Anthropometry

Anthropometry (Greek anthropos (άνθρωπος - "man") and metron (μέτρον - "measure") therefore "measurement of man") refers to the measurement of the human individual. The Anthropometry technique has been defined by many authors during the last 50 years. I think that anyone interested should read the followings, among others, and discuss their implications: ¨The study of the measurement of the human body in terms of the dimension as of bone, muscle and adipose (fat) tissue¨ (NHANES, 2007). ¨The scientific procedure and processes of acquiring surface anatomical measurements such as lengths, breadths, girths, and skinfolds of the human body by means of specialist equipment ¨ (Stewart, 2010). “The process of measuring the physical dimensions of some characteristics from the external morphology of the man” (Betancourt, 2010).

However, it is important to emphasize the unique feature of technique of Anthropometry nor method or science due to the differential analyses of their raw values. At some degree that discussion is ample and goes beyond that purpose but we can introduce the different theoretical approach of using the anthropometry datum and comment some simple examples. The use of Anthropometry has three different main approaches that justify why a technique and not a method or science is. The role of the anthropometric value depends deeply on the kind of theoretical perspective in which the researcher stands for: Nutritional Anthropology, Kinanthropometry and Physical Ergonomics. For the Nutritional Anthropology the anthropometric measure is the primary datum for indexes that evaluate the organic health level of the subject following the references of normality from the allopathic western paradigm. Just follow the case of the analysis of the 2.10 m stature value of a sixteen years old male. The evaluation of Nutritional Anthropology using the WHO tables predicts that the boy is one of the highest but nothing tells us about the causes. We know that a normal or high stature score versus the ideal reference is good indicator of nutritional and health status. Combining the stature value with other variables, weight, blood pressure, genetic syndromes, endocrinological profile, is possible to diagnose any disease for patients in the health care system. 2.1 m stature could be pathological is the subject had a failure of the endocrinological system that increased the height but affected the whole organic body. Without theory and context the anthropometric measure is null for organic health diagnosis. For the Kinanthropometry the anthropometry data has two applications: A) It’s the primary source of a group of predictive methods of the biological potentiality of motor efficiency of the man; B) Describe quantitatively the beauty of a body model throughout its direct valuation (stature, head volume, so on) and /or the results of kinanthropometric methods. The same 2.10 stature boy is highly estimated by basketball trainers because it’s scarcely frequency in human population. In this case, the Kinanthropometry approach prevails over the understanding of the stature value. He is considered a basketball talent that deserves scholarships and opportunities to improve his sport skill if he shows other characteristic of great competence for the sports: jump, speed, aiming, so on. Otherwise, a 2.10 m stature ballet dancer is too tall for the artistic canon and is classified like inappropriate for dancing because the boy is clumsy and slow of motion. Below 1.70 m is unacceptable for professional dancing at the Cuban’s National Ballet Company. Once again is demonstrated easily that the isolated analysis of any stature value has nonsense. For the Physical Ergonomics the anthropometric value registers directly the length, volume and reach of the corporal segments in postures linked to the design and the safety and comfortable interaction of individuals with objects and spaces of the socio-cultural context (Betancourt, 2010). 2.10 m stature is a trouble for buying a bed in a typical store. The Physical Ergonomics theory implies insecurity and unhealthy consequences for the continuous use of the objects sold for people shorter that the boy. For a designer is a great challenger to accommodate that sort of infrequent person in his plans of creation, elaboration and seller a common bed. How wide or heavy this person is, where the main pressure points of the lay down body are, which changes for keeping the safety standards should be done, are some of the few question that any in charge of that task does since the beginning.