A Literature Review Informing an Operational Guideline for Inertial Sensor Propulsion Measurement in Wheelchair Court Sports

Abstract

With the increasing rise of professionalism in sport, teams and coaches are looking to technology to monitor performance in both games and training to find a competitive advantage. Wheelchair court sports (wheelchair rugby, wheelchair tennis, and wheelchair basketball) are no exception, and the use of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-based inertial measurement unit (IMU) within this domain is one innovation researchers have employed to monitor aspects of performance. A systematic literature review was conducted which, after the exclusion criteria was applied, comprised of 16 records. These records highlighted the efficacy of IMUs in terms of device validity and accuracy. IMUs are ubiquitous, low-cost, and non-invasive. The implementation in terms of algorithms and hardware choices was evidenced as a barrier to widespread adoption. This paper, through the information collected from the systematic review, proposes a set of implementation guidelines for using IMUs for wheelchair data capture. These guidelines, through the use of flow-charts and data tables, will aid researchers in reducing the barriers to IMU implementation for propulsion assessment.

Keywords

• inertial sensors
• wheelchair sport
• wheelchair propulsion
• performance
• IMU