Ground Reaction Forces and Joint Moments Predict Metabolic Cost in Physical Performance: Harnessing the Power of Artificial Neural Networks

Understanding metabolic cost through biomechanical data, including ground reaction forces (GRFs) and joint moments, is vital for health, sports, and rehabilitation. The long stabilization time (2–5 min) of indirect calorimetry poses challenges in prolonged tests. This study investigated using artificial neural networks (ANNs) to predict metabolic costs from the GRF and joint moment time series. Data from 20 participants collected over 270 walking trials, including the GRF and joint moments, formed a detailed dataset. Two ANN models were crafted, net_GRF for the GRF and net_Moment for joint moments, and both underwent training, validation, and testing to validate their predictive accuracy for metabolic cost. Net_GRF (six hidden layers, two input delays) showed significant correlations: 0.963 (training), 0.927 (validation), 0.883 (testing), p < 0.001. Net_Moment (three hidden layers, one input delay) had correlations of 0.920 (training), 0.956 (validation), 0.874 (testing), p < 0.001. The models’ low mean squared errors reflect their precision. Using Partial Dependence Plots, we demonstrated how gait cycle phases affect metabolic cost predictions, pinpointing key phases. Our findings show that the GRF and joint moments data can accurately predict metabolic costs via ANN models, with net_GRF being notably consistent. This emphasizes ANNs’ role in biomechanics as a crucial method for estimating metabolic costs, impacting sports science, rehabilitation, assistive technology development, and fostering personalized advancements.