A Study for Postural Evaluation and Movement Analysis of Individuals

Researchers have investigated the tracking and recognition of human postures for a long time. Firstly, with the objective of better understanding our movements and behaviors, and then to detect wrong movements and try to help people to perform better. The equipments used to track these movements were invasive, complex and expensive, but with the releasing of off-the-shelf devices, such as the Microsoft Kinect, the study of movement became accessible to everyone. This work presents a study for postural evaluation and movement analysis of individuals to help them to assess and correct their movements during training. One application based on Kinect was developed for physical exercises, more specifically, for CrossFit. We applied it for posture tracking and tested it with individuals to evaluate their posture and movements during a CrossFit session. The results indicate that the application is able to provide the athlete with similar feedback to the coach, showing that it is viable to be used in the absence of an expert. Results also show that the feedback has influence on the correction of the postures of the individuals, making them capable of identifying and correcting wrong gestures during the training. This study points out some very interesting research possibilities for devices that monitor human posture, particularly with regard to the spinal region.