Body Segment Dimensions of Adult Craftsmen of Benin Origin

Abstract

Anthropometric data or measures of the human individual play very important roles in the design and development of equipment suited to target user populations and are invaluable in product optimization. Very little is reported on anthropometric data of human subjects of Nigerian origin, hence the need to develop valid anthropometric database for target user groups in Nigeria on a systematic basis. Body segment dimensions and masses of adult craftsmen within the Benin area of Nigeria were generated through a field survey involving a representative 180 subject sample size drawn from an estimated 1250 craftsmen population within the study area using standard techniques. Data generated from three local government areas in the study area were compared using variance ratios and t-statistics. Comparison was also made between these data and those generated using an established (Winter's) model. Significant differences in size (p<0.05) were established for subjects from the three local areas within Benin. Subjects from Egor locality had significantly larger size indications for only some of the segment parameters studied; this did not represent a general trend for all body segments studied. There were marked deviations from observed mean values for 19 of the body segment parameters generated using Winter's model, at probabilities ranging between 0.05 and less than 0.01, except for mean shoulder breadth, wrist height above datum and foot length which were similar to the observed field values at p-values of 0.59, 0.15 and 0.11, respectively. This means that the new models generated for each of the local government areas and Benin City are more suited to predicting body segment dimensions in the study area.

Anthropometric data or measures of the human individual play very important roles in the design and development of equipment suited to target user populations and are invaluable in product optimization. Very little is reported on anthropometric data of human subjects of Nigerian origin, hence the need to develop valid anthropometric database for target user groups in Nigeria on a systematic basis. Body segment dimensions and masses of adult craftsmen within the Benin area of Nigeria were generated through a field survey involving a representative 180 subject sample size drawn from an estimated 1250 craftsmen population within the study area using standard techniques. Data generated from three local government areas in the study area were compared using variance ratios and t-statistics. Comparison was also made between these data and those generated using an established (Winter's) model. Significant differences in size (p<0.05) were established for subjects from the three local areas within Benin. Subjects from Egor locality had significantly larger size indications for only some of the segment parameters studied; this did not represent a general trend for all body segments studied. There were marked deviations from observed mean values for 19 of the body segment parameters generated using Winter's model, at probabilities ranging between 0.05 and less than 0.01, except for mean shoulder breadth, wrist height above datum and foot length which were similar to the observed field values at p-values of 0.59, 0.15 and 0.11, respectively. This means that the new models generated for each of the local government areas and Benin City are more suited to predicting body segment dimensions in the study area.