A simple anthropometric estimation formula for healthy female labourers' leg volume.

BACKGROUND: Leg volume (LV) is an important reference in nutrition, physiology in exercise, or clinical diagnosis. Therefore, how to evaluate LV easily and quickly with accuracy is important in these areas. AIM: To develop a simple anthropometric estimation formula with ease of use and good accuracy for leg volume (LV) of female labourers. SUBJECTS: One hundred and thirty female labourers (110 subjects for formula regression procedure and 20 subjects for the comparison phase) were recruited as subjects with no reported leg surgery history, trauma, or deformity. METHODS: A set of 3 D scanners was used to measure the range data of each subject's leg. RESULTS: The resultant LV estimation formula is LV = 0.215 × LL × CTH1.620 with R2 = 0.967, in which LL stands for leg length and CTH for circumference of thigh. Mean error of this LV estimation is 0.10% and much smaller than that of the previous study (25.11% with significant difference). CONCLUSION: An anthropometric estimation formula for female labourers' leg volume was developed in this study. Estimation mean error of this formula is much smaller than the one in the previous study. This formula is easy to use and shows good accuracy in estimating female labourers' leg volume.