Validity and reliability of NOTCH® inertial sensors for measuring elbow joint angle during tennis forehand at different sampling frequencies

Abstract

Portable and low-cost motion capture systems are gaining importance for biomechanical analysis. The aim was to determine the concurrent validity and reliability of the NOTCH® inertial sensors to measure the elbow angle during tennis forehand at different sampling frequencies (100, 250 and 500 Hz), using an optical capture system with sub-millimetre accuracy as a reference. 15 competitive players performed forehands wearing NOTCH and an upper body marker-set and the signals from both systems were adjusted and synchronized. The error magnitude was tolerable (5-10°) for all joint-axis and sampling frequencies, increasing significantly at 100 Hz for the flexion–extension and pronation-supination angles (p = 0.002 and 0.023; Cohen d > 0.8). Concordance correlation coefficient was very large (0.7–0.9) in all cases. The within-subject error variation between the test–retest did not show significant differences (p > 0.05). NOTCH® is a valid, reliable and portable alternative to measure elbow angles during tennis forehand.