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Originally Posted by basmoq
Please read the whole post before chiming in, this was covered in my origional post...  |
My mistake, skimmed over the springs portion and missed that.
The main reason that popped into mind originally, is that the shape/contour of an obese person will not match that of a rigid dummy, despite how it may be replicated with springs.
I'd think that the hips and buttox would factor in quite a bit as far as how the person is oriented on the ground, general posture affecting the curvature of the spine, and if there are the fatty pads on the back, the tendency for the shoulders to rotate upwards, none of which will be realized with the traditional dummy.
I don't think the issue will be getting an accurate compression reading upon the back brace being used, but rather, finding a valid way of incorporating all these variables when obtaining the original compression reading.
I do see that you're located in Ohio as well. It may be worthwhile to contact Dr. Freuler from Ohio State's engineering department. We did a multitude of work with various force and strain gauges back when I was there, and as Pig mentioned, that may be a viable source of obtaining free labor/use of test equipment with a few phone calls.