Search

An investigation of the absolute strength of the human muscle was carried out on the in vivo erector spinae muscle using magnetic resonance tomography coupled with dynamic muscular testing. The absolute strength of the erector spinae was calculated to be 48 N/cm2. The area of the rectus abdominis was 15.1 cm2, and the area of the erector spinae was 54.5 cm2. The internal moment arm for the rectus abdominis and erector spinae muscles was 7.04 and 5.64 cm, respectively. The static force measures showed the trunk extensor moment to be only 30% greater than the flexor moment. The difference is discussed in terms of the absolute strength of muscle, and other anatomic factors.

The prediction of five internal muscle variables extracted from computed tomography scans was attempted using 27 anthropometric variables. Stable regression equations are presented for the prediction of the cross-sectional area of the rectus abdominis, psoas, and erector spinae, as well as for the moment arm of the erector spinae. No stable regression equation was found for the prediction of the moment arm of the rectus abdominis, and the results indicated that the method was group dependent. These findings have implications for human modeling studies that use estimated parameters for the internal muscle variables.