A comparison of the movement patterns of specific rugby union movements on both natural turf and artificial turf

A limitation of sports kinematic studies is that they cannot fully represent in-situ play conditions for fast dynamic sports. This paper describes the use of new inertial sensor measurement technology (ODonovan et al., 2009) to analyse player motions in the field under game-like conditions in order to quantify the impact of different playing surfaces on movement patterns. The wireless sensor system used in this study (Shimmer 3, Shimmer Research, Ireland) is a lightweight (50x25x12.5mm3), wearable, low-power consumption inertial measurement unit that contains a tri-axial accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer. Sensor data can be used to derive a range of spatiotemporal and kinematic variables to quantify performance during gait and other functional activities. In our research we are using these sensors as a means to characterise movement during a running activity. The motivation for this study has been to compare movement profiles and strategies of rugby players performing game related tasks on natural turf surfaces and on synthetic surfaces, to enable a better understanding of the impact of different playing surfaces on movement and associated forces and stresses exerted on the body. This is important as there is a growing trend towards use of synthetic surfaces in rugby union and there have been anecdotal reports of injuries that are perceived to be related to the playing surface. In this paper we present preliminary movement data acquired from players performing a 10m sprint test on natural and synthetic surfaces and describe our methods of data extraction and subsequent data processing.