The inherent proportionality of the human body has been accepted since ancient times. Moreover, it has been assumed that anthropometric dimensions could be validly predicted by ratios or multipliers of another dimension (usually stature). Stature-based anthropometric multipliers from Drillis and Contini's (1966) Body Segment Parameters have been frequently referenced, even though their study focused on body segment mass properties rather than anthropometric dimension prediction. Using the electronic data from the U.S. Army 1987-1988 anthropometric survey (Gordon et al., 1989), we explored the prediction validity of stature-based anthropometric multipliers, and investigated the potential for improved validity by correcting multipliers for gender and race. This paper discusses selected findings for one (i.e. acromial height) of the ten anthropometric dimensions we studied within the white male demographic group, and compares these representative findings with selected results from the other anthropometric dimensions studied. Overall, practitioners should exercise caution when using anthropometric multipliers to predict, as these multipliers are subject to problems in predicting individual anthropometric variations and their predictions are susceptible to systematic percentile-placement errors. Although caution is required when employing stature-based multipliers, the most valid predictions result from using stature-based multipliers that are corrected for gender and racial demographic variables.
Rapid calculation of bespoke body segment parameters using 3D infra-red scanning
