• Advances in biomechanics and applications
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.85-93
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• 2014

In this paper, two procedures of enumerating the axial rotation are proposed using the unit sphere of the spherical rotation coordinate system specifying 3D rotation. If the trajectory of the movement is known, the integration of the axial component of the angular velocity plus the geometric effect equal to the enclosed area subtended by the geodesic path on the surface of the unit sphere. If the postures of the initial and final positions are known, the axial rotation is determined by the angular difference from the parallel transport along the geodesic path. The path dependency of the axial rotation of the three dimensional rigid body motion is due to the geometric effect corresponding to the closed loop discontinuity. Firstly, the closed loop discontinuity is examined for the infinitesimal region. The general closed loop discontinuity can be evaluated by the summation of those discontinuities of the infinitesimal regions forming the whole loop. This general loop discontinuity is equal to the surface area enclosed by the closed loop on the surface of the unit sphere. Using this quantification of the closed loop discontinuity of the axial rotation, the geometric effect is determined in enumerating the axial rotation. As an example, the axial rotation of the arm by the Codman's movement is evaluated, which other methods of enumerating the axial rotations failed.