Abstract

SUMMARYThe analytic study of physical disability involves more than clinical judgment and decision.The laws of physics and the mechanical demands must at least be recognized as dominating the biological laws. The forces of stress and equilibrium are accurately calculated for the construction of inanimate material, and the same approach may be made to living material, even though it may not reach perfection because of biologic variations. Several examples are briefly presented here to illustrate how such information may be formulated mathematically.