Measuring and characterizing human movements during sporting activities are nowadays a crucial aspect for coaching programs in order to assess athletes’ performance, to improve technique, and to prevent injuries. Sport biomechanics represents the science that provides quantitative (and sometimes qualitative) assessments of sport performance in particular, the kinematics and kinetics of sport movements. Recent technological developments have contributed to these increasing competitive levels, with these devices used to monitor sport training and competition performance, especially from a sport biomechanics perspective. In addition, perhaps due to the growing number of people who compete in a wide variety of sports and recreational levels, the elite level requirements are constantly increasing. Several studies demonstrated the benefits in terms of life satisfaction, health, well-being, and educational and social participation. It is well known that sports, or physical activities more generally, have a positive impact on quality of life. Recent statistics showed that about 50% of the European population performs a sport activity at least once a week starting from 15 years old. The provided overview can be useful for researchers, athletes, and coaches to understand the technologies currently available for sport performance assessment. The main sport assessed in the studies was running, even though the range of sports examined was quite high. From the literature review results, it appears that inertial sensors are the most widespread sensors for assessing athletes’ performance however, there still exist applications for force sensors and electromyography in this context. The present study seeks to provide an overview of sport biomechanics applications found from recent literature using wearable sensors, highlighting some information related to the used sensors and analysis methods. Several studies were conducted to verify the feasibility of using wearable sensors for sport applications by using both commercially available and customized sensors. From this perspective, inertial sensors, force sensors, and electromyography appear to be the most appropriate wearable sensors to use.
![human gyroscope human gyroscope](https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/Hb1bcca4b63b24c5da8e87a2c75b42086A/Funny-mechanical-gyroscope-electric-gyroscope-electric-playground-human-gyroscope.jpg)
The data from these sensors provides key performance outcomes as well as more detailed kinematic, kinetic, and electromyographic data that provides insight into how the performance was obtained. These sensors have been also developed to assess athletes’ performance, providing useful guidelines for coaching, as well as for injury prevention. In the last few decades, a number of technological developments have advanced the spread of wearable sensors for the assessment of human motion.
![human gyroscope human gyroscope](https://c8.alamy.com/comp/A66N5Y/dorset-uk-03-june-2006-girl-spinning-on-a-human-gyroscope-gravity-A66N5Y.jpg)
![human gyroscope human gyroscope](https://amusementrides.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Human-Gyroscope-Rides-270x300.jpg)
1 Department of Economics, Engineering, Society and Business Organization, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, ItalyĢ Faculty of Health Science and Medicine, Bond University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australiaģ Sports Performance Research Centre New Zealand, AUT University, Auckland, New ZealandĤ Cluster for Health Improvement, Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australiaĥ Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, Karnataka, IndiaĦ Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Sloveniaħ Atlantic Mobility Action Project, Brain Repair Centre, Department of Medical Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, CanadaĨ Department of Training and Movement Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germanyĩ Berlin School of Movement Science, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germanyġ0 Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, UK Show more