©ISTOCKPHOTO.
COM/METAMORWORKS
Sports Technology
B
iomechanics is defined
as the study of the struc-
ture and function of bio-
logical systems by the
methods of mechanics.
The range of applications and meth-
odologies in biomechanics is varied,
from gait analysis to manufactur-
ing of implants, orthotics or pros-
thetics devices, rehabilitation tech-
nology, fluid dynamics analysis in
biological systems, and tissue and
cellular biomechanics. An underly-
ing understanding of fundamental
applied mechanics principles is
required to understand the stress-
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPOT.2019.2897276
Date of publication: 6 May 2019
8 ■ May/June 2019 IEEE POTENTIALS
Technology in
sports biomechanics
es and strains the body compo-
nents cause, or are subject to, under
different activities. However, it is
also necessary to know which bio-
logical components are put in place
to absorb shock and protect the
liv ing systems. Mot ion-capture
technology, material mechanical
testing, medical imaging, comput-
er-aided design, and computation-
al fluid dynamics are some of the
methodologies required to work in
the field. All of these areas come
together when biomechanics appli-
cations are used in the analysis of
sports performance.
Regardless of your favorite sport,
it is likely that your favorite athletes
have suffered some kind of injury
Cátia Bandeiras
©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/KENTOH
during training or even live competi-
tion. Even when you are participat-
ing in a sport for leisure, you might
suffer injuries that will haunt you
for a long time if not properly healed.
High-impact sports, such as football,
soccer, wrestling, and hockey, have
a much higher injury rate than run-
ning track and swimming. Exam-
ining 15 different college sports,
approximately 50% of the reported
injuries were sprains, followed by lig-
ament or tendon inflammation and
contusions. Biomechanics analyses
help in the prevention and recovery
from these injuries by using the con-
cepts of body mechanics and prohib-
ited ranges of motions to personalize
training and equipment for athletes.
0278-6648/19©2019IEEE
 Think about when you are choos-
ing a running shoe. Currently, it’s
common to have a store employee
either watch you walk or run and de-
termine whether you have a neutral
(well-aligned foot), pronate (tendency
to have your foot roll inward), or su-
pine (tendency to have your foot roll
outward) stride and use this to choose
the best running shoe for you. It is
important to have a shoe that will offer
added support and impact cushioning
in the areas where you tend to have
more impact because repeated body
segment misalignment will cause
overuse, inflammation, sprains, and
cartilage damage not only on the an-
kles but also on knees and hips.
Although the type of analysis that
occurs in a sports footwear shop is
not very sophisticated, custom-made
shoes for competitive athletes in-
volve motion-capture analysis with
infrared sensors, 3D foot scans, and
pressure-mapping platforms to de-
sign the best shoes (see Fig. 1). Com-
puter models of the customized
shoe allow rapid prototyping and ad-
ditive manufacturing of the running
shoe components.
Finally, following the Internet of
Things trend, there are patents on
shoes with data-transmission capa-
bilities to improve training regimes.
An interesting collaboration in the
field is the partnership of Adidas
with the 3D printing company Car-
bon Inc., using the aforementioned
technologies to develop c ­ ustomized
m idsoles made w it h elastomers
(plastic with elastic properties) that
change their shape and density with
stride for maximum comfort.
The bio in team
Biomechanics analyses have also
been proven useful for the selection
of athletes for team sports, such as
ice hockey and volleyball. Motion-
capture technology and force-sens-
ing platforms have been employed to
identify areas of under- and over-
compensation in repetitive sports
and to tailor training from a young
age to avoid stress in joints. Audiovi-
sual cues are provided during train-
ing to inform the athletes about the
positions to correct.
Gait analysis can also be used to
understand the differences between
athletes in elite events. The Interna-
tional Association of Athletics Fed-
eration (IAAF) has performed bio-
mechanics studies since 1987 and
recently released its data analysis
from the London 2017 World Cham-
pionships. The London Biomechan-
ics study, in collaboration with Leeds
Beckett University (United Kingdom),
is the largest athletics biomechan-
ics study to date.
It became clear that differences
in change over time between ath-
letes in the relay event determined
the final results and that athletes
could improve their times by elimi-
nating asymmetries in stride length
from left to right. In the men’s 100-m
event, world-record holder Usain
Bolt finished with the bronze medal,
a result partially attributed to the
longer contact times with his left
foot, in comparison with gold med-
alist Justin Gatlin and silver med-
alist Christian Coleman (see Fig. 2).
This trend will be enhanced at
the upcoming Tokyo 2020 games,
with Alibaba and Intel partnering to
showcase real-time 3D mapping of
athletes. This technology, based on
artificial intelligence to digitize hu-
man motion from a video, will not
only provide athletes with training
data but also enhance the live broad-
casting experience, allowing experts
to comment in real time on the ath-
letes’ biomechanical outputs.
Implants and prosthetics
Additionally, implants and pros-
thetics devices used in sports are
becoming more and more sophisti-
cated. For impaired athletes, the
prosthetics devices must be adapted
to the specific sport and often are not
practical for everyday life. Design and
material considerations are studied
for each athlete, with more advanced
prosthetics devices being 3D printed
and manufactured with electromyog-
raphy sensors to promote movement
intention similar to a regular limb.
A pioneer in this technology is Hugh
Herr, a professor of biomechatronics

Tibia Plate

Midfoot Plate

Medial Forefoot
Plate

Calcaneus Plate

Lateral Forefoot
Plate Hallux Plate
(a) (b)

FIG1 The motion-capture analysis in shoe customization is common with (a) infrared sensors and (b) pressure-mapping platforms.
[Reprinted with permission from (a) Liao et al., 2014 and (b) Caravaggi et al., 2018.]

IEEE POTENTIALS May/June 2019 ■ 9
 World Championships London 2017
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About the author
Cátia Bandeiras (catia.bandeiras@
tecnico.ulisboa.pt) earned her B.S.
and M.S. degrees in biomedical
engineering from Instituto Superi-
or Técnico, University of Lisbon,
Portugal, in 2011. She is currently
finishing her Ph.D. degree in bioen-
gineering. She is an associate editor
of IEEE Potentials. You can find her
@catiabandeiras on Twitter and Ins-
tagram and at apulgarita.com.


10 ■ May/June 2019 IEEE POTENTIALS