RESEARCH ARTICLE
Smartpaddle® as a New Tool for Monitoring Swimmers’ Kinematic and Kinetic Variables in Real Time
Daniel A. Marinho1, 2, Tiago M. Barbosa2, 5, Ari Auvinen3, Tiago Lopes1, 2, António J. Silva2, 4, Jorge E. Morais2, 5, *
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2022Volume: 15
E-location ID: e1875399X2210310
Publisher ID: e1875399X2210310
DOI: 10.2174/1875399X-v15-e221026-2022-11
Article History:
Received Date: 20/5/2022Revision Received Date: 22/9/2022
Acceptance Date: 30/9/2022
Electronic publication date: 14/12/2022
Collection year: 2022
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Smart technology, such as wearables, applied to sports analysis is essential for performance enhancement. New technological equipment can promote the interaction between researchers, coaches, and athletes, facilitating information exchange in real time.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to present new wearable equipment (SmartPaddle®) to measure kinematic and kinetic variables in swimming and understand the agreement of the propulsive force variable with a pressure sensor system.
Methods:
Four male university swimmers (18.75±0.50 years old, 71.55±6.80 kg of body mass, and 175.00±5.94 cm of height) were analyzed. The SmartPaddle® and a pressure sensor system were used to collect the kinetic data (propulsive force). The comparison between the propulsive force methods was based on t-test paired samples, simple linear regression, and Bland-Altman plots.
Results:
SmartPaddle® is a system that consists of (i) a wearable device, (ii) the Trainesense Session Manager mobile application for recording, and; (iii) the Analysis Center for analysis and data storage. It records a set of kinematic and kinetic parameters useful for coaches daily. The comparison between the different methods revealed non-significant differences and a very-high relationship.
Conclusion:
SmartPaddle® is a feasible wearable device that swimmersswimmers can use can use to provide immediate data about their kinematic and kinetic profile. Coaches can easily monitor these parameters and give immediate suggestions to their swimmers on a daily basis.