Biking analysis: MAPEI Bike Lab

Years of research in professional cycling world by Mapei Sport Service and in the computerized analysis of human body motion made by BTS Bioengineering, give life to Mapei Sport Cycling LAB.
A complete solution for making dynamic evaluation of cycling posture angles, fully and accurately reconstructed in 3 dimensions.
A database of more than 100 professional riders and more than 1500 amateurs, allows to optimize the bike posture in order to improve the biomechanical performance and prevent injuries caused by a wrong posture.

Mapei Sport Cycling lab is based on a 8 infrared cameras optelectronic system for human-body motion analysis, a central unit for 3D image acquisition, reconstruction and elaboration, and 2 fully synchronized high-performance digital cameras; the BTS SMART Performance software suite allows to elaborate and optimize rider's position. The lab also includes equipment for anthropometric data measurements and bike measurement, a toe clips positioning device, a home-trainer, and all necessary tools to make a professional and efficient test.

Motion Analysis

Human Motion Analysis - In the areas of medicine, sports, and video surveillance, human motion analysis has become an investigative and diagnostic tool.
See the section on motion capture for more detail on the technologies. Human motion analysis can be divided into three categories: human activity recognition, human motion tracking, and analysis of body and body part movement. Human activity recognition is most commonly used for video surveillance, specifically automatic motion monitoring for security purposes.
Most efforts in this area rely on state-space approaches, in which sequences of static postures are statistically analyzed and compared to modeled movements. Template-matching is an alternative method whereby static shape patterns are compared to pre-existing prototypes.
Human motion tracking can be performed in two or three dimensions. Depending on the complexity of analysis, representations of the human body range from basic stick figures to volumetric models. Tracking relies on the correspondence of image features between consecutive frames of video, taking into consideration information such as position, color, shape, and texture. Edge detection can be performed by comparing the color and/or contrast of adjacent pixels, looking specifically for discontinuities or rapid changes. Three-dimensional tracking is fundamentally identical to two-dimensional tracking, with the added factor of spatial calibration. Motion analysis of body parts is critical in the medical field. In postural and gait analysis, joint angles are used to track the location and orientation of body parts. Gait analysis is also used in sports to optimize athletic performance or to identify motions that may cause injury or strain.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Gait Analysis

Gait analysis is the systematic study of animal locomotion, ( more specific as a study of human walking) using the eye and the brain of observers, augmented by instrumentation for measuring body movements, body mechanics and the activity of the muscles. Gait analysis is used to asses, plan and treate individuals with conditions affecting their ability to walk.
It is also commonly used in sports such as athletics to help athletes run more efficiently and to identify posture-related or movement-related problems in people with injuries.
The study encompasses quantification, i.e., introduction and analysis of measurable parameters of gaits, as well as interpretation, i.e., drawing various conclusions about the animal (health, age, size, weight, speed, etc.) from its gait.
Gait analysis commonly involves the measurement of the movement of the body in space (kinematics) and the forces involved in producing these movements (kinetics).
Kinematics can be recorded using a variety of systems and methodologies:

1. Photography is the most basic method for the recording to movement and strobe lighting at known frequency has been used in the past to aid in the analysis of gait on single photographic images.
2. Video analysis: using footage from single or multiple cameras can be used to measure joint angles and velocities. This method has been aided by the development of analysis software that greatly simplifies the analysis process and allows for analysis in three dimensions rather than two dimensions only.
3. Motion analysis: passive marker systems, using reflective markers (typically reflective balls), allow for very accurate measurement of movement using multiple cameras (typically up to eight cameras simultaneously). The cameras send out infra red light signals and detect the reflection from the markers placed on the body. Based on the angle and time delay between the original and reflected signal triangulation of the marker in space is possible. These are typically used for motion capture in movies.
4. Active marker systems are similar to the passive marker system but use "active" markers. These markers are triggered by the incoming infra red signal and respond by sending out a corresponding signal of their own. This signal is then used to triangulate the location of the marker. The advantage of this system over the passive one is that individual markers work at predefined frequencies and therefore, have their own "identity". This means that no post-processing of marker locations is required, however the systems tend to be less forgiving for out-of-view markers than the passive systems.

A typical modern gait lab has several cameras (video or infra-red) placed around a walkway or treadmill, which are linked to a computer. The patient has markers applied to anatomical landmark points, which are mostly palpable bony landmarks such as the iliac spines of the pelvis, the malleoli of the ankle, and the condyles of the knee. The patient walks down the walkway or on the treadmill and the computer calculates the trajectory of each marker in three dimensions. A model is applied to compute the underlying motion of the bones. This gives a full breakdown of the motion at each joint.
In addition, to calculate movement kinetics, most labs have floor load transducers, also known as force-plates, which measure the ground reaction force, including both magnitude and direction. Adding this to the known dynamics of each body segment, enables the solution of equations based on Newton's laws of motion and enables the computer to calculate the forces exerted by each muscle group, and the net moment about each joint at every stage of the gait cycle. The computational method for this is known as inverse dynamics.
This use of kinetics however does not result in information for individual muscles but muscle groups, such as the extensor or flexors of the limb. To detect the activity and contribution of individual muscles to movement, it is necessary to investigate the electrical activity of muscles. Some labs also use surface electrodes attached to the surface of the skin to detect the activity of, for example, a muscle of the leg. In this way it is possible to investigate the activation times of muscles and, to some degree, the magnitude of their activation – thereby assessing their contribution to gait. Deviations from normal kinematic, kinetic or EMG patterns are used to diagnose specific conditions and predict the outcome of treatment.

Relevant links
Motion analysis, EMG analysis, Postural analysis, Gait analysis, Movement analysis.

Surface EMG

Surface EMG: A technique in which electrodes are placed on (not into) the skin overlying a muscle to detect the electrical activity of the muscle.
Surface EMG (SEMG) has some attractive features: most notably, it does not involve piercing the skin and does not hurt.
The SEMG may be valuable in helping to monitor the progression of disorders of nerves and muscles.
Available devices: FreeEMG, PocketEMG.

Define: EMG

Electromyography (EMG) is a technique for evaluating and recording the activation signal of muscles. EMG is performed using an instrument called an electromyograph, to produce a record called an electromyogram. An electromyograph detects the electrical potential generated by muscle cells when these cells are both mechanically active and at rest. The signals can be analyzed in order to detect medical abnormalities or analyze the biomechanics of human or animal movement.

(Source: Wikipedia)