Background: Because of the lack of accurate values for applied forces in manual therapy, manual therapists relies on the magnitude of the individual’s perception during applying the force. However, excessive loading maneuvers carry risks for patients.
Objective: To establish the relationship between the maximal force applied to swine skin with the specific region, sex, and baseline parameters of the subject.
Design: Ex-vivo Study and laboratory Experimental research
Methods: 3.5 kg of Korean pork sirloin that is a piece of swine was handled and it was set 3 dimensions; #A; #B; #C. Forty-seven participants who has no experience in physical therapy randomly carried out the experiment, indicated to push each place of the pressure spots with same posture and process under supervision from the instructor who has over 15 years of manual therapy, and we measured the pressure force in each time.
Results: The biggest pressure force was recorded in spot #A, and #B was represented after #C. Pressure on #A showed certain statistic relation with height (r=.317, p<.05) and weight (r=.434, p<.01); pressure on #B showed certain relation which has statistical meaning with only height (r=.401, p<.01); pressure on #C emerged to have statistic relationship with height (r=.308, p< .05)and weight (r=.428, p<.01). The age aspect revealed relation with pressure on #A, #B and #C, but that was not statistically significant.
Conclusions: It can be inferred that there is the most loss of pressure in the area where cartilage is like an island in the middle.