Entering the twentieth century, corsets began to disappear with the tendency of concentrating on slim bodies and youth. As corsets proceeded to be discarded, they began to be internalized as a means of controlling the body; 'muscular corset' takes hold. However, the internalized corset increasingly appears to be externalized again in contemporary fashion. This study investigates how natural body is reconstructed as socio-cultural image drawing on the relationship between the signifier and signified of corset. As for the research methodology this study conducts literature survey to investigate the internalization of corset. This study proceeds to examine the subjects of fashion collections from 1980 to 2010 and samples the outfits which represent the externalization of corset through case analysis. Through the discussion of the study, the relationship of signifier and signified in the externalization of corset is argued as follows: first, by maintaining signifier and signified of the traditional corset as underwear, aggressive eroticism of corset has been observed, second, by perceiving corset as the agency of the body, fetishism of corset dissociates the function of sexual object from corset while distorting the relationship of signifier and signified, third, through embodying the notion of muscular corset literally, the ironical representation of corset as a torturing device of female body deconstructs the traditional relation of signifier and signified of corset.

This study examined the muscle recruitment order during extension of the hip joint in normal subjects, and evaluated whether the external support obtained from wearing a lumbosacral corset had an effect on muscle recruitment leading to increased lumbar stability. The subjects were 40 normal adults (32 male, 8 female) with no history of low back pain and no pathological findings in the nervous or musculoskeletal systems. All subjects extended their hip joints under 3 positions (prone, sidelying, standing). During extension, the onsets of contraction of the rectus abdominis, gluteus maximus, and semitendinosus muscles were measured. Electromyographic activity was measured using a surface electrode, and the muscle contraction onset time was designated as the point exceeding a threshold of 25 ms, using a mean plus twice of the standard deviation. To compare the average order of muscle contraction onset time, a Freedman two-way analysis of variance by ranks was used. The relative difference between muscle contraction onset time wearing and not wearing a lumbosacral corset was measured using a paired t-test. A difference in the average muscle contraction onset order for the rectus abdominis, gluteus maximus, and semitendinosus muscles was observed (p<.05) among three positions. However, wearing a lumbosacral corset did not. change the contraction order. In addition, wearing a lumbosacral corset produced a significant difference (p<.05) in the relative onset time between the rectus abdominis and gluteus maximus in the standing position, but no difference was observed for the other muscles or positions. In the future, patients suffering from low back pain should be compared with normal subjects to determine the effectiveness of a lumbosacral corset in changing muscle recruitment order.

The purpose of this study was to assess the biomechanical effects of corset and back brace for low back pain syndroms patients. The subjects of this study were 69 patients with low back pain syndroms who had been hospitalized or were visited out-patient department of the rehabilitation hospital, college of medicine, Yonsei University, from October 5, 1995 through November 5, 1995. Clinical results and datum were obtained by phone calls and chart reviews of low back pain patients. The results were as follows: 1) Fifty - nine subjects recovered over a good grade (85.6%). 2) The standing workers had a little effect of brace for low back pain. 3) After using a corset and back brace, the test of SLR increased from 36.23% to 72.47%, and the ability of ambulation improved from 40.57% to 85.5%. In conclusion, the biomechanical effects of corset and back brace for low back pain patients were found to be decrease pains and improve posture and ADL function.