Throwing Device Tracker for Youth Injury Prevention

Not Applicable

Completed

Brief Summary: The primary objective of this study is to collect motion-capture data on movements common to baseball play in order to develop an algorithm for a wearable device for the prevention and rehabilitation of sports-related overuse injuries. Secondary objectives include evaluating the feasibility of wearing the throwing device during simulated baseball play.

Detailed Description: With the rise in competitive sports participation in pediatric and adolescent populations, there has also been an increase in overuse injuries. Current methods of overuse injury prevention, such as pitch-counting, fail to account for differing techniques or effort and often ignore the elevated risk for children participating in two or more sports emphasizing the same body part. This wearable device seeks to more accurately monitor overuse to prevent and aid rehabilitation of overuse injuries.

Subjects will be asked to fill out a short survey about their athletic activities. They will wear a prototype of a minimal risk throwing device during simulated baseball play in a sports medicine session or at the Human Motion Laboratory. Various motion data from the device and from the Motion Lab analysis will be collected to create and refine an algorithm to quantify workload and throwing movements.

The primary endpoint of this study is to quantify motion capture data on movements common to baseball play. The secondary endpoints include quantifying injury associated with different baseball movement using the proposed system, development of algorithms to quantify workloads associated with injury during common baseball movements and validation of basic device measurements (Pilot Phase).

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

Pilot Phase:

Males or females age 8 to 14 years
Presenting to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Physical Therapy Clinic for rehabilitation of injury that does not impede their ability to perform basic throwing movements.

Phase 1:

Exclusion Criteria

Pilot Phase

Injury of any aspect of the throwing arm
Unwillingness to perform all requested motions
Parents/guardians or subjects who, in the opinion of the Investigator, may be non-compliant with study procedures.

Phase 1

Injury or disability impeding ability to perform normal baseball-related movements
Inability/unwillingness to schedule and/or travel to the Human Motion Laboratory
Parents/guardians or subjects who, in the opinion of the Investigator, may be non-compliant with study schedules or procedures.

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Throwing Device Phase 1	Throwing Device	During Phase 1, subjects that have been recruited, consented, and enrolled will come to the biomechanics laboratory for throwing performance housed at the University of Pennsylvania (Human Motion Laboratory) on the day of their appointment. Subjects will be asked to wear the prototype device during a simulated baseball game (approximately 30-45 pitches), and then will perform a set of other baseball-specific movements while fitted with infrared markers for throwing analysis. This data will be used to develop and refine the algorithm for the prototype.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Accuracy of the Pitching Detection Algorithm	12 months	The number of pitches thrown were tracked and counted visually during data collection. The actual pitch count was then compared to the pitch count logged by the device algorithm to determine the accuracy of the algorithm in detecting pitching events.

Secondary Outcome Measures