Motion anlaysis in lower extremity joints during Ski carving turns using wearble inertial sensors and plantar pressure sensors

Skiing is one of the most popular winter sports in the world. Even though the equipment has been improved for preventing injuries during skiing, injury risks of the lower extremity are still high. It is necessary to investigate injury risk by motion analysis during skiing. The wearable motion capture system consisting of inertial sensors and insole pressure sensors can be utilized due to restrictions of conventional optical motion capture system. In this study, the motions for short-and middle-turns during skiing were analyzed using a wearable motion capture system and the multi-scale computer simulation technology. Seven male certified ski coaches participated in this study and their full body motion and foot pressure data were simultaneously recorded by the wearable motion capture system. Joint kinematics and kinetics in the hip, knee and ankle of the right lower extremity were analyzed during short- and middle-turns. Even though a slight difference in the joint kinematics between two turns was predicted, the joint forces and moments for middle-turn were higher than those for short-turn. Because these higher joint forces and moments can result in osteoarthritis or ligament injury at the joint, injury risk of the joint for middle-turn may be higher than that for short-turn. This study confirms that the wearable motion capture system is useful for measuring the motion and plantar pressure data in outdoor sports such as skiing.