Speed seeking | Using Physilog® to track to the milisecond!
Gait Up ‘s inertial sensor Physilog® was recently featured in the summer edition of the SPLASH Magazine with a study conducted by Madeline Locus and Ken Ono.
For the past year, they have led a group at Emory University that has experimented the Physilog® to record athlete’s spatial body movements down to the millisecond. Data from olympians and members of the U.S. National Team were collected to determine commonalities and variations among the world’s best.
The data captured by the sensors enabled them to mathematically visualize body movements which are far too subtle to capture with video (often invisible to our eyes). Moreover, they can be synchronized and placed on various body parts, resulting in an abundance of information.
They concluded that inertial sensors can definately be used in personalized coaching and to correct and fine-tune an athlete’s technique. Athletes can undergo tests to determine strengths and potential targets of opportunity for improvement. Coaches can then design drills to work on such weaknesses, and then conduct more tests later to assess whether improvements have been made.
About the authors:
Madeline Locus Dawsey i(Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the University of Texas at Tyler. She is a nine-time NCAA All-American for the University of Georgia and was a member of the 2014-2015 U.S. National Team in the 50m freestyle.
Ken Ono is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Virginia and the Vice President of the American Mathematical Society. He was a three-time member of age group Team USA for USA Triathlon.