Feasibility of Using Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging Technology for Contactless 3D Body Scanning and Anthropometric Assessment of Athletes.

The scope of this pilot study was to assess the feasibility of using the laser imaging detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology for contactless 3D body scanning of sports athletes and deriving anthropometric measurements of the lower limbs using available software. An Apple iPad Pro 3rd Generation with embedded LiDAR technology in combination with the iOS application Polycam were used. The effects of stance width, clothing, background, lighting, scan distance and measurement speed were initially assessed by scanning the lower limbs of one test person multiple times. Following these tests, the lower limbs of 12 male and 10 female participants were scanned. The resulting scans of the lower limbs were complete for half of the participants and categorized as good in quality, while the other scans were either distorted or presented missing data around the shank and/or the thigh. Bland-Altman plots between the LiDAR-based and manual anthropometric measures showed good agreement, with the coefficient of determination from correlation analysis being R2 = 0.901 for thigh length and R2 = 0.830 for shank length, respectively. The outcome of this pilot study is considered promising, and a further refinement of the proposed scanning protocol and advancement of available software for 3D reconstruction are recommended to exploit the full potential of the LiDAR technology for the contactless anthropometric assessment of athletes.

First Insights in the Relationship between Lower Limb Anatomy and Back Squat Performance in Resistance-Trained Males and Females.

Identifying key criteria of squat performance is essential to avoiding injuries and optimizing strength training outcomes. To work towards this goal, this study aimed to assess the correlation between lower limb anatomy and back squat performance during a set-to-exhaustion in resistance-trained males and females. Optical motion captures of squat performance and data from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the lower limbs were acquired in eight healthy participants (average: 28.4 years, four men, four women). It was hypothesized that there is a correlation between subject-specific musculoskeletal and squat-specific parameters. The results of our study indicate a high correlation between the summed volume of the hamstrings and quadriceps and squat depth normalized to thigh length (r = -0.86), and a high correlation between leg size and one-repetition maximum load (r = 0.81), respectively. Thereby, a marked difference was found in muscle volume and one-repetition maximum load between males and females, with a trend of females squatting deeper. The present study offers new insights for trainers and athletes for targeted musculoskeletal conditioning using the squat exercise. It can be inferred that greater muscle volume is essential to achieving enhanced power potential, and, consequently, a higher 1RM value, especially for female athletes that tend to squat deeper than their male counterparts.