OpenCap Monocular: 3D Human Kinematics and Musculoskeletal Dynamics from a Single Smartphone Video

Abstract

Quantifying human movement (kinematics) and musculoskeletal forces (kinetics) at scale, such as estimating quadriceps force during a sit-to-stand movement, could transform prediction, treatment, and monitoring of mobility-related conditions. However, quantifying kinematics and kinetics traditionally requires costly, time-intensive analysis in specialized laboratories, limiting clinical translation. Scalable, accurate tools for biomechanical assessment are needed. We introduce OpenCap Monocular, an algorithm that estimates 3D skeletal kinematics and kinetics from a single smartphone video. The method refines 3D human pose estimates from a monocular pose estimation model (WHAM) via optimization, computes kinematics of a biomechanically constrained skeletal model, and estimates kinetics via physics-based simulation and machine learning. We validated OpenCap Monocular against marker-based motion capture and force plate data for walking, squatting, and sit-to-stand tasks. OpenCap Monocular achieved low kinematic error (4.8{\deg} mean absolute error for rotational degrees of freedom; 3.4 cm for pelvis translations), outperforming a regression-only computer vision baseline by 48% in rotational accuracy (p = 0.036) and 69% in translational accuracy (p < 0.001). OpenCap Monocular also estimated ground reaction forces during walking with accuracy comparable to, or better than, our prior two-camera OpenCap system. We demonstrate that the algorithm estimates important kinetic outcomes with clinically meaningful accuracy in applications related to frailty and knee osteoarthritis, including estimating knee extension moment during sit-to-stand transitions and knee adduction moment during walking. OpenCap Monocular is deployed via a smartphone app, web app, and secure cloud computing (https://opencap.ai), enabling free, accessible single-smartphone biomechanical assessments.