Xantor, I'm not sure I follow what you are saying here. Did the above answers help?

Quote - I checked the object in a text editor and there are no bone groups(groups named bone).

That sounds strange. If there are no groups defined in the obj, then you would not be able to rotate or translate body parts separately, the whole thing would just move as a block, like a single object pp2. The only time I remember seeing that is in conforming hair or shoes, where 'bend' is sufficient to the purpose.