Designing, validation, and reliability assessment of software to acquire kinematics parameters of motion by image processing

Motion analysis systems are useful and effective equipment in biomechanics research. Unfortunately these systems are available for few researchers because these are expensive equipment. The aim of this study was to design and validation of a practical and inexpensive software, to determine the exact markers position in space and compute the kinematic of movement. In designing the software, the exact image processing algorithms and Direct Liner Transformation (DLT) method were used to calculate markers position in space. To validate the software, the markers position in static, dynamic, linear, angular, 2D and 3D conditions were calculateted by other standard tools and compared with software outputs using Mann-Whitney U test and no significant difference were observed. The validity and reliability of the software was assessed using Pearson Correlation Coefficient and Intraclass Correlations Coefficient and during all test conditions, very high levels of these coefficients were found (≥0.97). In a nutshell, present software, with features such as automatic tracking markers, inexpensive price, the possibility to outdoor use and image processing in 2D and 3D conditions, is valid and reliable software for kinematics analysis.