Assessment of screw displacement axis accuracy and repeatability for joint kinematic description using an electromagnetic tracking device

Screw displacement axes (SDAs) have been employed to describe joint kinematics in biomechanical studies. Previous reports have investigated the accuracy of SDAs combining various motion analysis techniques and smoothing procedures. To our knowledge, no study has assessed SDA accuracy describing the relative movement between adjacent bodies with an electromagnetic tracking system. This is important, since in relative motion, neither body is fixed and consequently sensitivity to potential measurement errors from both bodies may be significant. Therefore, this study assessed the accuracy of SDAs for describing relative motion between two moving bodies. We analyzed numerical simulated data, and physical experimental data recorded using a precision jig and electromagnetic tracking device. The numerical simulations demonstrated SDA position accuracy (p = 0.04) was superior for single compared to relative body motion, whereas orientation accuracy (p = 0.2) was similar. Experimental data showed data-filtering (Butterworth filter) improved SDA position and orientation accuracies for rotation magnitudes smaller or equal to 5.0degrees, with no effect at larger rotation magnitudes (p < 0.05). This suggests that in absence of a filter, SDAs should only be calculated at rotations of greater than 5.0degrees. For rotation magnitudes of 0.5degrees (5.0degrees) about the SDA, SDA position and orientation error measurements determined from filtered experimental data were 3.75 +/- 0.30 mm, (3.31 +/- 0.21 mm), and 1.10 +/- 0.04degrees (1.04 +/- 0.03degrees), respectively. Experimental accuracy values describing the translation along and rotation about the SDA, were 0.06 +/- 0.00 mm and 0.09 +/- 0.01degrees, respectively. These small errors establish the capability of SDAs to detect small translations, and rotations. In conclusion, application of SDAs should be a useful tool for describing relative motion in joint kinematic studies. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.