has increased the development of various injury prevention studies. The predominant injury type in sports occurs with overuse and fatigue. Current methods use qualitative screening tests to determine injury proneness. However, these screening tests are subjective to each assessor, resulting in human error, inconsistent scoring and misdiagnosis of the motion. The main objective of this project is to utilize quantitative techniques to measure human movement and develop training protocols that will result in a reduced risk of athletic injury and increased performance. To develop the testing protocol, four subjects were affixed with reflective markers based on anatomical locations on the lower extremity. VICON Nexus software was used to create subject-specific models and record the subjects' motions during screening tests. This data was then processed using OpenSim in which the inverse kinematics was calculated to determine the joint angles of the lumbar, hip, knee, and ankle. The data was normalized and plotted using MATLAB and compared across the four subjects. The results determined which joints were the main contributors to each motion and clearly showed similarities between the right and left legs. This metric demonstrated that the preliminary testing protocol was successful. After establishing a large subject database, the join angles of individual subjects will be compared to a more general metric to determine injury proneness.
Recommended Citation
Kozlowski, Alexander; Koehn, Rebekah; Knop, Lauren; Helm, Kelly PhD; Prato, Luis PT; Levenda, Anthony MD; and Goehler, Craig M. PhD, "Estimating Joint Contributions in Function Motions to Create a Metric for Injury Prevention using Motion Capture and OpenSim: A Preliminary Study" (2015). Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 468.
https://scholar.valpo.edu/cus/468