A 3-DIMENSIONAL MUSCULOSKELETAL DATABASE FOR THE LOWER-EXTREMITIES

A three-dimensional musculoskeletal database of the lower extremities has been developed for use in human musculoskeletal models. The locati ons of idealized muscle attachments on the pelvis, both femurs, both t ibias and fibulas, and both feet were accurately digitized for 52 drie d skeletal specimens. The mean specimen heights were 177.5 cm (male) a nd 166.2 cm (female) and the mean specimen age at the time of death wa s 48.8 yr. Statistical accumulation and scaling techniques were used t o generate highly representative normative models, which were divided into groups and tested for differences based on gender and race. From the test results, the pelvis was divided into a male model(RMS = 8.6 m m), a black female model(RMS = 7.0 mm) and a white female model (RMS = 7.3 mm). The foot was separated into black (RMS = 3.7 mm) and white m odels (RMS = 3.6 mm). Single models were used for the femur (RMS = 6.5 mm) and the tibia/fibula (RMS = 3.7). Containing over 12000 anatomica l landmarks digitized from 52 dried skeletons, this study represents a n improvement over previous databases by an order of magnitude. Publis hed by Elsevier Science Ltd.