On the biomechanics of human shoulder complex--I. Kinematics for determination of the shoulder complex sinus

Effectiveness of the multi-segmented total-human-body models to predict realistically live human response depends heavily on the proper biomechanical description and simulation of the major articulating joints of the body. In these models, the most difficult and the least successful modelling of a joint has been the shoulder complex because of the lack of appropriate biomechanical data as well as the anatomical complexity of the region. This paper in Part I presents various aspects of a research program to collect three-dimensional kinematic data for the shoulder complex. A sonic digitizing technique which utilizes an overdeterminate number of sonic emitters on the moving body segment was used for the kinematics analysis. The numerical results are presented for three male subjects for their voluntary shoulder complex sinuses. The results are given in a locally-defined joint axis system as well as in the torso-fixed coordinate system in the form of globographic representation.