Mechanical factors in the human body are considered to play a dominant role in low back problems. Various spinal structures. including muscles, act in unison to resist the external load. An estimation of the muscle forces in this structure requires a knowledge of the orientation, location and area of cross-section of the muscles to complete the formulation of a truly three-dimensional mathematical model of the spine. The geometric parameters which are calculated were the line of action, the centroid and physiologic area of cross-section of each muscle as a function of the spinal level. This geometric data were obtained from CT scans of 11 subjects participating in this study