Thesis (M.Sc.)--Chulalongkorn University,2011

The objectives of this study were (i) to describe an instrumented couch which would be able to synchronize with the motion capture system in details; (ii) to calibrate this device. The criterion-related validity and test-retest reliability of the couch were investigated in two conditions: empty couch and a couch with dead weight of known mass of 70 kg. Both conditions were investigated in three directions: vertical, medial-lateral and caudad-cehalad directions. The motion capture system was also investigated by using the grid paper size 40× 40 cm2. The criterion-related validity of both the couch and motion capture system were analyzed by Pearson’s product moment correlation. The test-retest reliability of the couch was analyzed by Intra-class correlation coefficients [ICC(2, 1)]. The percentage error was calculated for both the couch and motion capture system. The Pearson’s product moment correlation of this study showed 1.00 (p<0.05) in both the couch and motion capture system. The ICC(2, 1) of the couch was 1.00 (p<0.05). The percentage error of the couch showed average percentage error to be ranged from 0.41-1.12%. The percentage error of the motion capture system showed 0%. In conclusion, the instrumented couch and the motion capture system are appropriate to investigate both amount of force applied and displacement during manual therapy.