Does a prototype ‘Experimental’ chair facilitate more postural changes in computing adolescents compared to a normal school chair?

Article type: Research Article

Authors: van Niekerk, Sjan-Mari^{a; *} | Louw, Quinette Abegail^a | Grimmer, Karen^{a; b}

Affiliations: [a] FNB Movement Analysis Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Physiotherapy Division, Stellenbosch University, South Africa | [b] International Centre for Allied Health Evidence (iCAHE), City East Campus, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia

Correspondence: [*] Address for Correspondence: Sjan-Mari van Niekerk, FNB Movement Analysis Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Physiotherapy Division, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Tel.: +27 219389667; E-mail: smvanniekerk@sun.ac.za.

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Prolonged sitting, such as when computing, has been linked to adolescent spinal pain. A chair should fit the user’s body dimensions and aid the user in frequently changing sitting posture, rather than support one ‘ideal’ posture. Such a chair is not currently available to high school learners. OBJECTIVES: To develop a novel experimental school chair. To determine whether the experimental chair encourages regular small range movement in all directions whilst students work at computers in class. To compare the number of postural changes between the normal static school chair and the experimental chair, whilst students do computing work. METHODS: A development and validation study was conducted. Twelve high school students were randomly selected from a conveniently selected school. Fifteen minutes of 3D posture measurements were collected in both the prototype and school computer chair. The analysis focused on the frequency of postural movement. RESULTS: Data of eleven learners were analysed. There were statistically significant increases in the number of postural changes on the ‘Experimental’ chair compared to the school chair, for both pelvic side-flexion and pelvic rotation (ρ= 0.01). CONCLUSION: The experimental chair provided more postural movements when compared to the school computer chair. Future studies should use this experimental chair to determine the effect of increased postural movement, of especially the pelvis, on the prevalence and intensity of musculoskeletal symptoms of high school learners in the Cape Metropole area, Western Cape, South Africa.

Keywords: High school, sitting biomechanics, sitting posture, movement, experimental chair

DOI: 10.3233/WOR-162390

Journal: Work, vol. 55, no. 1, pp. 63-75, 2016