How 3D movie animation technology is helping injured athletes
Alysia Lefau-Fakaosilea has had her fair share of injuries playing Rugby 7s for Australia. (ABC Sport: Bindi Bryce)
Like too many female athletes, Alysia Lefau-Fakaosilea has ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament.
The 25-year-old has a highlights reel of scoring powerful tries playing rugby sevens for Australia, so her knee giving way during a training camp came as a shock.
It happened just before the Paris 2024 Olympics, and ruled her out of the tournament.
"I felt like I was prepared going into training, and I think it was something that just happened then and there," she said.
"Alot of things came to mind, but I knew I had a great support system with me."
Factors behind the growing rates of ACL injuries among female athletes are not yet fully understood. (ABC Sport: Bindi Bryce)
It's a devastating injury for elite athletes, which often requires surgery and usually 9 to 12 months of rehabilitation.
Women are two to four times more likely to injure the ACL compared to men, a risk that varies depending on the type of sport played. The reasons are still not fully understood, and various sporting bodies are playing catch-up on researching the female-specific causes of the injury.
Valuable data
Seeking answers on how best to support Lefau-Fakaosilea and her teammates who have also had ACL operations, Rugby Australia sent them to a sport biomechanics lab in Sydney's west.
The Blacktown Exercise Sports and Technology Hub opened in 2023. (ABC Sport: Bindi Bryce)
The Australian Catholic University's (ACU) Blacktown Exercise Sports and Technology Hub was opened in 2023, and the sevens players are amongst the first female athletes to use it.
They are put through their paces in a futuristic orange tunnel, with various cameras capturing their movements in three dimensions.
"Which helps us understand where the athletes are in space," ACU researcher Jonathan Weakley said.
"We got the force plates which helps us understand every foot stride and the forces that they're producing."
Studios making video games and animated movies use similar technology. (ABC Sport: Bindi Bryce)
The plates detect what muscles are powering Lefau-Fakaosilea's explosive movements, while sprinting, jumping and changing direction.
"[It helps] to get the results and data, and how my body works, and the strengths and the differences between my left side to my right side," she said.
Players replicated movements specific to rugby. (ABC Sport: Bindi Bryce)
Kaitlin Shave is another taking advantage of the facility, after her ACL injury in Australia's first match at the Paris Olympics.
"Its really exciting for the girls that we can get a baseline and see what we can work on, and I think its really important for women," she said.
"It just really puts emphasis on how important it is to try and look after your body."
Kaitlin Shave's Paris Olympics campaign came to a premature end with an ACL tear. (ABC Sport: Bindi Bryce)
Dr Weakley believes biomechanics testing is an important tool, not just for injury prevention and rehabilitation, but also to improve overall performance.
"If we know what muscles are being used, during a range of different tasks, we can train those muscles," he said.
"I wish it was more common but in reality this technology is very difficult to obtain."
Jonathon Weakley says 3D motion capture is a highly valuable tool for elite athletes. (ABC Sport: Bindi Bryce)
Athletes come in different shapes and sizes, and Dr Weakley says they should have individual conditioning programs.
"So for example if their centre of mass is moving too far out side that base of support, we can improve that," he said.
"There's large amounts of forces, as athletes accelerate, decelerate, change direction, and as they get tackled, and we need to tailor our training for that."
The results from the testing can be used to create individual conditioning programs for the athletes. (ABC Sport: Bindi Bryce)
24-year-old Shave wants to learn what she could do to reduce the risk of another serious injury.
"Injuries are more prone to us, just because of being a female athlete, and the phases that we go through, during our cycles, I know that has a big impact," she said.
The testing showed players still had muscle weaknesses around the knees that persisted for months following surgery and even after they were given full training clearance.
Alysia and Kaitlin were both at the end-stage of ACL injury rehabilitation at the time of testing. Rugby Australia said it provided an assessment of their movement quality and some targeted 'work-ons' for the players that have been utilised in their athletic development program.
Strength and conditioning is crucial for reducing the risk of injuries. (ABC Sport: Bindi Bryce)
Dr Weakley would like to see more women given the opportunity for biomechanics testing, and encourages young athletes to incorporate strength work as early as possible.
"So that when they go into the professional level, they're not being thrown in without adequate training," he said.
"If we can support them across the entire pathway whether that's academy or teenage years, they'll be pretty good by the time they're adults."
It's hoped more female athletes will be able to use the technology to help them get the most out of their careers. (ABC Sport: Bindi Bryce)