Instrumented treadmill for run biomechanics analysis: a comparative study

Marco Bravi; Fabio Santacaterina; Federica Bressi; Michelangelo Morrone; Andrea Renzi; Joshua Di Tocco; Emiliano Schena; Silvia Sterzi; Carlo Massaroni

doi:10.1515/bmt-2022-0258

Article

Instrumented treadmill for run biomechanics analysis: a comparative study

Marco Bravi , Fabio Santacaterina , Federica Bressi , Michelangelo Morrone , Andrea Renzi , Joshua Di Tocco , Emiliano Schena , Silvia Sterzi and Carlo Massaroni

Published/Copyright: June 12, 2023

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From the journal Biomedical Engineering / Biomedizinische Technik Volume 68 Issue 6

Abstract

This study aims compare the spatiotemporal and kinematic running parameters obtained by the WalkerView (Tecnobody, Bergamo, Italy) with those recorded by a optoelectronic 3D motion capture system. Seventeen participants were simultaneously recorded by the WalkerView and a motion capture system during running tests on the WalkerView at two different speeds (i.e., 8 km/h and 10 km/h). Per each parameter and speed the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and the mean of the difference (MOD) and limits of agreement (LOAs) indexes obtained from Bland-Altman analysis were used to compare the two systems. ICCs show an excellent agreement for the mean step time and the cadence at both testing speeds (ICC=0.993 at 8 km/h; ICC=0.998 at 10 km/h); a lower agreement was found for all the kinematic variables. Small differences for some spatio-temporal parameters and greater differences for the kinematic variables were found. Therefore, WalkerView could represent a practical, accessible, and less expensive tool for clinicians, researchers, and sports trainers to assess the characteristics spatio-temporal parameters of running in non-laboratory settings.

Keywords: biomechanics; injury; prevention; run analysis; sport; treadmill; validity

Corresponding author: Fabio Santacaterina, Research Unit of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Rome, Italy, Phone: +39 0622541629, E-mail: f.santacaterina@policlinicocampus.it

Research funding: None declared.
Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
Competing interests: Authors state no conflict of interest.
Informed consent: Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study.
Ethical approval: The research related to human use has complied with all the relevant national regulations, institutional policies, and in accordance with the tenets of the Helsinki Declaration, and has been approved by the Ethics Committee of the Università Campus Bio-Medico (64.1 (18) .19 OSS ComEt-UCBM).

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Received: 2022-07-06

Accepted: 2023-05-15

Published Online: 2023-06-12

Published in Print: 2023-12-15

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/bmt-2022-0258

Keywords for this article

biomechanics; injury; prevention; run analysis; sport; treadmill; validity