Validity of a trunk-mounted accelerometer to measure physical collisions in contact sports

© 2015 Human Kinetics, Inc. Context: Accelerometer peak impact accelerations are being used to measure player physical demands in contact sports. However, their accuracy to do so has not been ascertained. Purpose: To compare peak-impact-acceleration data from an accelerometer contained in a wearable...

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Main Authors: Wundersitz, D., Gastin, P., Robertson, S., Netto, Kevin
Format: Journal Article
Published: Human Kinetics Publishers Inc. 2015
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/22407
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author Wundersitz, D.
Gastin, P.
Robertson, S.
Netto, Kevin
author_facet Wundersitz, D.
Gastin, P.
Robertson, S.
Netto, Kevin
author_sort Wundersitz, D.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description © 2015 Human Kinetics, Inc. Context: Accelerometer peak impact accelerations are being used to measure player physical demands in contact sports. However, their accuracy to do so has not been ascertained. Purpose: To compare peak-impact-acceleration data from an accelerometer contained in a wearable tracking device with a 3-dimensional motion-analysis (MA) system during tackling and bumping. Methods: Twenty-five semielite rugby athletes wore a tracking device containing a 100-Hz triaxial accelerometer (MinimaxX S4, Catapult Innovations, Australia). A single retroreflective marker was attached to the device, with its position recorded by a 12-camera MA system during 3 physical-collision tasks (tackle bag, bump pad, and tackle drill; N = 625). The accuracy, effect size, agreement, precision, and relative errors for each comparison were obtained as measures of accelerometer validity. Results: Physical-collision peak impact accelerations recorded by the accelerometer overestimated (mean bias 0.60 g) those recorded by the MA system (P < .01). Filtering the raw data at a 20-Hz cutoff improved the accelerometer's relationship with MA data (mean bias 0.01 g; P > .05). When considering the data in 9 magnitude bands, the strongest relationship with the MA system was found in the 3.0-g or less band, and the precision of the accelerometer tended to reduce as the magnitude of impact acceleration increased. Of the 3 movements performed, the tackle-bag task displayed the greatest validity with MA. Conclusions: The findings indicate that the MinimaxX S4 accelerometer can accurately measure physical-collision peak impact accelerations when data are filtered at a 20-Hz cutoff frequency. As a result, accelerometers may be useful to measure physical collisions in contact sports.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-224072017-09-13T13:52:24Z Validity of a trunk-mounted accelerometer to measure physical collisions in contact sports Wundersitz, D. Gastin, P. Robertson, S. Netto, Kevin © 2015 Human Kinetics, Inc. Context: Accelerometer peak impact accelerations are being used to measure player physical demands in contact sports. However, their accuracy to do so has not been ascertained. Purpose: To compare peak-impact-acceleration data from an accelerometer contained in a wearable tracking device with a 3-dimensional motion-analysis (MA) system during tackling and bumping. Methods: Twenty-five semielite rugby athletes wore a tracking device containing a 100-Hz triaxial accelerometer (MinimaxX S4, Catapult Innovations, Australia). A single retroreflective marker was attached to the device, with its position recorded by a 12-camera MA system during 3 physical-collision tasks (tackle bag, bump pad, and tackle drill; N = 625). The accuracy, effect size, agreement, precision, and relative errors for each comparison were obtained as measures of accelerometer validity. Results: Physical-collision peak impact accelerations recorded by the accelerometer overestimated (mean bias 0.60 g) those recorded by the MA system (P < .01). Filtering the raw data at a 20-Hz cutoff improved the accelerometer's relationship with MA data (mean bias 0.01 g; P > .05). When considering the data in 9 magnitude bands, the strongest relationship with the MA system was found in the 3.0-g or less band, and the precision of the accelerometer tended to reduce as the magnitude of impact acceleration increased. Of the 3 movements performed, the tackle-bag task displayed the greatest validity with MA. Conclusions: The findings indicate that the MinimaxX S4 accelerometer can accurately measure physical-collision peak impact accelerations when data are filtered at a 20-Hz cutoff frequency. As a result, accelerometers may be useful to measure physical collisions in contact sports. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/22407 10.1123/ijspp.2014-0381 Human Kinetics Publishers Inc. restricted
spellingShingle Wundersitz, D.
Gastin, P.
Robertson, S.
Netto, Kevin
Validity of a trunk-mounted accelerometer to measure physical collisions in contact sports
title Validity of a trunk-mounted accelerometer to measure physical collisions in contact sports
title_full Validity of a trunk-mounted accelerometer to measure physical collisions in contact sports
title_fullStr Validity of a trunk-mounted accelerometer to measure physical collisions in contact sports
title_full_unstemmed Validity of a trunk-mounted accelerometer to measure physical collisions in contact sports
title_short Validity of a trunk-mounted accelerometer to measure physical collisions in contact sports
title_sort validity of a trunk-mounted accelerometer to measure physical collisions in contact sports
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/22407