Body Dynamics and Seating – Ergonomic Benefits of Active Sitting and its Effects on Low Back Pain and Spinal Shrinkage

Abstract

For all of human history, chairs have been a necessary part of existence because of their different and extensive applications. People spend much time in chairs throughout the day, and some may have issues. As a result, one of the fundamental qualities of chairs is seat comfort. The chair's various components each play a unique role in its purpose. A chair should be ergonomic to promote a sitting position that allows for the best alignment of the shoulders, hips, and spine. Finding an active seat design under circumstances that require prolonged sitting with task-oriented postural adjustments or encourage more chair movement overall; which will demonstrate the benefits of active seating design. Therefore, it is evident that more research is needed to understand better the ergonomic advantages of active sitting and the effects of prolonged active sitting on low back pain and spine shrinking. Studying the pressure distribution on the seat pan with different heights is needed. An active office chair with a sliding seat pan was created to examine the user's biomechanical and physiological benefits and comfort and pain levels for continuous active sitting. This innovative active seat should considerably reduce the injuries and pain associated with sitting and office work. Two experiments were carried out. The first was to measure interface pressure for different chair heights with and without using a table. The second was to study the subjective comfort levels and monitor the shrinkage of the spine when sitting on a new chair and compare it with a control chair. The results indicated that the interface pressure was normally distributed when choosing the preferred height for the participant. Also, subjective evaluations of the new chair stated that its enhanced use of movement decreased pain in various body parts and improved comfort. It also reduced the shrinkage of the participants' spines.

Date of Award	Aug 2023
Original language	American English
Supervisor	Ravindra Goonetilleke (Supervisor)