Abstract
The aim of this review was to understand the use of wearable technology in sport in order to enhance performance and prevent injury. Understanding sports biomechanics is important for injury prevention and performance enhancement and is traditionally assessed using optical motion capture. However, such approaches are limited by capture volume restricting assessment to a laboratory environment, a factor that can be overcome by wearable technology. A systematic search was carried out across seven databases where wearable technology was employed to assess kinetic and kinematic variables in sport. Articles were excluded if they focused on sensor design and did not measure kinetic or kinematic variables or apply the technology on targeted participants. A total of 33 articles were included for full-text analysis where participants took part in a sport and performed dynamic movements relating to performance monitored by wearable technologies. Inertial measurement units, flex sensors and magnetic field and angular rate sensors were among the devices used in over 15 sports to quantify motion. Wearable technology usage is still in an exploratory phase, but there is potential for this technology to positively influence coaching practice and athletes’ technique.
Highlights
IntroductionAmbiguity can arise in how best to develop and optimize an athlete’s performance, with the technique and approach used by the coach being reliant on their own expertise, experience and background
The aim of this study was to identify the use of wearable technology in sports as a means of measuring kinetic or kinematic variables that could be used to enhance performance or prevent injury
A total of 44,220 articles were obtained from the search, five further articles were identified from another review [23] and one from a search in Sensors
Summary
Ambiguity can arise in how best to develop and optimize an athlete’s performance, with the technique and approach used by the coach being reliant on their own expertise, experience and background. Rising interest and research into technology is helping to overcome this subjectivity; for example, video analysis where videos can be annotated to measure angles, allowing performance to be quantified objectively rather than be dependent on the coach’s critical eye. Whilst such approaches provide objectivity there is a desire to provide athletes with real-time feedback
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