The rate and force of manual chest percussion
as applied by 35 physiotherapists was
investigated. The influence of gender, body
weight, body mass index {BMI}, rate and
frequency of usage on force were examined.
Percussion was applied to ahealthy male for 35
seconds and the rate and force were measured
usinga force platform. The rate andforcevaried
among subjects. The mean (SO) rate and force
of percussion were 6.60 (1.00) Hertz and 58.10
(15.32) Newtons respectively. There was no
relationship between force and 1) gender, 2)
bodyweight, 3)BMI or 4) frequency of usage of
percussion. A weak relationship was found
between rate and force (r= -0.358, p=0.034).
Thirty-two subjects demonstrated a hand
dominance