Three-dimensional functional evaluation of the shoulder complex using the Kinect™ sensor

The shoulder complex is one of the most movable joints of the body. Clinicians do not have tools to assess three-dimensional (3D) shoulder range of motion (RoM) during complex motions. The Kinect™ sensor, a cost-effective markerless motion capture system (MLS), offers interesting possibilities in clinical functional analysis and rehabilitation. However, to our best knowledge, no study has investigated the use of a Kinect™ sensor to analytically evaluate 3D motion of the shoulder complex during functional tasks. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the capacities of this device and to determine its limitations in order to understand whether or not it can be used in daily clinics to assess functional shoulder motions. Twenty subjects participated in this study; three functional motions were simultaneously recorded with a Marker Based System (MBS) and MLS. 3D motion analysis of the upper limb using MLS coupled to a post-processing optimization procedure can thus be achieved with the Kinect™ sensor.