Novel Method for Estimating Propulsive Force Generated by Swimmers’ Hands Using Inertial Measurement Units and Pressure Sensors

Propulsive force is a determinant of swimming performance. Several methods have been proposed to estimate the propulsive force in human swimming; however, their practical use in coaching is limited. Herein, we propose a novel method for estimating the propulsive force generated by swimmers’ hands us...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2022-09, Vol.22 (17), p.6695
Main Authors: Kadi, Tomoya, Wada, Tomohito, Narita, Kenzo, Tsunokawa, Takaaki, Mankyu, Hirotoshi, Tamaki, Hiroyuki, Ogita, Futoshi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
accelerometer
Analysis
Correlation coefficients
Exercise
Experiments
Flow velocity
front crawl swimming
gyroscope
Hands
human swimming
Inertial platforms
Measurement
Methods
Microelectromechanical systems
Motion capture
Pressure sensors
Sensors
Software
Swimmers
Swimming
underwater motion-capture system
Water flow
Waveforms
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Summary:Propulsive force is a determinant of swimming performance. Several methods have been proposed to estimate the propulsive force in human swimming; however, their practical use in coaching is limited. Herein, we propose a novel method for estimating the propulsive force generated by swimmers’ hands using an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and pressure sensors. In Experiment 1, we use a hand model to examine the effect of a hand-mounted IMU on pressure around the hand model at several flow velocities and water flow directions. In Experiment 2, we compare the propulsive force estimated using the IMU and pressure sensors (FIMU) via an underwater motion-capture system and pressure sensors (FMocap). Five swimmers had markers, pressure sensors, and IMUs attached to their hands and performed front crawl swimming for 25 m twice at each of nine different swimming speeds. The results show that the hand-mounted IMU affects the resultant force; however, the effect of the hand-mounted IMU varies with the flow direction. The mean values of FMocap and FIMU are similar (19.59 ± 7.66 N and 19.36 ± 7.86 N, respectively; intraclass correlation coefficient(2,1) = 0.966), and their waveforms are similar (coefficient of multiple correlation = 0.99). These results indicate that the IMU can estimate the same level of propulsive force as an underwater motion-capture system.
ISSN:1424-8220
1424-8220
DOI:10.3390/s22176695