New equipment at Montana State makes studying human movement easier and faster

BOZEMAN - As recently as last year, Scott Monfort didn't imagine it would be possible for more than 150 Montana State University students to conduct experiments and use data gathered in the university's Neuromuscular Biomechanics Lab.

"In the past, I would never have thought to use exposure to marker-based motion capture in my Biomechanics of Human Movement class as much as I do now," said Monfort, an associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering in MSU's Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering. "It was just too burdensome."

Marker-based motion capture is a way for researchers and clinicians to use video to track movement of the human body.

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at MSU, including Monfort, was recently awarded $278,500 by the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust to purchase equipment that makes the process of digitally capturing movements of human bodies considerably faster and easier than it has been in the past. The grant was matched with funds from MSU's engineering college, the Office of Research and Economic Development, the Department of Food Systems, Nutrition and Kinesiology and the motion-capture equipment vendor Qualisys.

Until recently, marker-based tracking was necessary to enable specialized camera equipment and software to track movements of the human body with pinpoint precision. It's akin to the technology used in Hollywood that brings computer-generated superheroes and monsters to life by capturing movements of small, reflective balls worn on the clothing of actors to capture their movements. But using those reflective balls creates a workflow bottleneck in the lab - it takes upward of 30 minutes to fasten and position the balls onto test subjects, and days for researchers to process the data collected.

The new technology recently acquired by MSU is called "markerless motion capture," meaning it does not require the use of reflective balls to obtain motion data. Monfort said it results in drastic time savings when collecting and processing data and is more convenient for participants.

"With markerless motion capture, we're able to provide people with their biomechanical data for many common applications within minutes," said Monfort, comparing the speed of the new technology to the days it can take to process data generated by marker-based tracking.

The equipment was recently installed in MSU's interdisciplinary Neuromuscular Biomechanics Lab, which is located in the Student Wellness Center. The lab has an area equipped with motion-capture cameras surrounding plates on the ground that measure forces during movements; an instrumented treadmill room with motion-capture cameras to record straight-line movements, such as running or walking; and an exercise physiology room that features a large ski treadmill. But thanks to the new equipment, researchers are no longer bound to the lab.

"This funding allows us to independently use markerless motion capture in each laboratory space and separately have cameras that can be deployed outside of the typical laboratory setting," Monfort said.

The markerless motion capture has enabled Jim Becker, an associate professor of kinesiology, to use the technology outside of the lab.

"We have a collaboration agreement between the lab and the U.S. biathlon team where we provide all sports-science testing services for the team," Becker said. "Last fall, we set up the markerless motion capture system outside during the Olympic team trials."

To gather the necessary data, Becker and his team set up 20 cameras where the biathletes Nordic skied up the steepest part of the course.

"This allowed us to capture the full 3D movement of the athletes as they skied up the hill on each lap of the race without requiring any sensors on the athletes or interfering with their race," he said.

The data informed coaches and athletes about specific things they could do to improve their uphill climbing technique, as that is where the most time is lost during the skiing portion of biathlon races.

"As far as we know we are only the second group worldwide to have captured skiing biomechanics in a race environment using this type of technology," Becker said.

Monfort said researchers also leverage the technology closer to home. Those efforts aim to improve care of amputees in rural Montana, increase understanding of factors that influence musculoskeletal injury risk and rehabilitation, evaluate mobility and risk of falling in older adults, and provide quantitative data to patients and clinicians about rehabilitation progress following musculoskeletal injuries.

Additional benefits of the system include increased comfort for participants and the ability to handle a larger volume of subjects. These changes aim to improve the quality and scope of research and add depth to the studies by having time to include measurements of brain or muscle activation or using more robust testing protocols. It also has significantly enhanced educational opportunities, allowing more than 150 undergraduate students to gain hands-on experience with it - far more than was possible when using marker-based motion capture processes.

"Students can now get access to high-quality, research-grade biomechanical data," Monfort said. "They can see the implementation of the technology - and it's really at the forefront of the field - and then bring that back to some of the concepts that we talk about in the classroom."

Monfort said between the lab's five principal investigators, he estimates 15 graduate students, and more than 20 undergraduates, conduct hands-on research in the lab.

"It takes a while to put on the markers because it's very important to have anatomical accuracy," said Sophia Stemler, a junior biomedical engineering major from Morrison, Colorado, who has worked in the lab since her freshman year. "With markerless motion capture, we are able to do quick collections, and that has really broadened the possibilities of how we spend our time. Now we have more time for analysis."

Stemler said her undergraduate research experience is helping her to prepare for medical school, after which she plans to pursue a career in orthopedic surgery.

"Undergraduate research is the perfect opportunity to learn by doing," she said. "If I had to cut out my extracurricular activities, research would be the one that I continue - it's such a special opportunity that MSU gives to its undergraduate students."

Including Becker and Monfort, five MSU researchers lead the Neuromuscular Biomechanics Lab: Carolin Curtze, assistant professor of food systems, nutrition and kinesiology; Corey Pew, associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering; and Tyler Whittier, assistant professor of food systems, nutrition and kinesiology. The Department of Food Systems, Nutrition and Kinesiology is in MSU's College of Education, Health and Human Development.

The researchers say the upgrade broadens opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration and applications ranging from athletic performance to injury prevention and rehabilitation. It will also enable new opportunities to collaborate with clinical practitioners, work with sports teams and organizations, or companies looking for this specialized data to support product development. Such collaborations can provide valuable biomechanical data that lead to more robust assessments while also bolstering recruitment for research studies.

"The Murdock grant is establishing cutting-edge biomechanics capabilities at MSU," said Dilpreet Bajwa, head of MSU's mechanical and industrial engineering department.