Classification of lower limb body shapes of paralysed female wheelchair users in Hebei, China: analysis of anthropometric data using clustering approach
研究了384名成年女性轮椅使用者的下肢测量数据，通过主成分分析和聚类分析将下肢体型分为3种类型和5种尺寸标准，为设计适合瘫痪女性的裤子提供依据。
Lower limb body shape is important in the design of functional pants. The skin, muscles, and body shapes of the lower limbs of wheelchair users may differ from healthy people because of the different shapes of their legs and the prolonged seating position. This study aimed to classify the shapes of the lower limbs of adult female wheelchair users. The lower body measurement of 384 female wheelchair users was obtained. The principal component analysis and two-step cluster analysis were used to categorise the body shapes into three different types and five different size standards. Based on the study findings, female wheelchairs have larger waist, belly, and hip circumferences than healthy individuals, with 89.3% of them having prominent hips. Therefore, the design and production of trousers for wheelchair users should take into consideration the classification of lower limb shapes and sizes reported in this study.Practitioner summary: This work initiated the investigation of human body size assessment of clothes for handicapped persons in China, allowing paraplegic female wheelchair users to wear adapted trousers.