Comparison of two approaches for calculation of the geometric and inertial characteristics of the human body of the Bulgarian population.

On the basis of a representative anthropological investigation of 5290 individuals (2435 males and 2855 females) of the Bulgarian population at the age of 30-40 years (Yordanov et al. [1]) we proposed a 3D biomechanical model of human body of the average Bulgarian male and female and compared two different possible approaches to calculate analytically and to evaluate numerically the corresponding geometric and inertial characteristics of all the segments of the body. In the framework of the first approach, we calculated the positions of the centres of mass of the segments of human body as well as their inertial characteristics merely by using the initial original anthropometrical data, while in the second approach we adjusted the data by using the method based on regression equations. Wherever possible, we presented a comparison of our data with those available in the literature on other Caucasians and determined in which cases the use of which approach is more reliable.