Ergonomic Office Chair Research Articles

Development of an Intelligent Office Chair by Combining Vibrotactile and Visual Feedbacks

The intelligent office chair has become increasingly popular with the development of the Internet of Things (IoT), wireless communication technology, sensing technology, and intelligent control technology. A smart office chair can monitor sitting behavior and trigger an alert message to the user, aiming to correct his posture and improve the sitting behavior. Visual and vibrotactile feedback are two techniques widely adopted to provide feedback. Studies indicated that vibrotactile feedback is a more effective way to attract the user’s attention. However, vibrotactile feedback can’t instruct users to adjust their sitting behavior. Meanwhile, the visual feedback can be easily ignored but provides explicit instructions on adjusting sitting behavior. This paper proposed to develop an intelligent office chair prototype integrating ergonomic office chair, sensors, microcontroller, vibration actuators, and mobile App. This chair aims to provide both vibrotactile and visual feedback to monitor the user ’s posture and improve their sitting behavior.

Predictive Analytics for Chair Asset Management

Once an ergonomic office chair is purchased in the workplace, it usually remains in circulation far beyond its acceptable life cycle and warranty. Older chairs present ergonomic and safety risks exposing employees to unnecessary musculoskeletal stress and strain resulting in injury exposure claims for the employer. This paper introduces a chair assessment methodology using predictive analytics to evaluate the quality and competency of an office ergonomic chair over time. Rather than relying solely on an employee’s subjective, biased opinion of chair quality or waiting for absolute failure; instead an objective, measurable rating scale is used to determine chair status. The Chair Assessment (software) System (CAS) provides an overall score indicating whether the chair should remain in use, be repaired or removed from circulation in a timely manner so it can be replaced. The Chair Assessment System is part of a furniture asset management system focused specifically on chair use-life cycle.

Analysis of Ergonomic Office Chair for Information Technology Work Environment - A Case Study in Indian Context

Information technology industry is one of the fastest growing industries in India. The normal working hours as per Factories Act 1948 is not more than 9 hours per day. In the IT industry an individual spends most of the working time in front of computer system. Reports suggest that continuous sitting in the same postures has been the reason for many musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and repetitive strain injuries (RSIs) amongst the employees in this sector. Ergonomic design of the work station influences the working capability & health condition of the employees. The main objective of this paper is to propose an ergonomically designed office chair. The work focuses on the design and analysis of Office chair which is ergonomically structured according to Indian Anthropometric data. The three dimensional model of the ergonomic office chair was developed and the structural analysis of the chair was carried out using simulations tool under quasi-static loading and dynamic loading conditions. The static structural deformation and stress was observed to be within the limits having a Factor of safety (FOS) of 15. The cyclic loading was considered for fully reversed condition with load limits of +1200 N to -1200 N in sitting position. Back rest was considered as flexural load of +200N to -200N fully reversed. It was observed that the fatigue life of the designed chair is 1x106 and hence the design is considered to be safe for cyclic loading condition.

Office chair design: a systematic approach of ergonomic design based on the anthropometric measurement of Bangladeshi people

The world of ergonomic evaluation considerate the human biomechanics and anthropometric measurement an integral part of product design and development work. In this paper, we have given an attempt to design an ergonomically fitted office chair suitable for Bangladeshi people. In this paper, the anthropometric data analysis has been done in order to determine the necessary dimensions suitable for the office chair. Lastly, an ergonomically fitted office chair is designed based on this anthropometric data analysis. The concept of the paper is to focus on the dimensional changes that the Bangladeshi people need for their comfort in the ergonomic office chair. The structural difference in different regions makes us inspired to think about the office chair ergonomics for Bangladeshi people. In short, this paper reflects the entire process of designing an ergonomic office chair suitable for them.

What Am I Sitting On? User Knowledge Of Their Chair Controls

This study tested user knowledge and the use of the controls for their work chairs for a volunteer sample of 1004 office workers who were randomly selected for survey from 23 different companies and who were sitting on one of a total of 60 different ergonomic office chairs. Results showed that with the exception of seat height and armrest adjustment, only a small minority of users had accurate knowledge about the controls on their chair. Even when users correctly identified a chair control, less than 50% said they had ever used that control. There was no effect of ergonomics chair training on user perceived chair comfort. Those who had received previous training for an ergonomic chair reported less frequent musculoskeletal discomfort than those with no training or with specific training on their current. Users who sat on chairs with 3 or fewer controls reported significantly less frequent musculoskeletal discomfort than those sitting on more complex chairs with 4 or more controls. Overall, the results show that up to two thirds of users knew about their controls for adjusting seat height, seat depth and armrest height, but most users were unaware of controls for other functions. The implications for chair design are discussed.

Ergonomic Chair Explorative Intervention Study: Effect on Chronic Upper Quadrant Musculoskeletal Dysfunction, Disability and Productivity in Female Computer Workers

Persistent upper quadrant musculoskeletal pain and disability are common in female computer workers; they are associated with a complex relationship between individual, work-related and psychosocial factors. Upper quadrant musculoskeletal dysfunction has been associated with reduced work performance. Although there is lack of evidence for an adjustable office chair on computer workers' upper quadrant dysfunction and productivity, an adjustable office chair may provide a platform to change the computer workstation set-up and thereby have an effect on upper quadrant musculoskeletal structures. The aim of this two single-subject (n=1) explorative study was to determine whether an adjustable ergonomic office chair was associated with self-reported improvement in chronic upper quadrant musculoskeletal dysfunction and work productivity among female computer workers, compared to a less adjustable ergonomic office chair. Results found a clinically meaningful short-term reduction in both participants' self-reported upper quadrant pain and perceived muscle tension. One participant's results showed a clinically meaningful reduction in self-reported neck disability and work impairment, resulting from the upper quadrant musculoskeletal dysfunction. The other participants' baseline values for both neck disability and work impairment were too low for a meaningful comparison. Study findings indicated that a height-adjustable ergonomic office chair reduced upper quadrant musculoskeletal dysfunction in two female computer workers. This explorative study forms the foundation for further studies that aim to make office chair recommendations for female computer workers to reduce UQ musculoskeletal dysfunction.

Development of Ergonomic Balance Seat(e-BASE) Chair

Objective: The aim of this study is to develop an ergonomic office chair that has an alarm function for the unbalanced sitting postures. Background: Contrary to expectation, it is reported that office workers sit on their chairs much more in unbalanced postures during daily work. Even though an office worker uses an ergonomically good-designed chair and begins their work in a good sitting posture, his/her posture is likely to shift to the unbalanced bad posture. Therefore, a posture alarm system would be very helpful in keeping office workers' good postures. Method: We developed a prototype chair with four load cells under a seat pan and one load cell beneath a backrest. Through some experiments, we set the criteria for unbalanced bad postures then implemented the criteria into the alarm system of the prototype chair. The chair called e-BASE chair could detect unbalance postures and show alarms for chair users. We also enhanced back support by developing a step-wised folding backrest. Results: The e-BASE chair showed better performance in interface pressure distributions and balanced posture ratio in VDT work. Conclusion: The ergonomic chair with posture alarm function(e-BASE chair) was developed. It showed better performance in seat pressure distribution and in keeping good posture during office work. Application: The posture alarm system and folding backrest can be applied to the new models of office chair.

Sitting Comfort of Ergonomic Office Chairs—Developed Versus Intuitive Evaluation

The sitting comfort of office chairs with different ergonomic layouts (inferior, superior) was examined. Fifty participants were randomly assigned to a 2 × 5 factorial experimental design with 2 different conditions of ergonomic chair layout (inferior or superior) and 5 different conditions of instruction to explore the chair. Four conditions were created to differentiate between various levels of perceptual awareness and processing of chair-related information (guided exploration and developed evaluation). In a 5th condition, participants remained uninstructed (free exploration and intuitive exploration). Under guided exploration, the participants’ perception of sitting comfort was in line with objective differences in the chair layout. Different conditions of guided exploration, however, did not influence the evaluations. Under free exploration, the participants’ perceptions did not match the ergonomic chair layout. In contrast to participants under guided exploration, they even rated the ergonomically inferior office chair more favourably than the ergonomically superior chair.

Postural versus chair design impacts upon interface pressure

An investigation of postural and chair design impacts upon seat pan interface pressure has been performed in an effort to identify whether differences in posture or chair design result in greater pressure differences. Investigation of postural variables focused on trunk–thigh angle and use of armrests. Twelve ergonomic office chairs were used to assess chair design differences. Both male and female subjects were included. Gender effects were controlled through use of a repeated Latin square design, with squares defined by gender. Significant gender-based interaction was observed amongst postural treatments and chair effects. Postural treatments, chairs designs, and participant effects all resulted in significant interface pressure differences, though gender-based interaction yielded some non-additivity of results between males and females. The final conclusion drawn from the results is that chair design differences had the greatest effect on seat pan interface pressure, followed by participant effects, and lastly postural treatments.

A Field Evaluation of Office Chairs

Ten ergonomic office chairs, chosen from a sample of eighty-four, were evaluated in an ergonomic field study. Twenty office employees used each of the chairs for one day. The chairs were evaluated using four different methods: a chair feature evaluation checklist, a ranking procedure, general comfort and body part discomfort ratings. The first two methods produced positive results, including significant differences between the chairs. The chair users generally had difficulties in perceiving and expressing their comfort and discomfort associated with the latter two methods. The study identified several distinct features related to chair comfort, including the design of the seat pan, back rest, arm rests and ease of adjustability.

AN ERGONOMIC EVALUATION OF OFFICE CHAIRS

Ten ergonomic office chairs, chosen from a sample of eighty‐four, were evaluated in an ergonomic field study. Twenty office employees used each of the chairs for one day. The chairs were evaluated using four different subjective methods: body part discomfort, general comfort rating, a chair feature evaluation checklist, and a ranking procedure. The chair users generally had difficulties in perceiving and expressing comfort and discomfort which was required in the two first methods. The latter methods produced more informative results including significant differences between the chairs. The study identified several distinct features related to chair comfort including the design of the seat pan, back rest, arm rests, and ease of adjustability.