Tracking Exercise Motions of Older Adults Using Contours.

In this paper we describe the development of a novel markerless motion capture system and explore its use in documenting elder exercise routines in a health club. This system uses image contour tracking and swarm intelligence methods to track the location of the spine and shoulders during three exercises - treadmill, exercise bike, and overhead lateral pull-down. Validation results show that our method has a mean error of approximately 2 degrees when measuring the angle of the spine or shoulders relative to the horizontal. Qualitative study results demonstrate that our system is capable of providing important feedback about the posture and stability of elders while they are performing exercises. Study participants indicated that feedback from our system would add value to their exercise routines.