ERGONOMICS

DR. SITI ZAWIAH MD. DAWAL

DEPT. OF ENGINEERING DESIGN
AND MANUFACTURE
UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA
 ERGONOMICS
and BIOMECHANICS

Copyright @ 2008 by ERGO

 Introduction
Bio- life or way of life in Greek

Mechanics – branch of science – deals

with forces and effect of forces…….
 Three disciplines
Mechanics of rigid body

Mechanics of solid deformable bodies

Fluid mechanics
Mechanics- Forces and Motion
Description and analysis of motion -kinematics
Description and analysis of forces – kinetics
Description and analysis of forces tend to cause
motion -statics
 Kinematic concepts for
analyzing human motion
The Skeleton
 General Functions
Gives the body its basic shape and
provides a strong , protective and
supporting framework for all other systems
of the body.
With regards to movement the bones of
the skeleton act as a levers operated by
the skeletal muscles.
 Mechanical Functions
At birth – 270 bones
Adults – 206 bones

4)Acts as a supporting framework for the

rest of the body
5)Acts as a lever system – muscle
6)Protect certain organs
Anatomical Reference Position
Is the reference position or starting place
when movement terms are defined.
Is an erect standing position with feet just
slightly separated and the arms hanging
relaxed at the sides with the palms of the
hands facing forward.
Anatomical Reference Planes
Median Plane or Sagittal plane – vertical
plane that divide the body - left and right
portions.
Coronal plane or Frontial plane – vertical
plane perpendicular to median plane.
( anterior and posterior)
Tranverse Plane – horizontal plane
perpendicular to both median and coronal
planes.
 Types of movements
See handouts
 Newton’s 1 Law of Motion
st

A body which is at rest will remain at rest

unless some external force is applied to it
and a body which is moving at a constant
speed in a straight line will continue to do
so unless some external force is applied to
it.
 Newton’s 2 law of Motion
nd

Force = mass x acceleration

F=mxa

The relationship between force, the

resulting motion of a body and the
properties of the body itself.
 Newton’s 3 Law of motion
rd

To every action force there is always opposed an

equal reaction force or

The mutual action forces of two bodies upon each

other are always equal and oppositely directed.
 Moment of Force
= W x distance X1

Where W is the magnitude of the

gravitational force e.g. weight of the boot
and X1 is the perpendicular distance
 Tutorial

How would you represent the line of

gravity of the patient in each of the
diagrams given. (approximate position)

Copyright Copyright
@ 2008 by ERGO
@ 2008 by ERGO
 Centre of Gravity
The centre of gravity (C of G) of an object
is the point at which all of the weight of the
object may be considered to be
concentrated and about which the object
( in theory) exactly balance.
 Machines and mechanism

Rehabilitation machines are devices that

have been developed to provide specific
movements for limbs or joints or to provide
specific resistance to muscle action
 Mechanism
Mechanism such as lever used in
machines to transform motion and /or
force into a desired output.
 Lever

A lever is a rigid beam pivoted at a point

known as the fulcrum.

There are three classes of lever

 - First order lever
 - Second order lever
 - Third order lever
 Inclined Plane
Inclined plane is a good example of a
method used since ancient times to raise
heavy loads with a relatively small effort.
 Tutorial 1
2) Refer to the 1st Q comment on the
stability of the subject in each position.
3) Refer to figure 2, assume that the
combined weight of a patient and a wheel
chair is 800N and the therapist is required
to push the wheelchair up a ramp that has
a slope of 1 in 10. Calculate the minimum
force that the therapist must apply to push
the chair