Next Article in Journal
Photocatalytic Degradation of Methyl Orange, Eriochrome Black T, and Methylene Blue by Silica–Titania Fibers
Previous Article in Journal
Multispectral-NeRF: A Multispectral Modeling Approach Based on Neural Radiance Fields
Previous Article in Special Issue
Advances in Virtual Reality-Based Physical Rehabilitation for Neurodegenerative Diseases: A Systematic Review
 
 
Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
Journals
Applied Sciences
Volume 15
Issue 22
10.3390/app152212081
applsci-logo
Submit to this Journal Review for this Journal Propose a Special Issue
► Article Menu

Article Menu

share Share announcement Help format_quote Cite
first_page
settings
Order Article Reprints
Font Type:
Arial Georgia Verdana
Font Size:
Aa Aa Aa
Line Spacing:
Column Width:
Background:
This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.
Article

Characterization of Upper Extremity Joint Angle Error for Virtual Reality Motion Capture Compared to Infrared Motion Capture

by
Skyler A. Barclay
1,
Trent Brown
1,
Tessa M. Hill
2,
Ann Smith
2,
Timothy Reissman
1,*,
Allison L. Kinney
1 and
Megan E. Reissman
1
1
Empower Lab., University of Dayton, Dayton, OH 45469, USA
2
Gait & Motion Analysis Lab., Dayton Children’s Hospital, Miamisburg, OH 45342, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(22), 12081; https://doi.org/10.3390/app152212081 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 1 October 2025 / Revised: 24 October 2025 / Accepted: 10 November 2025 / Published: 13 November 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Virtual Reality in Physical Therapy)
Versions Notes

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) offers built-in wearable sensor-based tracking capabilities. Current research focusses on position and orientation error, with limited results on more clinically relevant metrics, such as joint angles. This leads us to our first objective, to characterize the accuracy of upper extremity VR motion capture. Since the intent is for clinical translation, our second objective is to compare the errors across people identified as healthy controls and people who had experienced a spinal cord injury (SCI). Spatially and temporally synced VR and infrared motion capture data were collected during a variety of custom VR Beat Saber levels. Error values were found with infrared motion capture as the ground truth. The median RMSE was found to be below 7° for shoulder horizontal adduction and elbow flexion and 5° for shoulder elevation and wrist joint metrics. The percentage median error for the range of motion was found to be below 30%, 15%, and 5% for the frontal wrist, sagittal wrist, and all other joints, respectively. Larger standard deviations suggest that repetitions are needed to obtain reliable measurements. No statistical difference in any error metric was found between the control cohort and SCI cohort, providing evidence for clinical translation for post-SCI treatment.
Keywords: biomechanics; wearables; spinal cord injury; motion capture; clinical translation biomechanics; wearables; spinal cord injury; motion capture; clinical translation

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Barclay, S.A.; Brown, T.; Hill, T.M.; Smith, A.; Reissman, T.; Kinney, A.L.; Reissman, M.E. Characterization of Upper Extremity Joint Angle Error for Virtual Reality Motion Capture Compared to Infrared Motion Capture. Appl. Sci. 2025, 15, 12081. https://doi.org/10.3390/app152212081

AMA Style

Barclay SA, Brown T, Hill TM, Smith A, Reissman T, Kinney AL, Reissman ME. Characterization of Upper Extremity Joint Angle Error for Virtual Reality Motion Capture Compared to Infrared Motion Capture. Applied Sciences. 2025; 15(22):12081. https://doi.org/10.3390/app152212081

Chicago/Turabian Style

Barclay, Skyler A., Trent Brown, Tessa M. Hill, Ann Smith, Timothy Reissman, Allison L. Kinney, and Megan E. Reissman. 2025. "Characterization of Upper Extremity Joint Angle Error for Virtual Reality Motion Capture Compared to Infrared Motion Capture" Applied Sciences 15, no. 22: 12081. https://doi.org/10.3390/app152212081

APA Style

Barclay, S. A., Brown, T., Hill, T. M., Smith, A., Reissman, T., Kinney, A. L., & Reissman, M. E. (2025). Characterization of Upper Extremity Joint Angle Error for Virtual Reality Motion Capture Compared to Infrared Motion Capture. Applied Sciences, 15(22), 12081. https://doi.org/10.3390/app152212081

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Article metric data becomes available approximately 24 hours after publication online.
Back to TopTop