Background: The physiological tremor consists in an involuntary oscillation of the limbs, in the range of 10 Hz, which is generated in part from supraspinal brain structures. Its quantitative assessment in the sport science is relevant for sports requiring ability and for the assessment of fatigue. However, the measurement of tremor is not yet entered in standard sports medicine practice because expensive and complex instrumentations are needed. We present a simple, compact and cost-effective device for tremor measurement, based on the remote of the Wii console, the Wiimote, a wirless triaxial accelerometer which can communicate via bluetooth with a personal computer. Materials and Methods: Eight male healthy volunteers were asked to maintain with the dominant hand the Wiimote pointing a fixed target for for a minimum of 90 seconds. The conversion of bluetooth data sent by the Wiimote in a final file containing the accelerometer informations has been obtained using a custom script in GlovePie environment. The analysis of the predominant frequency band was done in R environment. We then demonstrated the sensibility of the Wiimote to the modification of tremor induced by a muscular exercise, analyzing tremor after 20 repetitions, at the maximum velocity of full range elbow extension/flexion exercises. Moreover, we compared the analysis of tremor using the Wiimote with two other widely used approaches, spiralometry and laser pointing. Results: Using the Wiimote it is possible to get a real time feedback on hand tremor. The sampling rate was sufficient to observe the frequency peak at 8-10 Hz, which characterizes postural tremor and the increase of tremor intensity after the exercise. Moreover the Wiimote largely outperformed the spiralometry and laser pointing system. Conclusions: The Wii remote application represents an accessible and simple way for clinicians to quantify tremor which might easily become part of the standard toolkit for scientists and sports medicine professionals. © 2014.
A new method for quantitative tremor assessment in sports
VIGGIANO, Davide
2014-01-01
Abstract
Background: The physiological tremor consists in an involuntary oscillation of the limbs, in the range of 10 Hz, which is generated in part from supraspinal brain structures. Its quantitative assessment in the sport science is relevant for sports requiring ability and for the assessment of fatigue. However, the measurement of tremor is not yet entered in standard sports medicine practice because expensive and complex instrumentations are needed. We present a simple, compact and cost-effective device for tremor measurement, based on the remote of the Wii console, the Wiimote, a wirless triaxial accelerometer which can communicate via bluetooth with a personal computer. Materials and Methods: Eight male healthy volunteers were asked to maintain with the dominant hand the Wiimote pointing a fixed target for for a minimum of 90 seconds. The conversion of bluetooth data sent by the Wiimote in a final file containing the accelerometer informations has been obtained using a custom script in GlovePie environment. The analysis of the predominant frequency band was done in R environment. We then demonstrated the sensibility of the Wiimote to the modification of tremor induced by a muscular exercise, analyzing tremor after 20 repetitions, at the maximum velocity of full range elbow extension/flexion exercises. Moreover, we compared the analysis of tremor using the Wiimote with two other widely used approaches, spiralometry and laser pointing. Results: Using the Wiimote it is possible to get a real time feedback on hand tremor. The sampling rate was sufficient to observe the frequency peak at 8-10 Hz, which characterizes postural tremor and the increase of tremor intensity after the exercise. Moreover the Wiimote largely outperformed the spiralometry and laser pointing system. Conclusions: The Wii remote application represents an accessible and simple way for clinicians to quantify tremor which might easily become part of the standard toolkit for scientists and sports medicine professionals. © 2014.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
