The use of technology in sport and fitness training has rapidly become a tool for both athletes and coaches in monitoring performance variables for optimizing training stimulus and recovery (Duking, Hotho, Holmberg, Fuss, & Sperlich, 2016; Peake, Kerr & Sullivan, 2018). Wireless fitness trackers, GPS and accelerometry devices are growing in popularity with the athletic population outside of the clinical setting due to their lower cost and ease of use compared to traditional clinical measurement tools (Dellaserra, Gao & Ransdell, 2014). With the increased popularity of these devices comes the necessity to understand and validate the information collected from them (Kooiman et al., 2015). Previous research has validated the measurement capability of wireless inertia sensors in the collection of curvilinear and linear velocity during upper body resistance exercise compared to 3D motion capture, which suggests it as a useful tool in a coaching environment (Sato, Beckham, Carroll, Bazyler, & Sha, 2015). Furthermore, wired or anchored devices limit the variety of exercises that can be measured, and may also present potentially more difficulty in managing data collection amongst several athletes simultaneously (Sato et al., 2015). Studies have examined the reliability and validity of wireless inertial sensor measurement compared to currently validated wired measurement tools like the GymAware (Orange et al., 2018). The use of specific algorithms to detect and measure different exercises restricts the extrapolation of results related to validity and reliability from one exercise to another (Sato et al., 2015). Few studies have been performed in relation to the validity of wireless inertia devices on measurement of vertical jumping performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of a wireless measurement device on several types of vertical jump exercise. Specifically, this investigation examined static, countermovement, and drop jumps as measured with a wireless sensor compared with commercially available force plates.
Anagnost, N., Lates, A., Wagle, J. P., & Taber, C. (2018, December). Validity of a wireless inertia measurement device in quantifying performance in vertical jumping tests. Paper presented at 13th Annual Coaching and Sport Science College Conference, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN. Retrieved from https://www.sportscienceed.com/2018-archive.html
13th Annual Coaching and Sport Science College Conference, East Tennessee State University.
At the time this article was researched and written Nicholas Anagost was an undergraduate in the Exercise Science program and Alexandra Lates was a master of science student in the Exercise Science program at Sacred Heart University.