Estimation of Force Effectiveness and Symmetry During Kranking Training

The third Sustainable Development Goal of the 2030 Agenda promotes healthy lives and well-being for all people of all ages. A good way to ensure a healthy lifestyle is to perform daily physical activity. Among different exercises of cardiovascular training, kranking is a program that involves arm-cranking gesture performed on a stationary handbike. In order to correctly perform this activity, biomechanical parameters have to be monitored. The present pilot study aimed at developing a setup for the quantitative evaluation of the force effectiveness and symmetry during different conditions of upper limbs kranking. One healthy young subject performed different tasks of steady-state cycling on varying cadence, braking torque, and motion pattern. Strain gauges positioned on the handles of a commercial arm-cranking machine allowed the estimation of total and effective forces applied by the user. Moreover, an optical motion capture system was adopted to evaluate the kinematics of the upper limbs during the movement. Comparing the total and the effective forces, the effectiveness of the gesture was evaluated for all testing conditions. Overall, results suggest that the developed setup is adequate to efficaciously identify possible alterations of performance parameters during upper limbs kranking.