INSTRUMENTATION OF A MOBILIZATION COUCH FOR DYNAMIC LOAD MEASUREMENT

Spinal mobilization or manipulation techniques are frequently used by physiotherapists in the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. Many o f these techniques involve the application of a varying force to the a ffected joint. Despite the routine use of these techniques, there are no objective measures to quality their use. This paper describes the p rinciples of the instrumentation of a mobilization couch to enable mea surement of the forces applied during mobilization of the lumbar spine . The couch was linked to a personal computer with a 286 processor and data card for data collection. The system was found to be reliable an d sensitive over the range of forces applied during mobilization. It h as potential for use in many situations where measurements of forces a pplied to the patient are required.