The use of geometric shapes in estimating the geometry of body segments

Geometric models can provide individual- specific body segment inertial parameter (BSIP) estimates by combining volume and a density functions. These BSIP estimates are highly sensitive to the volume function whilst applying uniform density appears to have a small, secondary, influence on their accuracy (Wicke & Dumas, 2010: Journal of Applied Biomechanics, 26(1), 26–31). Geometric models use simple shapes to represent body segments, the geometries of which are determined by anthropometric measurements. This paper uses a geometric model proposed by Yeadon (1990: Journal of Biomechanics, 23(1), 67–74) and a technique to estimate segment volume which eliminates the inherent error in anthropometric measurements (O’Haire & Gibbons, 2000: Manual Therapy, 5(1), 13–20).