Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Kinematic description of soft tissue artifacts: quantifying rigid versus deformation components and their relation with bone motion

  • Special Issue - Original Article
  • Published:
Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper proposes a kinematic approach for describing soft tissue artifacts (STA) in human movement analysis. Artifacts are represented as the field of relative displacements of markers with respect to the bone. This field has two components: deformation component (symmetric field) and rigid motion (skew-symmetric field). Only the skew-symmetric component propagates as an error to the joint variables, whereas the deformation component is filtered in the kinematic analysis process. Finally, a simple technique is proposed for analyzing the sources of variability to determine which part of the artifact may be modeled as an effect of the motion, and which part is due to other sources. This method has been applied to the analysis of the shank movement induced by vertical vibration in 10 subjects. The results show that the cluster deformation is very small with respect to the rigid component. Moreover, both components show a strong relationship with the movement of the tibia. These results suggest that artifacts can be modeled effectively as a systematic relative rigid movement of the marker cluster with respect to the underlying bone. This may be useful for assessing the potential effectiveness of the usual strategies for compensating for STA.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Akbarshahi M, Schache AG, Fernandez JW, Baker R, Banks S, Pandy MG (2010) Non-invasive assessment of soft-tissue artifact and its effect on knee joint kinematics during functional activity. J Biomech 43:1292–1301

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Alexander EJ, Andriacchi TP (2001) Correcting for deformation in skin-based marker systems. J Biomech 34:355–361

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Andersen MS, Benoit DL, Damsgaard M, Ramsey DK, Rasmussen J (2010) Do kinematic models reduce the effects of soft tissue artefacts in skin marker-based motion analysis? An in vivo study of knee kinematics. J Biomech 43:268–273

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Andriacchi TP, Alexander EJ, Toney MK, Dyrby C, Sum J (1998) A point cluster method for in vivo motion analysis: applied to a study of knee kinematics. J Biomech Eng 120:743–749

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Benoit DL, Ramsey DK, Lamontagne M, Xu L, Wretenberg P, Renström P (2006) Effect of skin movement artifact on knee kinematics during gait and cutting motions measured in vivo. Gait Posture 24:152–164

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Camomilla V, Donati M, Stagni R, Cappozzo A (2009) Non-invasive assessment of superficial soft tissue local displacement during movement: a feasibility study. J Biomech 42:931–937

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Cappello A, Cappozzo A, La Palombara PF, Lucchetti L, Leardini A (1997) Multiple anatomical landmark calibration for optimal bone pose estimation. Hum Mov Sci 16:259–274

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Cappello A, Stagni R, Fantozzi S, Leardini A (2005) Soft tissue artifact compensation in knee kinematics by double anatomical landmark calibration: performance of a novel method during select motor tasks. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 52:992–998

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Cappozzo A, Della Croce U, Leardini A, Chiari L (2005) Human movement analysis using stereophotogrammetry: part 1: theoretical background. Gait Posture 21:186–196

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Chèze L, Fregly BJ, Dimnet J (1995) A solidification procedure to facilitate kinematic analyses based on video system data. J Biomech 28:879–884

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Dumas R, Cheze L (2009) Soft tissue artifact compensation by linear 3D interpolation and approximation methods. J Biomech 42:2214–2217

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Ehrig RM, Taylor WR, Duda GN, Heller MO (2006) A survey of formal methods for determining the centre of rotation of ball joints. J Biomech 39:2798–2809

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Ehrig RM, Taylor WR, Duda GN, Heller MO (2007) A survey of formal methods for determining functional joint axes. J Biomech 40:2150–2157

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Fuller J, Liu LJ, Murphy MC, Mann RW (1997) A comparison of lower-extremity skeletal kinematics measured using skin- and pin-mounted markers. Hum Mov Sci 16:219–242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Gao B, Zheng N (2008) Investigation of soft tissue movement during level walking: translations and rotations of skin markers. J Biomech 41:3189–3195

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Holden JP, Orsini JA, Siegel KL, Kepple TM, Gerber LH, Stanhope SJ (1997) Surface movement errors in shank kinematics and knee kinetics during gait. Gait Posture 5:217–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Leardini A, Chiari L, Della Croce U, Cappozzo A (2005) Human movement analysis using stereo photogrammetry: part 3. Soft tissue artifact assessment and compensation. Gait Posture 21:212–225

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Lucchetti L, Cappozzo A, Cappello A, Della Croce U (1998) Skin movement artefact assessment and compensation in the estimation of knee-joint kinematics. J Biomech 31:977–984

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Nester C, Jones RK, Liu A, Howard D, Lundberg A, Arndt A, Lundgren P, Stacoff A, Wolf P (2007) Foot kinematics during walking measured using bone and surface mounted markers. J Biomech 40:3412–3423

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Page A, de Rosario H, Mata V, Hoyos JV, Porcar R (2006) Effect of marker cluster design on the accuracy of human movement analysis using stereophotogrammetry. Med Biol Eng Comput 4:1113–1119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Page A, de Rosario H, Mata V, Atienza C (2009) Experimental Analysis of Rigid Body Motion. A Vector Method to Determine Finite and Infinitesimal Displacements From Point Coordinates. J Mech Des 131: 031005

    Google Scholar 

  22. Page A, Galvez JA, de Rosario H, Mata V, Prat J (2010) Optimal average path of the instantaneous helical axis in planar motions with one functional degree of freedom. J Biomech 43:375–378

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Peters A, Galna B, Sangeux M, Morris M, Baker R (2010) Quantification of soft tissue artifact in lower limb human motion analysis: a systematic review. Gait Posture 31:1–8

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Reinschmidt C, van den Bogert AJ, Lundberg A, Nigg BM, Murphy N, Stacoff A, Stano A (1997) Tibiofemoral and tibiocalcaneal motion during walking: external vs. skeletal markers. Gait Posture 6:98–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Ryu T, Choi HS, Chung MK (2009) Soft tissue artifact compensation using displacement dependency between anatomical landmarks and skin markers- a preliminary study. Int J Ind Ergon 39:152–158

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Sangeux M, Marin F, Charleux F, Dürselen L, Ho Ba Tho MC (2006) Quantification of the 3D relative movement of external marker sets vs. bones based on magnetic resonance imaging. Clin Biomech 21:984–991

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Sati M, de Guise JA, Larouche S, Drouin G (1996) Quantitative assessment of skin-bone movement at the knee. Knee 3(3):121–138

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Stagni R, Fantozzi S (2009) Can cluster deformation be an indicator of soft tissue artefact? Gait Posture 30(Suppl 1):S55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Stagni R, Fantozzi S, Cappello A, Leardini A (2005) Quantification of soft tissue artefact in motion analysis by combining 3D fluoroscopy and stereophotogrammetry: a study on two subjects. Clin Biomech 20(3):320–329

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Stagni R, Fantozzi S, Cappello A (2009) Double calibration vs global optimization: performance and effectiveness for clinical application. Gait Posture 29:119–122

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Taylor WR, Ehrig RM, Duda GN, Schell H, Seebeck P, Heller MO (2005) On the influence of soft tissue coverage in the determination of bone kinematics using skin markers. J Orthop Res 23(4):726–734

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Tranberg R, Karlsson D (1998) The relative skin movement of the foot: a 2-D roentgen photogrammetry study. Clin Biomech 13(1):71–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Tsai T-Y, Lu Tung-Wu, Kuo M-Y, Lin C–C (2011) Effects of soft tissue artifacts on the calculated kinematics and kinetics of the knee during stair-ascent. J Biomech 44(6):1182–1188

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Woltring HJ, Long K, Osterbauer PJ, Fuhr AW (1994) Instantaneous helical axis estimation from 3-D video data in neck kinematics for whiplash diagnostics. J Biomech 27(12):1415–1432

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work has been funded by the Spanish Government and co-financed by EU FEDER funds (Grants DPI2009-13830-C02-01, DPI2009-13830-C02-02 and IMPIVA IMDEEA/2012/79 and IMDEEA/2012/80).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Biomecánica de Valencia, Universitat Politècnica de València, Edificio 9C, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022, Valencia, Spain

    Helios de Rosario & Efraim Conejero

  2. Departamento de Física Aplicada, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, E46022, Valencia, Spain

    Alvaro Page

  3. Grupo de Tecnología Sanitaria del IBV, CIBER de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN), Valencia, Spain

    Alvaro Page

  4. Departamento de Ingeniería Mecánica y de Materiales, Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, Spain

    Antonio Besa & Vicente Mata

Authors
  1. Helios de Rosario
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alvaro Page
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Antonio Besa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Vicente Mata
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Efraim Conejero
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alvaro Page.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (GIF 734 kb)

Online Resource 1. Video sample.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

de Rosario, H., Page, A., Besa, A. et al. Kinematic description of soft tissue artifacts: quantifying rigid versus deformation components and their relation with bone motion. Med Biol Eng Comput 50, 1173–1181 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-012-0978-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-012-0978-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation