Evaluation of wearable IMU performance for orientation estimation and motion tracking

Introducing objective wearable IMU measurements of functional movement quality into clinical assessments may improve accuracy of diagnosis. The goal of the present study was to assess the performance of inexpensive wearable IMUs relative to conventional motion capture equipment during controlled movements that are representative of typical human movement. Thirty-five cycles of spine flexion-extension, lateral bending, and axial twisting were simulated by means of a motorized gimbal at speeds of 20 cycles/min and 40 cycles/min. Differences between cycle-to-cycle maximum angle, minimum angle, and ROM values, as well as correlational analyses within IMUs and between IMUs and motion capture, in all movement directions, were compared. All absolute differences in measurements were <; 1.55°. There were very high correlations between repeated IMU measures (R > 0.99) in all movement directions showing reliability between sensors and measurements. Overall, it was revealed that the sensors perform very well in the primary movement direction and one secondary axis; however, correlation in the third axis is suboptimal for orientation estimation and motion tracking.