Vertical ground reaction force spectral analysis for fatigue assessment

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a novel fatigue assessment technique using Vertical Ground Reaction Force (VGRF) signals acquired during ultra-marathon running. To achieve that goal, we performed frequency-domain on singlechannel VGRF signals on different time intervals during ultra-marathon running and tracked the features' variation. Our method was applied on single-channel VGRF signals recorded via instrumented treadmill during a 24-hour ultramarathon ran by 12 well-trained athletes. The purpose behind our work is to develop computationally-efficient techniques for real-time fatigue assessment during running activities, taking advantage of the low level of complexity and deterministic behavior of the signals in hand when compared to other fatigue indicating electrophysiological signals.