Muscle testing method

A method of testing the strength of a selected muscle or muscle group of a human subject, comprises the steps of:

• (a) stabilizing the subject's body and determining the range of motion of a body area moved by a selected muscle or muscle group,
• (b) locating a force sensing means within the range of movement of the body area by moving the sensing means along a guide means to a selected position, and pivoting the sensing means about a rotational axis to a selected angular orientation,
• (c) contacting the body area with a force sensing means to isolate the selected muscle or muscle group for testing,
• (d) flexing the muscle or muscle group so that substantially all of the force applied to the sensing means by the body area is due to the flexing of the selected muscle or muscle group,
• (e) measuring the force applied against the sensing means for a selected test period,
• (f) recording the force applied, the selected position, the angular orientation of the sensing means and the location of the subject as stabilized.

A method of testing the strength of the sacrospinalis muscle of a human subject, comprising the steps of:

• (a) stabilizing the subject by placing the subject in a standing position, and determining the range of motion of a body area moved by the sacrospinalis muscle,
• (b) locating a force sensing means, by positioning the sensing means directly behind a leg of the subject;
• (c) contacting the force sensing means with the body area by engaging the sensing means with a back of the leg,
• (d) flexing the sacrospinalis muscle to apply a rearward force on the sensing means,
• (e) isolating the movement of the body area so that substantially all the force applied to the sensing means by the body area is due to the flexing of the sacrospinalis muscle,
• (f) measuring the force applied against the sensing means for a selected test period and producing a signal representative of the measured force.