Human Strength: Terminology, Measurement, and Interpretation of Data

Abstract

Application of strength data to human engineering problems is often hampered by ambiguities of both terminology and data. This paper attempts to point out some of the problems. After defining “strength” and clarifying related terms, mechanical, physiological, and statistical implications of strength testing are discussed. It becomes obvious that strength data are fully relevant to human engineering problems only if the operator must exert maximal static muscle force; if submaximal forces are required, the applicability of strength data is very limited. Research is needed to establish relations between human static force capacity and the abilities to perform maximal or submaximal dynamic work. At present there is little evidence that static force data accurately predict dynamic performance.