A strain gauge assembly comprising: a strain gauge comprising a plurality of resistive elements connected as a Wheatstone bridge or half Wheatstone bridge; an excitation signal generator arranged to provide an excitation signal to two resistive elements of the strain gauge; phase shifting circuitry (30, 40) arranged to determine phase shifts in the excitation signal responsive to changes in resistance of the two resistive elements; and an end stage comprising shaping circuitry to convert sine phase shifted signals into square signals and to output a measure indicative of the phase shift as an indication of strain on the assembly; wherein: the strain gauge comprises a full Wheatstone bridge comprising four resistive elements connected to each other in a diamond configuration, wherein the excitation signal is applied to two opposing points of the diamond configuration between resistive elements and the phase shifting circuitry (30, 40) is connected to receive outputs from the other two opposing points of the diamond configuration between resistive elements; and wherein the phase shifting circuitry comprises two phase shifting blocks (30, 40), the output from one of the points of the diamond configuration provided to the input of a first phase shifting block and the output from the opposing point provided to the input of a second phase shifting block; or wherein the strain gauge comprises a half Wheatstone bridge comprising two resistive elements, and wherein the excitation signal is applied to one side of the resistive elements, and the phase shifting circuitry (30, 40) comprises two phase shifting blocks (30, 40), the output from the resistive elements provided to the input of a first phase shifting block and the output from the excitation signal generator provided to the input of a second phase shifting block; and wherein the phase shifting blocks provide, respectively, a first and a second phase shifted reference signal, the phase shift dependant on the difference in resistance of the respective resistive elements; and characterised in that the end stage is configured to shape the first and second phase shifted signals and compare the shaped signals to provide a phase difference output indicative of the strain to be measured. a strain gauge comprising a plurality of resistive elements connected as a Wheatstone bridge or half Wheatstone bridge; an excitation signal generator arranged to provide an excitation signal to two resistive elements of the strain gauge; phase shifting circuitry (30, 40) arranged to determine phase shifts in the excitation signal responsive to changes in resistance of the two resistive elements; and an end stage comprising shaping circuitry to convert sine phase shifted signals into square signals and to output a measure indicative of the phase shift as an indication of strain on the assembly; wherein: the strain gauge comprises a full Wheatstone bridge comprising four resistive elements connected to each other in a diamond configuration, wherein the excitation signal is applied to two opposing points of the diamond configuration between resistive elements and the phase shifting circuitry (30, 40) is connected to receive outputs from the other two opposing points of the diamond configuration between resistive elements; and wherein the phase shifting circuitry comprises two phase shifting blocks (30, 40), the output from one of the points of the diamond configuration provided to the input of a first phase shifting block and the output from the opposing point provided to the input of a second phase shifting block; or wherein the strain gauge comprises a half Wheatstone bridge comprising two resistive elements, and wherein the excitation signal is applied to one side of the resistive elements, and the phase shifting circuitry (30, 40) comprises two phase shifting blocks (30, 40), the output from the resistive elements provided to the input of a first phase shifting block and the output from the excitation signal generator provided to the input of a second phase shifting block; and wherein the phase shifting blocks provide, respectively, a first and a second phase shifted reference signal, the phase shift dependant on the difference in resistance of the respective resistive elements; and characterised in that the end stage is configured to shape the first and second phase shifted signals and compare the shaped signals to provide a phase difference output indicative of the strain to be measured.