Literature reviewBiomechanical assessment of human posture: A literature review
Introduction
Postural deviations have been linked to a series of different kinds of pain and dysfunction. However, posture is not an easy subject to study, mainly because postural assessments are still scientifically inaccurate, such as photography, or expensive, such as MRI, whereas others, such as X-ray, involve radiation problems (Rosário et al., 2012, Suzuki et al., 2010, Berthonnaud et al., 2009, Steffen et al., 2010).
There is some scientific evidence establishing connections of posture and equilibrium problems with orthopedic and rheumatologic diseases, such as knee osteoarthritis, ankle instability, neck tension, and back pain (Missaoui et al., 2008).
Among the most common methods to evaluate posture in literature reviews are force platform for balance (Missaoui et al., 2008) and the use of a goniometer, an inclinometer, flexible curves, tape measurements, and photography of the posture itself (Fortin et al., 2011).
Myers (2006) affirmed that posture, meaning standing or sitting still, does not exist because humans are never placed in stillness. In other words, people are always moving, shifting, balancing, and adapting. Consequently, in the present article, the word posture has a wide range of meanings in order to increase the possibilities of assessment. Stillness, balance, and repeated patterns of stabilization movement are all considered as posture.
Therefore, the aim of this literature review was to search for efficient scientific methods for assessing posture and to discuss which among both new and old methods are best for scientific and clinical objectives.
Section snippets
Search methods
The keywords “posture” and “postural” were used in searching the Medline and Lilacs databases for relevant articles from 2003 to 2013. The articles needed to be in English, Portuguese, French, Italian, or Spanish.
Criteria for inclusion and exclusion
All articles that assessed posture in some way were considered. This criterion was kept as broad as possible to identify all possible ways of postural evaluation. Reviews of postural assessment and articles that discussed posture in some manner that could help the discussion were also
Results
The twenty-two most relevant articles were selected (Table 1), and 11 relevant types of technologies were described, namely, force plate; pictures; goniometers, inclinometers and tape; 3D analysis; 3D X-ray; sensors; electromyography; Kinect; magnetic resonance imaging; 4D computed tomography; and infrared.
Discussion
The general idea of the article was to show the common and uncommon options used to evaluate posture. Thus, to facilitate understanding, the assessment procedures were divided into categories describing related technologies.
Conclusion
Posture evaluation is a difficult task. However, there is enough technology to make a very good quantitative evaluation possible. For example, 3D MRI or 4D CT can accurately register static and dynamic posture and are the gold standard despite being expensive. Cheaper solutions may apply combined and synchronized equipment, such as cameras and accelerometers, or infrared, force plate, and cameras. Nevertheless, validation of these synchronizations and scientific tests to verify the sensitivity
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