A Persons resting posture can reveal a lot and is a fundamental part of Gary Ward’s AiM - Finding Centre flow motion model.

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“When Gary mapped the journey of every bone and joint in a single footstep, he revolutionised his own anatomical understanding. By observing the body in three dimensions as it moves through the walking gait cycle, he identified optimal movement patterns that we can use to overcome any postural limitations. Anatomy in Motion helps you understand and overcome your movement limitations. By addressing the root causes of your physical and postural adaptations, you can realign, rebalance, and unlock your full movement potential”

Analysing posture is typically done by observation or by finding key landmarks on the body and “feeling” the difference. The goal is to identify muscle and structural imbalances that result in unwanted tension across the body. This can result in discomfort and in extreme cases debilitating pain. In some cases of course there is nothing but arguments have been made that imbalanced tension distribution results in sub optimal performance and hence reduced “flow”, a term used to describe effortless movement.

More and more the use of smart phone cameras and AI are being used to provide such analysis via a method known as “pose estimation”. This project used Media Pipe Pose to identify landmarks which in turn were used to compare various aspects of the body posture. The results were then translated into simple written outputs.

The process is simple and can be accessed via standard laptops and computers and mobile devices. Users take a photo and the app obtains the landmarks and uses “physics” to analyse the main body segments, head, shoulders, hips, knees. It primarily considers the frontal plane but makes some educated guesses for the transverse (rotational) plane.

A bonus feature is the ability to look at two fascia lines, Spiral and Front as described by Tom Myers in his book Anatomy Trains. This also provides insight into imbalance and tension.

Try the app here → PosturAI

We have had some great initial feedback and an abundance of ideas on where to go next but for now please have a go!

Privacy note: images are NOT stored anywhere at all. Google analytics only tracks visits to the site and nothing else.

The creation of Right Step / TalTech lab and this project was, in part supported by the Estonian Research Council - SekMo Program

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Physio has reportedly gone well and things are looking up but there is a fear factor at play and a lack of confidence.

The assessment carried out in the lab consists of 4 parts.

1. Brief history that includes the position, style of play and tactical intent of the team

2. Static standing posture

3. Dynamic posture analysis in walking

4. Analysis of data collected via 2 sensors during walking

Note: running would also be looked at but the player is not yet cleared to run.

Static and Dynamic posture look at how major joint structures (pelvis, spine) rest and move and an inference is drawn for joints above and below. For example, the frontal plane resting pelvis is assessed via the PSIS / ASIS and and any hikes are noted. In this case the left side was notably higher than the right. The Transverse plane and Anterior-Posterior plane can also be assessed in the same way. It helps to build a picture of the how the muscles are carrying tension. Inference can then be made on how the femur / tibia / ankle relationship might be along with how the spinal components might be. It can become very detailed but our approach is focus on the big joints and map others.

In walking a video is taken and again the focus is on big joints and “what stands out” either supporting or contradicting the static assessments. The goal is to locate the first layer of the proverbial “onion” and provide a starting point for treatment (which in our case is always movement tasks).

With an idea of what the body is doing utilising an accelerometry assessment will objectively quantify the subjects loading patterns in all three axes of movement. Some additional, simple calculations provide clarity and allows some conclusions to be drawn.

During the process the player is informed about what is happening and what the results show. This sometimes engages the subject and uncovers more information as to how the player is feeling / responding.

The results below is a consolidated table of some quite intense graphs and analysis. The detail is left out as to make the results easier to interpret and digest but of course made available should it be requested.

In the table we see some large numbers with no units. The units are actually BW/s (number of body weights experienced per second) but we typically refer to the output as a how intense the activity is on the limb or how much intensity does the limb experience / feel. Intensity is generally a good thing for muscle / bone but of course it can be the reverse. the key is differences between limbs highlighting that one or the other is doing more work.

the overall all intensity is one thing but the human has access to three planes and so it discrepancies can be hidden to some degree. It is possible to have “good” intensity on both limbs yet there still be a underlying issue or risk. As such we breakdown the axes to take a look see.

Here we see the side to side movement highlights a large difference. The right side creating much more intensity than the left. Such a large discrepancy suggests something is up and if we take into account the high left pelvis (and the fact that the right side never makes it above the center line in walking) we can deduce that there is some rotated posture leading to a side to side motion being prominent.

The other piece to notice is that the left side is dominant. the player is right side dominant so it may stand to reason that we might expect the outputs to be the other way around.

All in all the assessment indicates that the the player has adopted a protective or avoidance movement strategy due to the injury to the right knee. He may be out of pain but the re integrating the movements that he lost by compensating or moving away from the pain has not been fully achieved.

This places the player at risk in two way.

1. Risk of re injury to the same side at “normal” operation

2. Risk of overloading the left side

So what can be done about it? Well, this is largely up to the physio, fitness trainer and of course the player.

From an assessment perspective a re assessment should be carried out when the player is cleared to run.

From a movement perspective unravelling the player’s compensations (and of course supplementing this with strength, situational training etc) would be beneficial. Addressing mobility in the big joints would go a long way and of course testing the players foundational ability to walk and run.

“Foundation” is a key word at Right Step. The adage “cant run before you can walk” bears some truth, even with an elite athlete.

As a kid I was always taught to do the basics well (passing over 5 yards, keeping the ball on the island (tennis)) and I now emphasize this in walking. Should we try to become as good as we can at the basics?

It doesnt take much to continue to work on the foundations and with simple assessments we can always keep track. Of course more sophisticated technologies can be utilised but do they become impractical considering time is precious? this whole process takes around 20 minutes to complete but if you have curious subjects like this one you may be there for a few hours :).

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The collaboration is supported by SekMo, an Estonian Research Council program that allows industry and academia to partner.

The goal of the collaboration is to develop the hardware and supporting software to carry out knee assessments that could act as a first line diagnostic tool.

But, assessments that leverage sensors and supporting computing technology are not as common place. It was once thought that the mobile phone would serve as the platform of choice for this type of thing but yet still…nope.

The mobile is to personal, in that there are many apps fighting for the phones real estate, there is connectivity that is the gateway to your personal effects and the process of downloading one shot apps is just a pain.

So, what can we learn from the blood test providers? Simple, easy UX, clear instructions and fast turnaround, straight to your door (or local parcel machine as that is now a thing or if you are in a delivery robot area..why not?).

Right Step’s in clinic assessments for walking that are used to promote, monitor and baseline recovery post lower limb surgery and can be carried out in under two minutes are great, but still present a logistical challenge within hospitals.

That is why we are learning from the blood test providers to develop a step by step means to carry out the same test but in your own home. Just imagine the test being delivered to you, all handled by the box itself with no connectivity required. Just do the assessment in a few minutes and pop it back in the post and get your results in the same way as a blood test.

There is a bonus here also. Hospitals require outcome measures to improve their care delivery. National bodies require patient outcome statistics to understand the overall delivery of care to patients. This is a challenge that has not yet been totally successful. From subjective measures to high patient drop offs there is potential to solve this with some simple “tech in a box” and get populations recovered and moving to a much higher standard.

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