• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.69-81
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• 1995

Few studies on the biomechanical analysis of hand postures and tool handling tasks exist because of the lack of appropriate measurement techniques for hand force. A measurement system for the finger forces and joint angles for the analysis of manual tool handling tasks was developed in this study. The measurement system consists of a force sensing glove made from twelve Force Sensitive Resistors and an angle-measuring glove (Cyberglove$^{TM}$, Virtual technologies) with eighteem joint angle sensors. A biomechanical model of the hand using the data from the measurement system was also developed. Systems of computerized procedures were implemented inte- grating the hand posture measurement system, biomechanical analysis system, and the task analysis system for manual tool handling tasks. The measurement system was useful in providing the hand force data needed for an existing task analysis system used in CTD risk evaluation. It is expected that the hand posture measurement developed in this study will provide an efficient and cost-effective solution to task analysis of manual tool handling tasks.s.

• Proceedings of the Korean Operations and Management Science Society Conference
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• 1992.04b
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• pp.358-363
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• 1992

A two-dimensional static biomechanical model of lower extremity in the seated posture was developed to assess muscular activities of lower extremity required for a variety of foot pedal operations. Muscle forces of the model were predicted using the double linear optimization scheme. For the model validation, three subjects performed the experiments which measured EMG activities of six lower extremity muscles. Predicted muscle forces were compared with the corresponding rectified intergrated EMG amplitudes and it showed reasonable results.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06c
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• pp.464-469
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• 2001

This work provides the biomechanical evaluations of a manual wheelchair with a bi-directional driving system. The new propulsion strategy can be accomplished by employing a special gear system that converts the oscillatory motion of a handrim into the unidirectional output motion of a wheel. A main feature of the forward. backward propulsion is to supply continuous driving torque without break. Motion. analysis has been performed through 2-dimensional image processing for measuring the kinematic properties of the upper arm and fore arm. Then, the inverse dynamics analysis has been done for obtaining the joint torques, the handrim forces and input/output powers. Results show that the output power by the forward. reverse propulsion is almost twice as much as that by conventional propulsion. Also, the new propulsion is expected to reduce the fatigues and injuries at arm joints by employing more muscle groups for movement. In conclusion, the forward. reverse propulsion can greatly improve the performances of manual wheelchairs by providing better mobility as well as by guaranteeing several advantages from a biomechanical viewpoint. Future development of a manual wheelchair optimized for the bi-directional propulsion will further improve the propulsion performances.

• Korean Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.62-70
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• 2012

This paper proposes a novel discomfort assessment method for truck ingress and egress motions based on the maximum-voluntary-contraction (MVC) ratios of muscles obtained by biomechanical analysis of human musculoskeletal models. In this study, a human motion to enter and exit a truck cabin with different types and heights of footsteps is first measured using an optical motion capture system and load sensors. Next, in a biomechanical analysis system, a human musculoskeletal model with contacting conditions on footsteps and handles is modeled, and then joint torques and muscles forces are calculated by inverse dynamics of the musculoskeletal model with the motion data. Finally, the MVC ratios for the muscles are calculated and their statistical values are used as the measure of discomfort. To ensure the feasibility of our method, subjective discomfort levels have been investigated through the participants' experiments and questionnaires and compared to the results of our method. Comparing to the existing methods based on joint angles or torques, our approach provide a more essential criterion for discomfort because it is based on the muscle contraction by which an active human motion is basically generated.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.145-151
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• 2011

Purpose: The study was designed to investigate the effects of landing heights on muscle activities and ground reaction force during drop landing. Methods: Sixteen healthy adults were recruited along with their written informed consent. They performed a drop-landing task at the height of 20, 40, and 60cm. They completed three trials in each condition and biomechanical changes were measured. The data collected by each way of landing task and analyzed by One-way ANOVA. Ground reaction forces were measured by force flate, muscle activities measured by MP150 system. Results: There were significant differences in ground reaction forces, and significant increases in muscle activities of tibialis anterior, medial gastrocnemius and biceps femoris with landing heights. Conclusion: These findings revealed that heights of landing increases risk factors of body damage because of biomechanical mechanism and future studies should focus on prevention from damage of external conditions.

• Journal of Korean Society of Industrial and Systems Engineering
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• v.23 no.60
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• pp.37-46
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• 2000

A biomechanical model of lower extremity in seated postures was developed to assess muscular activities of lower extremity involved in a variety of foot pedal operations. The model incorporated four rigid body segments with the twenty-four muscles to represent lower extremity This study deals with quasi-static movement to investigate dynamic movement effect in seated foot operation. It is found that optimization method which has been used for modeling the articulated body segments does not predict the forces generated from biarticular muscles and antagonistic muscles reasonably. So, the revised nonlinear optimization scheme was employed to consider the synergistic effects of biarticular muscles and the antagonistic muscle effects from the stabilization of the joint. For the model validation, three male subjects performed the experiments in which EMG activities of the nine lower extremity muscles were measured. Predicted muscle forces were compared with the corresponding EMG amplitudes and it showed no statistical difference. For the selection of optimal seated posture, a physiological meaningful criterion was developed for muscular load sharing developed. For exertion levels, the transition point of type F motor unit of each muscle is inferred by analyzing the electromyogram at the seated postures. Also, for predetermined seated foot operations exertion levels, the recruitment pattern is identified in the continuous exertion, by analyzing the electromyogram changes due to the accumulated muscle fatigue.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.377-385
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• 2013

Fall is very fatal accident causes death to older people. Shoe may affect to fall. Shoe influences risk of slips, trips, and falls by altering somatosensory feedback to the foot. The purpose of this study was to investigate the analysis of non-slip shoes for older people and influence on older people's lower extremity. For this study twenty three healthy older people were recruited. Each subjects walked over slippery surfaces (COF 0.08). Four pairs of non-slip shoes (shoe A had the greatest COF, 0.23 while shoe B, C, and D had smaller COF relatively) for older people were selected and tested mechanical and biomechanical experiment. For data collection motion capture and ground reaction forces were synchronized. There were statistically significant differences for slip-displacement, coefficient of friction, braking force, propulsion force, knee range of motion and knee joint stiffness by shoes. It was concluded that shoe A was the best for non-slip function because of the lowest slip displacement, the highest braking and propulsion forces, and the highest mechanical and biomechanical coefficient of friction where as shoe B, C, D were identified as a negative effect on the knee joint than shoe A. To prevent fall and slip, older people have to take a appropriate non-slip shoes such as shoe A.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.2101-2112
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• 1994

A two-dimensional biomechanical model was developed in order to calculated the lower extremity kinematics and kinetics during level walking. This model consists of three segments : the thigh, calf, and foot. Each segment was assumed to be a rigid body ; its motion to be planar in the sagittal plane. Five young males were involved in the gait experiment and their anthropometric data were measured for the calculation of segmental masses and moments of inertial. Six markers were used to obtain the kinematic data of the right lower extremity for at least three trials of walking at 1.0m/s, and simultaneously a Kistler force plate was used to obtain the foot-floor reaction data. Based on the experimental data acquired for the stance phase of the right foot, calculated vertical joint forces reached up to 0.91, 1.05, and 1.11 BW(body weight) at the hip, the knee, the ankle joints, respectively. The flexion-extension moments reached up to 69.7, 52.3, and 98.8 Nm in magnitude at the corresponding three joints. It was found that the calculated joint loadings of a subject were statistically the same for all his three trials, but not the same for all five subjects involved in the gait study.

• Proceedings of the Korean Operations and Management Science Society Conference
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• 1994.04a
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• pp.596-605
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• 1994

An efficient measurement and evaluation system for hand tool tasks will provide a practical solution to the problem of designing and evaluating manual tool tasks in the workplace. Few studies on the biomechanical analysis of hand postures and tool handling tasks exist because of the lack of appropriate measurement techniques for hand force. A measurement system for the finger forces and joint angles for analysis of manual tool handling tasks was developed in this study. The measurement system consists of a force sensing glove made from twelve Force Sensitive Resistors and an angle-measuring glove (Cyberglove$\^$TM/, Virtual technologies) with eighteen joint angle sensors. A biomechanical model of the hand using the data from the measurement system was also developed. Systems of computerized procedures were implemented integrating the hand posture measurement system, biomechanical analysis system, and the task analysis system for manual tool handling tasks. The measurement system was useful in providing the hand force data needed for an existing task analysis system used in CTD risk evaluation. It is expected that the hand posture measurement developed in this study will provide an, efficient and cost-effective solution to task analysis of manual tool handling tasks. These tasks are becoming increasingly important areas of occupational health and safety of the country.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.81-92
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• 1992

A two-dimensional static biochemical model of lower extremity in the seated posture was developed to assess muscular activities of lower extremity required for a variety of foot pedal operations. We found that the double linear optimization method that has been used for modelling articulated body segments does no predict the forces generated by biarticular muscles reasonably, so the revised double linear optimization scheme was used to consider the synergistic effects of biarticular muscles in our model, assuming that the muscle forces are distributed proportionally based on their physiological cross sectional area. The model incorporated three rigid body se- gments with six muscles to represnet lower extremity. For the model validation, three male subjects performed the experiments in which EMG activities of six lower extremity muscles were measured. Predicted muscle forces were compare with the corresponding EMG amplitudes and it showed no statistical difference. The model being developed can be used to design and assess pedal and foot-related tool design.