Postural Behaviors during One-Hand Force Exertions

Posture and external loads such as hand forces have a dominant effect on ergonomic analysis outcomes. Yet, current digital human modeling tools used for proactive ergonomics analysis lack validated models for predicting postures for standing hand-force exertions. To address this need, the effects of hand magnitude and direction on whole-body posture for standing static hand-force exertion tasks were quantified in a motion-capture study of 19 men and women with widely varying body size. The objective of this work was to identify postural behaviors that might be incorporated into a postureprediction algorithm for standing hand-force tasks. Analysis of one-handed exertions indicates that, when possible, people tend to align their bodies with the direction of force application, converting potential crossbody exertions into sagittal plane exertions. With respect to the hand-force plane, pelvis position is consistent with a postural objective of reducing rotational trunk torques. One-handed task postures are characterized by axial rotation of the torso towards or away from the point of force application.

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