Investigation of Similarities among Human Joints through the Coding System of Human Joint Properties-Part 1

Properties of human joints are essential for orthopedic practice, physical therapy, designing related motion assistive devices, etc. Few studies, however, have ever tried to collect and arrange this knowledge, making researchers need to look up references tiresomely. In view of the above, Hsu et al. [1] proposed a coding system of human joint properties, trying to make reference consulting more convenient and efficient. This coding system includes eight properties of 41 kinds of human joints. The eight properties are locations of joints, numbers of bones involved in joints, functions of joints, shapes of joint surfaces, arthrokinematics of joints, directions of rotation of joints, directions of translation of joints, and numbers of axes of joints. Our work, taking one step ahead, adds one property-the weight bearing of joints-into the original coding system, so as to make the coding system more suitable for medical use. For our newly added property, simple digits are assigned as codes to symbolize the behavior of the 41 kinds of joints. This new property is then joined into the original coding system, and a new coding system with the nine properties is established as a result. In conclusion, this new coding system not only serves as a concise approach to investigating human joint properties, but relatively meets the needs of medical science. We expect that researchers can make further comprehensive studies with this new coding system. Certainly, to upgrade and improve this new classification system, we need specialists' and experts' feedbacks.