Infrared Sensor Technology (IST) Test as a Tool for Assessment of Flexibility

Introduction
The evaluation of flexibility is important to coaches to assess their players’ flexibility status, predict future performance, and even detect talented players. The aim of this research was to develop a new flexibility test to examine the forward split in athletes.

Material and methods
In this study, 15 gymnasts, 10 Taekwondo athletes, 5 football players, and 10 karate athletes (20 males and 20 females) volunteered for this experiment and were evaluated in a common movement pattern, the forward split. In the experimental condition, participants performed the forward split on a mattress using infrared sensor technology (IST test), and, afterward, they performed the forward split on a mattress without infrared sensor technology (N-IST test). Two trials of this procedure were conducted.

Results
For concurrent validity, no significant difference in the average distances of the anterior superior iliac spine (ASIS) from the mattress in Trials I and II was found between the IST and N-IST tests — p = 0.664 and p = 0.710, respectively.

Conclusions
The findings of this study confirm the concurrent and construct validity of the IST test, which was created to measure the height of the ASIS from the mattress in a forward-split test. Thus, this test can be used by coaches, athletes, and sports scientists to improve and monitor the forward-split tests of athletes in training programs.