Concept Protocol for Developing a DAid® Smart Socks-Based Biofeedback System: Enhancing Injury Prevention in Football Through Real-Time Biomechanical Monitoring and Mixed Reality Feedback
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- We present the development of a DAid® smart socks-based biofeedback system designing process combining methods from smart textile design, healthcare, and data analytics in developing a biofeedback method for youth football league players. This rationale is based on the need to develop a user-friendly biofeedback method that highlights technology practical applications in sports injury prevention training.
- Our study is a concept protocol for the smart textile biofeedback method for injury prevention in the football youth league players population. The feedback will be delivered through a mixed reality (MR) head-mounted display (HMD), enabling real-time, immersive guidance on exercise performance. The rationale is to address the current gap in effective injury prevention methods by incorporating mixed reality (MR) feedback, thus providing real-time guidance that traditional methods might lack.
2. Background and Related Work
2.1. Wireless Smart Sensors in Movement Monitoring
2.2. Virtual Reality Applications in Football
3. Design Process
3.1. Methods
- Brainstorming: Generating ideas and potential solutions for identified key injury prevention indicators for biomechanical data in real-time monitoring.
- Designing and modeling: Creating initial models for prototypes or drafts based on brainstormed ideas.
- Testing: Evaluating the concept models to identify strengths and weaknesses.
- Redesigning and remodeling: Making improvements and adjustments based on the testing feedback.
- Repeating: Continuing this cycle until the desired outcome is achieved.
3.2. Brainstorming Sessions
- Technological requirements and limitations.
- User perception, football training, and motivational psychology.
- Human–computer interaction specific.
- Injury prevention training exercise content requirements and restrictions.
- Content transfer to the real-time feedback requirements and limitations.
3.3. DAid® Smart Socks-Based Biofeedback System Parameter Selection
3.3.1. Headset Choice and Considerations
3.3.2. Hardware Considerations
3.3.3. Information Flow
3.3.4. Operating System Consideration
3.3.5. Technical Innovations and System Architecture for Multi-User Biomechanical Feedback
3.3.6. Biomechanics-Driven Data Processing and Feedback Logic
3.4. Planned Study Population for Testing DAid® Smart Socks-Based Biofeedback System
Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria
- Players actively participating in the Youth Soccer League.
- Age between 14 and 18 years.
- Parental consent is required for participants under eighteen.
- Players who have completed at least three months of the FIFA 11+ program before the study.
- Agreement to participate in the study and ability to understand and speak Latvian.
- Knee or ankle pain rated above 5 on the VAS (Visual Analog Scale) for pain or an increase of more than two points during a single-leg squat.
- History of significant musculoskeletal injury within the past six months.
- Concurrent participation in other injury prevention programs or research trials.
- Medical conditions that contraindicate physical activity.
- Recent lower limb surgery (within the past nine months).
- Lower limb injuries within the last six months.
- Vestibular disorders, metallic implants in the sensor or head-mounted display (HMD) application areas, current eye infection, or photosensitivity (including risk of epilepsy).
3.5. Study Procedures for Participants Who Will Use the DAid® Smart Socks-Based Biofeedback System
3.6. Data Analysis Methods and Statistical Considerations
3.6.1. Primary Outcome Measures
3.6.2. Secondary Outcome Measures
3.6.3. Planned Statistical Considerations for the Concept Validation
3.6.4. Data Quality and Monitoring
4. Concept of a DAid® Smart Socks-Based Biofeedback System
4.1. System Components
- Presentation Layer: Handles the UI and user interactions.
- Domain Layer: Manages logic and data processing.
- Data Layer: Responsible for data acquisition from sensors, storage, and network operations.
- Communication Layer: Manages Bluetooth communication with smart socks and data transmission to the HMD.
4.2. System Activities and Fragments
- DAid® smart socks—Wireless sensors that collect plantar pressure data and transmit it over Bluetooth to the server, which is represented by the computer.
- Server—Computer acts as a server that receives the sensor data over Bluetooth. It performs initial data receiving by opening Bluetooth serial connection, sending the command to start sending data for the sensors. In each iteration, the server checks if any data have been received (serialPort. BytesToRead > 0). If data are available, it reads the data, processes each packet, validates it, and stores the normalized results. Since the server and the client (step 3) are both on the same computer, the data remains on the same machine, simplifying communication.
- Client—Client periodically requests the latest data from the server on the same computer. The client acts as an intermediary for the Graphical User Interface, enabling it to visualize the data like pressure readings, center of pressure and calibration status, or any warnings that the server may have found. The client raises an event every time new data are received, which can be used for real-time feedback and updates in the GUI application (step 4) and MR application.
- Application—The Graphical User Interface (GUI) on the same computer displays an application, which is the initial part of the biofeedback solution. The GUI initializes and establishes a connection with the client–server system. It offers controls that allow users to start or stop data collection from the socks. This interface allows users to insert their data and choose the complexity level of their workout as well as starting it. It sends the data needed for the feedback in the HMD. The input data of the application are sent back to the client side, which proceeds with sending them to the HMD.
- MR application—Receives data from the computer’s application. It uses the processed data to create an immersive environment where the feedback is being visualized, providing engaging and interactive experiences, such as VR-based training simulations. It gives details on the changed foot plantar pressure, helping to correct it.
- Data transfer over Bluetooth—The DAid® smart socks device is connected to the server via the COM port by Bluetooth. The server begins by sending a command over the serial connection “BT^START”. This command instructs the smart socks to start streaming data packets. Each data packet is sent 10–15 times per second, containing around 3–4 data points. The server continuously listens for incoming data on the COM port and reads them into the buffer. Then, it scans the buffer to detect packets that start with the Start Byte and end with the Stop Byte. Each sensor’s value can be represented by two bytes, so for six sensors, the data section would be around 12 bytes.
- Data Transfer over WiFi—The client side establishes a connection over TCP/IP with the head-mounted device and by the command received from the GUI application side (e.g., “Start”), starts to send sensor data such as the COP to the HMD.
4.3. System Requirements and Data
4.4. System Requirements for the Concept of DAid® Smart Socks-Based Biofeedback System
4.5. Requirements for the First Prototype—Minimal Viable Product (MVP) of DAid® Smart Socks-Based Biofeedback System
- Command to Start Data Flow: The system sends an initial command to the sensor socks to activate data transmission, initiating the flow of sensor data.
- Sending Data from the DAid@ Smart Socks: Data received continuously from the DAid@ smart socks, maintaining an ongoing communication loop.
- Data Reception and Processing: The system receives raw data packets from the socks, converts them into numerical values, normalizes the data, writes sensor-specific information to a CSV file, and computes real-time center of pressure (COP) coordinates (x, y).
- User Input Commands: The user interacts with the system commands via terminal sending such as “connect”, “calibrate”, and “start” enabling connection to the socks, calibration of the sensors, and initiation of data collection.
- Command to Start Receiving Data: A specific command is issued to the server to begin receiving and processing sensor data from the socks.
- Sending COP Data to Client: The processed COP data are transmitted to the client side, where they are displayed on the terminal in real time for monitoring and feedback.
5. Discussion
5.1. Introduction to the DAid® Smart Socks for Injury Prevention
5.2. Addressing Gaps in Current Injury Prevention Programs
5.3. Biomechanical Feedback for Injury Risk Reduction
5.4. Technological Innovation: Wearable Tech and Mixed Reality
5.5. Future Directions and Challenges
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
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Cross-Disciplinary Area | Tasks During Conceptualization Process |
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Healthcare and Biomechanics |
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Sociotechnical Systems Modeling |
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Biomedical Engineering |
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Data Science |
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Davidovica, A.; Semjonova, G.; Kamynina, L.; Lancere, L.; Jonate, A.; Tomsone, S.; Katasevs, A.; Okss, A.; Davidovics, S. Concept Protocol for Developing a DAid® Smart Socks-Based Biofeedback System: Enhancing Injury Prevention in Football Through Real-Time Biomechanical Monitoring and Mixed Reality Feedback. Appl. Sci. 2025, 15, 1584. https://doi.org/10.3390/app15031584
Davidovica A, Semjonova G, Kamynina L, Lancere L, Jonate A, Tomsone S, Katasevs A, Okss A, Davidovics S. Concept Protocol for Developing a DAid® Smart Socks-Based Biofeedback System: Enhancing Injury Prevention in Football Through Real-Time Biomechanical Monitoring and Mixed Reality Feedback. Applied Sciences. 2025; 15(3):1584. https://doi.org/10.3390/app15031584
Chicago/Turabian StyleDavidovica, Anna, Guna Semjonova, Lydia Kamynina, Linda Lancere, Alise Jonate, Signe Tomsone, Aleksejs Katasevs, Aleksandrs Okss, and Sergejs Davidovics. 2025. "Concept Protocol for Developing a DAid® Smart Socks-Based Biofeedback System: Enhancing Injury Prevention in Football Through Real-Time Biomechanical Monitoring and Mixed Reality Feedback" Applied Sciences 15, no. 3: 1584. https://doi.org/10.3390/app15031584
APA StyleDavidovica, A., Semjonova, G., Kamynina, L., Lancere, L., Jonate, A., Tomsone, S., Katasevs, A., Okss, A., & Davidovics, S. (2025). Concept Protocol for Developing a DAid® Smart Socks-Based Biofeedback System: Enhancing Injury Prevention in Football Through Real-Time Biomechanical Monitoring and Mixed Reality Feedback. Applied Sciences, 15(3), 1584. https://doi.org/10.3390/app15031584