Performance Biomechanics

Biostrain - linking  muscular strength, balance and sprint performance    

Background

Sports therapist, Neil Day, noticed that performance measurement equipment protocols isolated, lengthened and fatigued hamstring muscles.  Protocols limited monitoring frequency and relevance of data to performance, whilst risking injury.

In theory, placing athletes in a natural sprint posture might enable simultaneous force evaluation in synergistic muscles without extension.  Safer monitoring might reveal imbalances, providing data to guide training.

To exploit the potential, Lucid’s team wrote the application and won an Innovate UK Smart Grant competition to work with Neil.  We part-funded research, development and testing of a prototype to assess the potential of multi-muscle strength and symmetry monitoring in improved sprint performance.

Objectives included design and test of:

• Mechanical rigs to place people of differing sizes in the right positions.

• Electronic development to monitor and record relevant forces. 

• Software development to wirelessly communicate and analyse data.

• Web-portal design to securely manage data from multiple devices.

• Industrial and UX design to create a marketable product.

• A pathway to compliance with device and data management regulation.

Discovery

To better understand the human, organisational, and technical challenges, Lucid's designers and engineers collaborated with professional sportspeople, performance, and physiotherapy experts throughout the development process.

We mapped human and data interaction in assessment protocols, analysed research experience, user feedback, competitor and analogous systems. 

Prioritising opportunities to add value, Lucid’s team planned and delivered a modular approach to R & D, with a clear approach, deliverables and timeline.

Design

Iterating options with storyboards, clickable and working models, our stakeholders were able to contribute valuable feedback. 

Electro-mechanical rigs, app and data management software prototypes enabled formative usability testing, informed hazard analysis and initial risk management.

Delivery

Prototype systems were built for evaluation at professional sports clubs and in an ongoing study at Salford University.  Lucid is now engaged in development to support IP and commercialisation.

Results

Usability

Biostrain is the only hamstring performance monitoring technique that provides relevant data without risking injury.

Brand impact

Lucid is extending brand cues developed in Biostrain across other potential uses.

Regulatory and safety

Lucid outputs, supplied under our ISO 13485 medical device design and manufacturing accreditation, enable ongoing development of product options to suit research, clinical and performance applications.

Sustainability and Social Impact

Ongoing research includes applications in assessment and therapy related to back pain, potentially delivering significant health-economic benefits.

Manufacturability

Options are being developed for modular production at Lucid.