Quantitative evaluation of strength and technology in climbing

The rapid development of climbing from a sports-niche to a popular and competitive sport has become evident in the past 15 years. The peak of popularity is reached by participating in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, which is reflected in increasing media interest.

Nowadays, the use of sensors to determine performance in popular sports for self-monitoring, but also in competitions to evaluate and support training concepts, is taken as a given. In the case of the climbing sport, the metrological recording of performance data is still in its infancy. The aim of this project is to develop a method of quantifying strength and technique during climbing for performance evaluation and early detection of injuries.

Since the holistic determination of all performance factors of climbing athletes has not been possible due to high complexity, the focus of this research project lies on the determination of forces and movements with today's standard measuring instruments. The methodology is divided into the following areas:

• Preliminary examination of the athlete (defined warm-up, application of existing training methods, etc.)
• Determination of environmental influences (temperature, humidity, etc.)
• Direct measurement of three-dimensional forces acting on hands and feet while climbing (continuous force curve through the use of several 3-axis force sensors)
• Acquisition of the athlete's movement during climbing (combination of 3D camera and software detection of human body points)
• Combination of these areas for the analysis of biomechanical models to determine the influences on muscle groups and joints

In addition, standardized questionnaires are to be designed in order to incorporate non-measurable variables (mental strength, psychological state, etc.) into the model.

 

Principal Investigator (Tyrolean private university UMIT): Dominik Pandurevic