Towards Routine Biomechanical Data Collection in Neurorehabilitation: A Usability Comparison of IMU and Markerless Motion Capture Systems for Upper-Limb Assessments

Towards Routine Biomechanical Data Collection in Neurorehabilitation: A Usability Comparison of IMU and Markerless Motion Capture Systems for Upper-Limb Assessments | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Towards Routine Biomechanical Data Collection in Neurorehabilitation: A Usability Comparison of IMU and Markerless Motion Capture Systems for Upper-Limb Assessments Tim Unger, Xin Yao, Anna Schmitt, Lea Cebulla, Chris Easthope Awai This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8711156/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Objective measurement of upper-limb movement quality based on biomechanical data collected in clinical routine has the potential to enable precision neurorehabilitation at scale. However, integrating biomechanical data collection into daily clinical workflows remains challenging. In this exploratory study, we evaluated the usability of two technologies for routine kinematic data collection: an IMU-based version of the instrumented Action Research Arm Test (iARAT-IMU) and a multicamera markerless motion capture (MMC) system. First, five physiotherapists independently operated the iARAT-IMU across seven clinical routine assessment sessions at a rehabilitation clinic in Switzerland to quantify learning curves, setup times, and usability. Second, we conducted a preference study in which the same therapists used both, the IMU- and MMC-system, during a standardized drinking task and completed quantitative and qualitative usability assessments focusing on system preference and underlying reasons. Results show that therapists rapidly learned to operate the tablet application for scoring the iARAT; however, the IMU system added approximately 11 minutes of setup time and sometimes required assistance. In contrast, the multicamera workflow required approximately 2 minutes of additional time - well within the 5-minute maximum indicated a priori by therapists as acceptable for clinical routine and received consistently higher usability ratings. Most therapists preferred this approach due to greater efficiency and reduced patient burden. These findings highlight important design considerations for future digital assessment tools and indicate that markerless motion capture systems may offer a more feasible pathway toward routine biomechanical data collection for upper-limb assessments in clinical neurorehabilitation. usability neurorehabilitation ARAT IMU motion capture clinical routine markerless motion capture upper limb assessment Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 02 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 18 Mar, 2026 Reviews received at journal 04 Mar, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 21 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 18 Feb, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 12 Feb, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 11 Feb, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 02 Feb, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 02 Feb, 2026 First submitted to journal 27 Jan, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8711156","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":591568623,"identity":"a25f5471-bb70-47ac-aece-2e169d55d6cf","order_by":0,"name":"Tim Unger","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Lake Lucerne Institute","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tim","middleName":"","lastName":"Unger","suffix":""},{"id":591568624,"identity":"73e456f6-78cc-4807-9639-5778b03c4422","order_by":1,"name":"Xin Yao","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Lake Lucerne 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