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With so many energy drinks out there containing caffeine it is a bit of a jungle to give advice to athletes and coaches and/or educate everyone about different options.
This Caffeine Poster was developed by Randy Krum and it is available on his great blog coolinfographics.
I think this is just another great example of how to present data in a meaningful way. Well done Randy!
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Apparently it is possible to use the Nintendo Wii Balance Board as a measurement device. In fact, the Nintendo wii balance board is a simple force platform capable to sampling data at 100Hz.
The Wii Fit offers for a low cost price a simple platform with four measuring sensors and can be used with very little effort as a simple and inexpensive force plate, even without the corresponding game console. A German company has developed a software solution to measure some key parameters;
Clark et al. (2010) suggested that the Wii Fit balance board could represent a valid cheap solution to measure standing balance. Furthermore they have recently suggested the use of the infrared cameras in the hand controllers as a possible alternative to expensive timing light systems (http://www.jsams.org/article/S1440-2440(10)00913-8/abstract). Recent work from Young et al. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21087865) also suggests the possibility of using this technology for developing bespoke diagnostic or training programmes that exploit real-time visual feedback of current Centre of pressure position.
The Wii Balance Board is certified for 300 pounds (136 kg) in Japan and 330 pounds (150 kg) in the U.S. The Wii Balance Board has four sensors, so each sensor is certified for up to 136 kg / 4 = 34 kg per sensor in Japan or 150 kg / 4 = 37.5kg per sensor in the United States.The following Wii Balance Board calibration information from WiiBrew will make more sense.
If you are interested in Linux, you can see here how to extract the force data. I am sure this is not something useful to measure high performance athletes. However it could represent a fun and simple tool for diagnostic measurements in some populations.
If you have one and are able to use it for this purpose let me know!
>I was looking for some freeware or open source software for some biomechanical analysis and came across two software solutions developed by video4coach.
The two solutions are quite interesting and very good quality. The first software is called Skill Capture
SkillCapture is designed to capture video clips which can be directly associated with the athlete also by means of a radio frequency ID system (skillchip).
Video capture can be started by:
After video capture it can be automatically displayed for coach interaction directly with the athlete. With the video playback its possible to:
SkillCapture will automatically compress the video to improve storage and improve faster upload to external servers.
The other solution is SkillSpector.
SkillSpector is a video based motion and skill analysis tool for Windows. SkillSpector is freeware and can be downloaded and installed on any computer.
SkillSpector features:
So, two software packages completely free which I am sure can be of help for many sports scientists in the field not able to access the expensive professional software solutions currently available on the market.
I have just installed the software and I will write something more about them after I get the chance to experiment with them a bit more.
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A blog by Dr. Marco Cardinale, PhD
A blog by Dr. Marco Cardinale, PhD
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