Instrumented Treadmill with an Accelerometry System: A Valid and Reliable Tool for Running Analysis †
by
, and
Julia Rizo-Albero
, 
Ignacio Catalá-Vilaplana
,
Pedro Pérez-Soriano
and
Alberto Encarnación-Martínez
*
Research Group in Sports Biomechanics (GIBD), Department of Physical Education and Sports, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Presented at the 9th International Electronic Conference on Sensors and Applications, 1–15 November 2022; Available online: https://ecsa-9.sciforum.net/ .
Eng. Proc. 2022, 27(1), 88; https://doi.org/10.3390/ecsa-9-13202
Published: 1 November 2022
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of The 9th International Electronic Conference on Sensors and Applications)
Concurrent biofeedback has been demonstrated to be an effective strategy for reducing running-related injuries (RRI) [1,2,3]. The majority of these RRI are overuse injuries related to impact accelerations [4,5]. However, information regarding impact accelerations is not accessible to the entire population since it requires an accelerometry system. The objective of this study was to investigate the validity and reliability of a new accelerometry system placed directly into the treadmill (AccTrea) and compare it to the traditional system placed directly on the athlete’s body (AccAthl). Thirty recreational athletes with no history of lower body injuries performed two running tests on different days. They ran for 5 min at 10 km/h and at a 0% slope and acceleration impacts and spatiotemporal parameters were collected in two sets of 10 s during the last minute taken in each measurement session. The first session intended to assess the validity of an AccTrea versus an AccAthl, and the second session intended to test its reliability. The results showed that AccTrea is a valid and reliable tool for measuring spatiotemporal parameters such as step length (validity intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) = 0.94; reliability ICC = 0.92), step time (validity ICC = 0.95; reliability ICC = 0.96), and step frequency (validity ICC = 0.95; reliability ICC = 0.96) during running. The peak acceleration impact variables manifested a high reliability for both left (reliability ICC = 0.88) and right legs (reliability ICC = 0.85), and the peak impact asymmetry demonstrated a modest validity (ICC = 0.55). The valid and reliable results make the AccTrea system an appropriate tool with which to inform athletes about their running mechanics, bringing the laboratory data closer to the running community.
Patents
European patent application with the reference number EP3735900A1 and entitled “Treadmill for sport training” in May 2019.
U.S. patent application with the reference number US20200353309A1 and entitled “Ergometric treadmill for sport training” in May 2019.
Chinese patent application with the reference number CN111905333A and entitled “Force measuring running machine for sports training” in May 2019.
Supplementary Materials
Conference poster. The material is available at https://www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/ecsa-9-13202/s1.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, P.P.-S. and A.E.-M.; methodology, P.P.-S. and A.E.-M.; software, I.C.-V., P.P.-S. and A.E.-M.; formal analysis, P.P.-S. and A.E.-M.; investigation, J.R.-A., I.C.-V., P.P.-S. and A.E.-M.; resources, P.P.-S. and A.E.-M.; data curation, P.P.-S. and A.E.-M.; writing—original draft preparation, J.R.-A., I.C.-V.; P.P.-S. and A.E.-M.; writing—review and editing, J.R.-A., I.C.-V., P.P.-S. and A.E.-M.; visualization, J.R.-A., I.C.-V.; P.P.-S. and A.E.-M.; supervision, P.P.-S. and A.E.-M.; project administration, P.P.-S. and A.E.-M.; funding acquisition, P.P.-S. and A.E.-M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
This research was funded by Bodytone International Sport, S.L., gran number CFE-BODYTONE-03-18.
Institutional Review Board Statement
The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Valencia (protocol number: 6775, date 2018).
Informed Consent Statement
Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.
Data Availability Statement
The dataset generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
References
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MDPI and ACS Style
Rizo-Albero, J.; Catalá-Vilaplana, I.; Pérez-Soriano, P.; Encarnación-Martínez, A. Instrumented Treadmill with an Accelerometry System: A Valid and Reliable Tool for Running Analysis. Eng. Proc. 2022, 27, 88. https://doi.org/10.3390/ecsa-9-13202
AMA Style
Rizo-Albero J, Catalá-Vilaplana I, Pérez-Soriano P, Encarnación-Martínez A. Instrumented Treadmill with an Accelerometry System: A Valid and Reliable Tool for Running Analysis. Engineering Proceedings. 2022; 27(1):88. https://doi.org/10.3390/ecsa-9-13202
Chicago/Turabian StyleRizo-Albero, Julia, Ignacio Catalá-Vilaplana, Pedro Pérez-Soriano, and Alberto Encarnación-Martínez. 2022. "Instrumented Treadmill with an Accelerometry System: A Valid and Reliable Tool for Running Analysis" Engineering Proceedings 27, no. 1: 88. https://doi.org/10.3390/ecsa-9-13202
