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The anthropometric elderly, arbitrarily defined as those 65 years of age and above, are a distinct subgroup with special human factors needs. They are significantly smaller in stature and in many other body dimensions than the general population. This smaller size results both from the secular trend (people are currently growing taller and larger than in the past) and from various biological changes inherent in the aging process. Weight and certain other dimensions are less age-affected, however, except at more advanced ages. Existing information on the anthropometry of the elderly is reviewed, and tabular data are presented on selected "human engineering" dimensions. Additional, more comprehensive, functional anthropometric data are needed for this population.

This paper provides a review of the principles and procedures of workspace design for engineers. It emphasizes that human body size, anthropometry, and muscle force capability, biomechanics, are both essential for the efficient sizing of equipment. The proper method of workspace design, the "design limits concept", is described, and the fallacy of the "average man" concept is demonstrated. General methods of gathering body size and strength data are outlined, and major information sources noted. The author's ideas on human muscle strength in the weightless state are included.

The goal of this study was to collect anthropometric data that describe the geometry of the surface of the hand and to model this anthropometry as a function of gross external hand measurements. The depth and breadth of each segment of the hand were measured at points that were spaced at approximately equal distances between the joints of the hand. Linear models using hand breadth as the independent variable explained from 12% to 47% of the variation in segment breadths and from 6% to 74% in segment depths. Ellipsoids are used in biomechanical models as an efficient mathematical description of the shape of kinematic segments for use in the determination of contact with other objects. Therefore the primary objectives of this study were to approximate the semiaxis dimensions for these hand segment contact bodies using a linear model of the gross anthropometry and to evaluate the accuracy with which ellipsoids describe the geometry of the hand segments. Graphical comparisons showed that differences between the ellipsoidal approximations and the breadth and depth measurements were largest near the joints. Data collected in this study could be used to create a set of overlapping ellipsoids that would provide a more accurate representation of hand geometry, and this representation could be adapted to biomechanical models that use ellipsoids to define segment geometry.

Means, standard deviations, and percentiles are presented for forty-seven functional measurements of 133 ambulatory Spanish-American War veterans with a mean age of 81.6 years and an age range from 72 to 91 years. Practical applications of the data are noted. As compared with younger men, the veterans were smaller, lighter, weaker, and had shorter reaches but deeper chests. Their skinfolds did not differ.

AbstractThis article explores the anthropometric survey of 5,000 Tibetans by the ethnographer HRH Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark in the northeast Indian Himalayan town of Kalimpong in the 1950s, as part of the Third Danish Expedition to Central Asia. In the context of the crisis created by the Chinese incursion into Tibet in 1950, which pushed thousands of Tibetans into India, stationary field anthropometry, rather than a mobile expedition, became Prince Peter's principal entry into Tibetan worlds. This article explores the scientific paradigms underpinning his anthropometric survey at a time when anthropology had seemingly moved on theoretically and ethically, the historical conditions and contingencies of Prince Peter's research, and the survey's representations of Tibetan peoples and places. We argue that, while Prince Peter's understanding was in essence primordialist, linking particular peoples to particular places, in practice he took a more modernist approach to 'Tibetaness' as contingent upon historical processes. The article concludes by reflecting on the potential significance of this vast and unique collection of historic anthropometric data for Tibetans today.

Available anthropometric information on the elderly in the United States is discussed. Demographic data as well as information on performance capabilities and limitations (such as strength, endurance, and mobility) are needed for ergonomic design of tools, utensils, equipment, and vehicles to improve the working and living environment for the elderly. Recommendations are made for collection of more information.

A need was identified for data concerned with maximum possible and maximum comfortable angular displacement of the thumb. These measures, along with thumb reach data, were collected from a sample of 105 subjects. It was found that thumb reach was not correlated with either maximum or most comfortable degree of angular displacement. In addition, angular displacement was not correlated with age. Design guidelines for angular displacement of the thumb are provided.