Analysis of Athlete Training Data Based on Intelligent Sensing Technology for Sports Clothing

Gaihong Yang, Xuemin Han, Hongxia Yang, Dong Zhao, Long Yu

Article
2026 / Volume 9 / Pages 403-419
Received 14 October 2025; Accepted 4 November 2025; Published 28 February 2026
https://doi.org/10.31881/TLR.2026.403

Abstract
This paper details the design, fabrication, and performance validation of a functional electronic textile (e-textile) engineered for biomechanical monitoring. A warp-knitted nylon-elastane compression garment serves as the sub-strate, a material choice critical for ensuring a stable and conformal skin-sensor interface. The sensing functionali-ties are directly integrated into the fabric structure. Electromyography (EMG) electrodes were fabricated by screen-printing a stretchable, silver-based conductive ink to monitor key muscle groups, while flexible piezoresis-tive sensors were incorporated to function as a textile-based goniometer for kinematic tracking at the knee joint. The performance of this integrated smart garment system was rigorously evaluated in a study with 12 runners performing a run to exhaustion. The system’s data output demonstrated high fidelity when validated against la-boratory-grade motion capture systems (R2 > 0.95). Crucially, the results confirmed the textile’s ability to reliably measure the physiological and biomechanical markers concurrent with the onset of neuromuscular fatigue, evi-denced by a significant decrease in EMG median frequency (p < 0.01) and concurrent biomechanical alterations, where changes in Ground Contact Time were highly significant (p < 0.01) and Knee Flexion Range of Motion was significant (p < 0.05). This study validates the integrated textile system as a high-performance and reliable plat-form, demonstrating the viability of using engineered fabric structures for complex, dynamic human movement analysis.

Keywords
e-textiles, textile sensors, conductive yarns, functional fabrics, running biomechanics