Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Publication
    Star Excursion Balance Test performance and application in elite junior rugby union players
    Objectives: To evaluate performance on selected reach directions of the Start Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) in an elite underage rugby union population, and determine if differences exist between the forward and back position units. This information may have implications for the application of this test in player injury prevention and management. Design: Descriptive study. Setting: Gymnasium at an elite junior rugby union screening camp. Participants: 102 healthy male elite rugby union players (age = 17.9 ± 1.1 years, height = 1.83 ± 0.07 m, body mass = 90.5 ± 11.3 kg). Main outcome measures: Participants were assessed on the Anterior (A), Posterior-medial (PM), and Posterior-lateral (PL) reach directions of the SEBT. Results: Normative data for SEBT performance in the A, PM and PL reach directions were established for an elite junior rugby union population. No significant differences in dynamic postural stability were observed between the forward and back position units. Conclusions: This study provides normative SEBT data on an elite junior rugby union population, which enables clinicians to compare player dynamic postural stability and has implications for use in the prevention and management of player injuries.
    Scopus© Citations 11  3138
  • Publication
    Automatic detection of collisions in elite level rugby union using a wearable sensing device
    Elite rugby union teams currently employ the latest technology to monitor and evaluate the physical demands of training and games on their players. Tackling has been shown to be the most common cause of injury in rugby union, yet current player monitoring technology does not effectively evaluate player tackling measurements. Currently, to evaluate measurements specific to player tackles, a time-consuming manual analysis of player sensor data and video footage is required. The purpose of this work is to investigate tackle modeling techniques which can be utilised to automatically detect player tackles and collisions using sensing technology already being used by elite international and club level rugby union teams. This paper discusses issues relevant to automatic tackle analysis, describes a technique to detect tackles using sensing data and validates the technique by comparing automatically detected collisions to manually labeled collisions using data from elite club and international level players. The results of the validation show that the system is able to consistently identify collisions with very few false posi- tives and false negatives, achieving a recall and precision rating of 0.933 and 0.958, respectively. The aim is that the automatically detected tackles can provide coaching, medical and strength and conditioning staff with objective tackle-specific measurements, in real time, which can be used in injury prevention and rehabilitation strategies.
      8614Scopus© Citations 66
  • Publication
    Automatic Detection of Tackles in Elite Level Rugby Union
    Elite rugby union teams currently employ technology in order to monitor and evaluate the physical demands of training and games on their players. Tackling has been shown to be the most common cause of injury in rugby union (Fuller et al. (2007a), Garraway et al. (1999)). However, current player monitoring technology does not effectively evaluate player tackling measurements. Sensing devices, currently being used by elite rugby union teams, contain a GPS receiver and a 3-axis accelerometer. GPS has been utilized to measure player speed and distance. Accelerometers, on the other hand, have an under-utilized potential to analyse body impact and collisions.
      715