Video-based measurement of the moment of inertia of the lower leg

Abstract

A video-based measurement of the moment of inertia of the lower leg is presented in this paper. The patellar tendon of a subject with skin markers is stimulated using a pendulum hammer. The markers were tracked during the reflex reaction of the lower leg using histogram back-projection. The plot of angular displacement with time is obtained and is assumed to be the initial part of the oscillation of the lower leg. The moment of inertia is calculated using the physical pendulum equation and compared to the analytical moment derived using the parallel-axis theorem. Results obtained falls within the same magnitude range, however, comparison to the actual moments were not made.