THE RELATION BETWEEN DISCOMFORT AND POSTURAL LOADING AT THE JOINTS

An investigation to identify the relation between torques at hip, knee and ankle, posture holding time, and perceived discomfort was carried out. Subjects held four different extents of straight-legged forward bend as long as they could whilst reporting perceived overall and body-part discomforts at regular intervals. The results indicated that changes in postures correlated significantly with changes in holding time and in discomfort. Averaged results showed that discomfort levels in the body segment immediately superior to the joints studied were significantly related to torque at the joint. The relation was strongest for the ankle joint, where the location of the muscles producing the resisting torque could be associated most clearly with the body segment concerned.