Mk. Lebiedowska et A. Polisiakiewicz, CHANGES IN THE LOWER LEG MOMENT OF INERTIA DUE TO CHILDS GROWTH, Journal of biomechanics, 30(7), 1997, pp. 723-728
During growth the size and shape of the child's body changes. It is no
t clear whether the shape of a body segment changes proportionally in
children between the age 5 and 18 years. The aim of this study is to d
escribe these changes for the lower leg moment of inertia in a populat
ion of children. The segment moment of inertia describes the mass dist
ribution along the body segment axis. The moment of inertia of the low
er leg (including the foot) was measured by the free oscillation techn
ique in 90 healthy children(61 boys and 29 girls) between 5 and 18 yea
rs of age. The period of free oscillation was measured with and withou
t external mass loading. The moment of inertia was calculated using a
relation between the mass and the period of oscillation. A two-cylinde
r model of constant body density was used to predict the moment of ine
rtia. Anthropometric measurements of length of the lower leg and foot,
the circumference of the knee, ankle and foot were made. Experimental
and model data of the lower leg of inertia were described by a fifth
power function of body height. The experimental and model data showed
high degree of convergence, confirming that the segment growth of the
human body can be treated like the volume growth of a cylindrical obje
ct of constant body density. Thus it was experimentally confirmed that
the lower leg segment growth between age 5 and 18 years may be consid
ered as proportional. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.