Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the capability of isometric lifting strength of young people in Taiwan at different exerting heights. Sixty volunteers including 30 males and 30 females were recruited. Three fixed independent variables including sex, subject (nested within sex), and lifting heights (ankle, knee, and knuckle) were investigated. The maximum volitional contraction (MVC) of lifting was considered as the dependent variable. The result of nested-factorial ANOVA indicates that sex and height factors affect lifting MVC significantly. Overall, female MVC is about 50% (331 N/ 666 N) of male regardless of specified heights. As to height effect, the ranking of these three levels is the same for both genders; lifting MVC at ankle level is the greatest (528 N), followed by at knuckle level (510 N, 97% of at ankle level), and the least is at knee level (459 N, 87% of at ankle level). On the other hand, lifting MVC does not correlate with grip MVC for both genders, but there is a correlation with body weight for male only (r=0.43, p<0.05). Above results can be useful for workplace design that requires heavy manual lifting, and for screening workers.