Abstract
This paper describes the relationship between the elastic properties of the shoulder muscle (trapezius) and patient's complaint about shoulder stiffness (neck pain). The elastic properties are measured applying a stepwise load to the shoulder muscle through a spherical indenter, which moves toward a balanced position with oscillation. To relate the subjective alternative choices, such as the complaint about the shoulder stiffness, with the elastic properties, the ratio of the number of complaints to the total has been used as a tentative scale for mapping out numerical values. Then with respect to the subjects including 83 patients, 14 female keypunchers and 9 healthy males, it has been found that neither the final displacement h nor the oscillation period τ alone showed clear correspondence with the subject's complaint. However, the product of h and τ was found to be suitable for evaluating the subject's complaint since the ratio decreased monotonically as the product increased.
