Validity and reliability of inertial measurement units for jump height estimations: a systematic review

Inertial measurement units (IMUs) have been extensively used for measuring human motion. One particular outcome of interest in sports is vertical jump height, which is assessed in specific performance tests or actions occurring in training or match scenarios. This systematic review aimed to (1) identify and summarize studies that have examined the validity of wearable wireless IMUs for measuring jump height and (2) identify and summarize studies that have examined the reliability of wearable wireless IMUs for measuring jump height. A systematic review of the Cochrane Library, EBSCO, PubMed, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science databases was performed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. From the 596 studies initially identified, 30 were fully reviewed, and their outcome measures were extracted and analysed. Among the 16 different IMU models, 15 were considered valid, with only one device not validated. Of the 7 IMUs that were tested for reliability, all were considered reliable for measuring jump height. In general, however, despite these findings, IMUs are not considered accurate enough to detect small changes in performance. Also, generalizations were not possible for athletic populations given the lack of studies with such samples.