Evaluation of the ability to sustain a prolonged standing posture

Abstract

The following five categories of measurements were treated for the evaluation of the abilityto sustain standing for one hour.The morphological items, e.g., stature and weight (A) and thephysical fitness, e.g., jumping height and strength of back (B) were measured before the standing.The other measurements obsemed during the standing posture were the physiologicalones like heart rate and respiration rate (C), the spontaneous movements of various body parts(D), and the subjcctive feeiings, e.g., boredom or pain (E). The data of thirty eight items in thefive categories for eighteen female subjects aged twenty one to twenty two years were used forthe principal component analysis.The first, the second, and the third principal componentswere fomd to be important factors related to the ability to maintain the standing posture.An index was defined to represent the prolonged and sustained standing ability syntheticallyby statistical treatment of both (1) the scores of each subject for the above three principalcomponents and (2) the proportions of these principal components.