Joint models, degrees of freedom, and anatomical motion measurement.

When the motion associated with an anatomical joint is to be measured, a kinematic model for the joint must first be established. The joint model will have from one to six degrees of freedom, and both the measurement technique and the means used to describe the motion will be influenced by the model and its degrees of freedom. This paper discusses the modeling and measurement of anatomical joint motion from a kinematics viewpoint. A review of the literature pertaining to measurement techniques, kinematic assumptions, and motion descriptions for anatomical joint motion is presented. One, two, three and six degree-of-freedom models for various anatomical joints have appeared in the literature, and the applicability of these models is compared and discussed.