The invention relates to a measuring device (1) for determining a surfacecontour (42) ofa human or animal body (41), wherein the measuring device (1) comprises a mainchain(43) having several main-chain links (44, 44', 44", 44"', 44i1v, 44v), whichare connectedto each other by a swivel joint (45), characterized in that the swivel joint(45) has a scale(13, 23, 74') or sensors, by means of which the angle between the at least twomain-chainlinks (44, 44', 44", 44"', 44i1v, 44v), can be read or detected.
