For athletes and trainers looking to optimise their training regimens or rehabilitate from injuries in running-based sports, Blue Trident will work with IMeasureU’s updated IMU Step software. IMU Step measures the musculoskeletal impact of each limb through every step taken and calculates cumulative bone loading and stride symmetry. Using these metrics — and the faster workflow in the updated software — athletes and trainers can better monitor and manage lower limb load in the field, reduce return-to-running risk, increase athlete availability and ultimately improve performance.
“Most wearable tracking technology is designed to address general use cases and is typically a single unit worn on the centre of mass or wrist,” said Matt Clarke, director of business development, IMeasureU. “Our approach with IMU Step is precise and specific. Subjects wear a high-fidelity, synchronised sensor on each ankle, the source of the running load, to accurately quantify the intensity of every step they take, on both limbs – whether they’re a professional player in rehab from an injury or a school track team looking to improve their times.”
For biomechanists and researchers looking to expand their work within a lab setting, Blue Trident is the only motion capture ecosystem with hard synchronisation. Vicon IMUs are natively integrated, enabling plug-and-play use of the sensors in Vicon Nexus, the world’s most clinically-validated life sciences mocap software. With hard sync, Nexus 2.10 accesses the full sensor capability for highly accurate synchronisation of inertial data with the precise tracking data from Vicon’s optical cameras. Within Nexus 2.10, Blue Trident will offer quaternions: global angles that calculate orientation and rotation of a joint in three dimensions, allowing biomechanics researchers to add inertial data on joint impacts and limb movement, to further develop the scope of their research.
“What we have seen so far with Vicon’s new technology is very exciting, especially the integration of video with the live IMU data feed,” said Jacqueline Alderson, assistant professor, University of Western Australia. This is a game changer for those working with athletes in the field. [As researchers] We want the numbers but for the athlete and coach the vision is everything.”
Availability/Compatibility
The Blue Trident sensor will make its official debut on June 24 at the National Athletic Trainers Association’s 70th Annual Clinical Symposia & AT Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. Blue Trident will then be available late August directly from Vicon and through distributors around the world. The Capture.U app will be released at the same time through the Apple App Store at no cost, and is compatible with devices running iOS 10x and up, equipped with Bluetooth 4.2 or better.
Nexus 2.10 will be available free of charge to all current Nexus 2 license holders this autumn. The IMU Step update is available now at no cost to active license holders.