Inertial measurement units allow for quantitative assessment of body motion in many environments. Determining the ability to measure upper limb motion with inertial measurement units, leveraging procedures traditionally used in the lab such as scapular calibration procedures and humeral axial rotation calculation, would expand the opportunities to assess upper limb function in externally valid environments. This study examined if humeral and scapular motion measured in different field settings is consistent with motion measured in a lab setting in similar tasks.
Twenty-eight adults participated in the study (14 field setting, 14 lab setting). Three different types of field settings were included: home (
Five out of seven tasks displayed no differences for humeral elevation and humeral axial rotation, while scapular upward rotation and tilt were not statistically different for any tasks. Scapular internal rotation variability was very high for the field setting, but not for the lab setting. Task-based differences in humeral elevation and humeral axial rotation may be related to equipment modifications for the field protocol and between subjects' variability in task performance. Data indicate that humeral elevation, humeral axial rotation, and scapular upward rotation can be measured in externally valid field settings, which is promising for the evaluation of upper limb movement in natural environments.