Biomechanical feedback is a relevant key to improving sports and arts performance. Yet, the bibliometric keyword analysis on Web of Science publications reveals that, when comparing to other biofeedback applications, the real-time biomechanical feedback application lags far behind in sports and arts practice. While real-time physiological and biochemical biofeedback have seen routine applications, the use of real-time biomechanical feedback in motor learning and training is still rare. On that account, the paper aims to extract the specific research areas, such as three-dimensional (3D) motion capture, anthropometry, biomechanical modeling, sensing technology, and artificial intelligent (AI)/deep learning, which could contribute to the development of the real-time biomechanical feedback system. The review summarizes the past and current state of biomechanical feedback studies in sports and arts performance; and, by integrating the results of the studies with the contemporary wearable technology, proposes a two-chain body model monitoring using six IMUs (inertial measurement unit) with deep learning technology. The framework can serve as a basis for a breakthrough in the development. The review indicates that the vital step in the development is to establish a massive data, which could be obtained by using the synchronized measurement of 3D motion capture and IMUs, and that should cover diverse sports and arts skills. As such, wearables powered by deep learning models trained by the massive and diverse datasets can supply a feasible, reliable, and practical biomechanical feedback for athletic and artistic training.

Previous studies have shown that muscle repetitive stress injuries (RSIs) are often related to sport trainings among young participants. As such, understanding the mechanism of RSIs is essential for injury prevention. One potential means would be to identify muscles in risk by applying biomechanical modeling. By capturing 3D movements of four typical youth sports and building the biomechanical models, the current study has identified several risk factors related to the development of RSIs. The causal factors for RSIs are the muscle over-lengthening, the impact-like (speedy increase) eccentric tension in muscles, imbalance between agonists and antagonists, muscle loading frequency and muscle strength. In general, a large range of motion of joints would lead to over-lengthening of certain small muscles; Limb’s acceleration during power generation could cause imbalance between agonists and antagonists; a quick deceleration of limbs during follow-throughs would induce an impact-like eccentric tension to muscles; and even at low speed, frequent muscle over-lengthening would cause a micro-trauma accumulation which could result in RSIs in long term. Based on the results, the following measures can be applied to reduce the risk of RSIs during learning/training in youth participants: (1) stretching training of muscles at risk in order to increase lengthening ability; (2) dynamic warming-up for minimizing possible imbalance between agonists and antagonists; (3) limiting practice times of the frequency and duration of movements requiring strength and/or large range of motion to reducing micro-trauma accumulation; and (4) allowing enough repair time for recovery from micro-traumas induced by training (individual training time). Collectively, the results show that biomechanical modeling is a practical tool for predicting injury risk and provides an effective way to establish an optimization strategy to counteract the factors leading to muscle repetitive stress injuries during motor skill learning and training.

Background: The policy of the Physical Education (PE) Entrance Examination for Senior High School (PEESHS) is an operable and measurable educational policy proposed by the Chinese government to solve the youth’s physical health problems and promote health in middle school students. In recent years, the reform of PEESHS policy has brought youth sports to a new climax, and determining how to achieve the maximum benefit of health promotion with the PEESHS policy is the current focus of the Chinese government, society, schools, and families. The primary purpose was to investigate the health promotion benefits of PE on junior high school students under PEESHS policy and clarify the differences and correlation of overall health, physical fitness, sports participation, social adaptation, and learning facilitation. The secondary aim was to assess the practical value of PEESHS policy implementation on health promotion. Methods: The questionnaire of this study was compiled in four steps, and 31 provincial capitals across China were selected as sampling areas, using the convenience sampling method and snowball sampling method, respectively. The number of questionnaires collected was 11,373 (5703 online; 5670 offline), of which 8574 were valid, with an efficiency rate of 75.4%. Ultimately, 8574 students (4199 girls; 4375 boys) were recruited from junior high schools in 31 provinces and municipalities. Data analyses were performed using ANOVA, t-test, and Pearson bivariate correlation. Results: The results showed that the PEESHS significantly improved participants’ physical fitness, interpersonal relationships, exercise participation, learning efficiency, and psychological health after preparing for PEESHS. Exercise participation and physical fitness showed the most significant positive correlation. Excessive sports intensity was detrimental to health promotion. Conclusion: The PEESHS policy has significantly impacted the health of students participating in PEESHS.

To explore the effect of exercise intervention on fundamental movement skills (FMS) of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and/or autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Following the principle of PICOS, randomized controlled trials of the effect of exercise intervention on the FMS of ADHD/ASD children were searched. A total of 12 articles and 396 participants were included. Review Manager5.4 and Stata16.0 software were used to process and analyze the data. The results revealed that (1) exercise intervention can improve the gross motor skills of children with ADHD/ASD (p < 0.00001). Aquatic therapy (SMD = 56.54, 95% CI = 38.83–74.25) has a better effect on stability skills, and FMS intervention (SMD = 17.58, 95% CI = 1.78–33.38) has a better effect on locomotor skills and object control skills. (2) Exercise intervention can improve the fine motor skills of children with ADHD/ASD (p = 0.001). Table tennis exercise (SMD = 9.91, 95% CI = 0.23–19.59) and horse-riding program (SMD = 9.50, 95% CI = 5.20–13.80) have better effects on fine manual control and hand–eye coordination. (3) The closed-skill intervention for 60 min each time, twice a week, for at least 12 weeks had the best effect on the improvement in the FMS in children with ADHD/ASD (p < 0.00001). Exercise intervention may effectively improve FMS in children with ADHD/ASD. Intervention form, time, frequency, and duration are important moderator variables that positively impact the FMS of children with ADHD/ASD.

The world record of the hammer throw has not been broken since 1986. This stagnation is multifactorial. One dominant factor could be the lack of evidence-based scientific/biofeedback training. This study aims to identify key parameters influencing throw quality and structure a new digital method for biofeedback training. Wire-tension measurement and 3D motion capture technology (VICON 12-camera system) were applied in quantifying and comparing throws of a national-level and a college-level athlete. Our results reveal that multi-joint coordination influences heavily on wire-tension generation. Four phases, i.e., initiation, transition, turns, and throw, play various roles in evaluating the quality of a throw. Among them, the transition, the third turn, and the throw display explosive/rapid increases of tension. For improving the effectiveness of the skill, the whip-like control and proper SSC (stretch-shortening cycle) of muscle groups involved should be established through years of training. Furthermore, our study unveils that quick and complex full-body control could be quantified and characterized by four key parameters: wire-tension, hand- and hip-height, and trunk tilt. Hence, a wearable digital device with tension and three Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sensors would have great potential in realizing real-time biomechanical feedback training in practice for evaluating and improving the efficiency of various training programs.

Hammer-throw has a long-standing history in track and field, but unlike some other sports events, men’s hammer throw has not seen a new world record since 1986. One of the possible reasons for this stagnation could be the lack of real-time biomechanical feedback training. In this study, we proposed to establish scientifically described training targets and routes, which in turn required tools that could measure and quantify characteristics of an effective hammer-throw. Towards this goal, we have developed a real-time biomechanical feedback device—a wireless sensor system—to help the training of hammer-throw. The system includes two sensors—an infrared proximity sensor for tracing the hip vertical movement and a load cell for recording the wire tension during a hammer-throw. The system uses XBees for data transmission and an Arduino processor for data processing and system control. The results revealed that the wire tension measurement could supply sufficient key features for coaches to analyze hammer-throw and give real-time feedback for improving training efficiency.