A SWOT Analysis of Portable and Low-Cost Markerless Motion Capture Systems to Assess Lower-Limb Musculoskeletal Kinematics in Sport

Markerless motion capture systems are promising for the assessment of movement in more real world research and clinical settings. While the technology has come a long way in the last 20 years, it is important for researchers and clinicians to understand the capacities and considerations for implementing these types of systems. The current review provides a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis related to the successful adoption of markerless motion capture technology for the assessment of lower-limb musculoskeletal kinematics in sport medicine and performance settings. 31 articles met the a priori inclusion criteria of this analysis. Findings from the analysis indicate that the improving accuracy of these systems via the refinement of machine learning algorithms, combined with their cost efficacy and the enhanced ecological validity outweighs the current weaknesses and threats. Further, the analysis makes clear that there is a need for multidisciplinary collaboration between sport scientists and computer vision scientists to develop accurate clinical and research applications that are specific to sport. While work remains to be done for broad application, markerless motion capture technology is currently on a positive trajectory and the data from this analysis provide an efficient roadmap toward widespread adoption.