Speaker
Description
The very first environment where a human is exposed to long term sitting is school envi-ronment. School furniture could be one of the external risk factors for musculoskeletal pain among students. The aim of this study was to evaluate school furniture as a risk factor for musculoskeletal pain among Slovenian students. The study was divided into two parts. First-ly, a review regarding the student-furniture mismatch was conducted. Secondly, student-furniture mismatch in Slovenian schools was calculated and correlation between the mis-match and musculoskeletal pain was evaluated. Students from primary and secondary school, and from higher educational programs were included in the study. To calculate the mismatch, eight anthropometric measures (popliteal height, knee height, thigh thickness, elbow height sitting, shoulder height sitting, subscapular height, hip width, buttock-popliteal length) and six furniture dimensions (seat height, seat depth, seat width, seat inclination, up-per edge of backrest, sitting desk clearance) were measured. Additionally, students complet-ed the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire. The results of the literature review indicate a high student-furniture mismatch among the existing studies, ranging from 30% to 90 % (Batistão et al., 2012; van Niekerk et al., 2013). Similarly, the high mismatch was found among Slovenian students at all educational levels. Further on, ergonomically designed school furniture was proposed based on the anthropometric data of the students. The high mismatch between the furniture and students’ anthropometry indicates that there is a need to ergonomically redesign school furniture in Slovenian schools at all levels. Furthermore, the data obtained could be considered when designing new school furniture in Slovenia. Studies with larger sample sizes assessing multiple age groups are desired to better understand the student-furniture mismatch.
Keywords: ergonomics, design, school-furniture mismatch
| Consider my submission for a full-paper in the IPBE special edition for the conference? | Yes, please. |
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