A Novel Flexibility Analyses for Yoga Pose Difficulty Evaluation by Body Joint Points Based Angle Estimation

In this study, a novel method to evaluate the execution difficulty of yoga poses is developed based on body flexibility by focusing on analyzing specific key body joint angles. To enhance the accuracy of yoga pose difficulty assessment, the datasets of yoga poses are divided into the front-facing and side-facing parts, with unique calculation methods applied for each perspective. In the proposed analysis method, the selected body joint points based angle estimation are used to detect whether the body is bending forward or backward, and it enables precise flexibility measurements. This study was based on nearly 100 images of yoga poses by covering 5 yoga poses with different difficulty levels. Experimental results show that the proposed method has an accuracy of 83% in the yoga poses difficulty evaluations, which is 6% higher than the existing methods. This approach not only provides a more comprehensive yoga pose difficulty evaluation framework but also helps users better understand their flexibility levels and pose difficulty during doing yoga self-practice.