Engineering Approach to Sitting

INTRODUCTION AHMAD ADIL 19005241-057

ERGONOMICS RELATED TO SITTING AEIZA NASIR 190052410-48
DISC FORM & ARM REST DUR E SAMEEN 19005241-041
BACKREST ESHA AFZAL 19005241-017
PROBLEMS RELATED TO SITTING ZAINAB ALI 19005241-043
 Sitting

 Sitting is a basic action and resting position in which the body weight
is supported primarily by the buttocks in contact with the ground or a
horizontal object such as a chair seat. The torso is more or less upright.
 Seated posture is affected by seat-back angle, seat-bottom angle and
foam density, height above floor, and presence of armrests.
 Advantage

 Provides stability to tasks involving visual and motor control

 Less energy consuming than standing
 Places less stress on lower extremity joints
 Lessens pressure on lower extremity circulation
 Good Sitting Body Position

The following are general recommendations:

 Keep the joints such as hips, knees and ankles open
slightly (more than 90°).
 Keep knee joints at or below the hip joints.
 Keep ankle joints in front of the knees.
 Keep a gap the width of three fingers between the
back of the knee joint and the front edge of the chair.
 Keep feet flat on the floor or on a foot rest.
 Sitting Posture

 A good sitting posture is characterized by

minimal muscle effort, effort, which is produced
with proper support by arm rests, back rest, seat,
and foot rest.
 Ability to change posture regularly
Three sitting postures
 Anterior (forward leaning)
 Middle (relaxed, unsupported)
 Posterior (backward leaning)
 Muscular Activity of Sitting

 Prevertebral(Neck)
 Flexors of lumbar spine ( abdominals)
 Extensors of Spine ( Spine)
 Extensor of Hip (Illiopsoas)
 Extensor of knee
 Dorsi-flexor and Plantar flexors of Ankle
 Intrinsic muscles of feet
 Ergonomics of Seat

 The weight of the trunk, head, and part of the arms is almost completely
carried by the ischial tuberosities
 Horizontal seat always raises friction at the ischial tuberosities, this
friction can be completely eliminated by:
 means of a moderate seat angle and that the angle between seat and back rest is
optimal between 90 and 95°
 Seat Dimensions

 Height
 Width
 Depth
 Slope
 Chair and Table

 A chair is important for a good posture

 In tasks such as reading and writing are involved, the height and
inclination of the desk or table play a dominating role
 Surface height of Chair

 Most work surfaces are a standard 28" to 30", which is

a good sitting height for most people between 5'8" and 5'10" tall who use
conventional task chair. If you are taller or shorter, be prepared to change
your work surface height.
Proper desk chair posture:
 Adjust the chair height so your feet are flat on the floor and your knees are in
line (or slightly lower) with your hips.
 Sit up straight and keep your hips far back in the chair.
 The back of the chair should be somewhat reclined at a 100- to 110-degree
angle.
 ENGINEERING APPROACHES

 ASSISSTIVE DEVICES:
 WHEEL CHAIR:
 The wheelchair is one of the most commonly used
assistive devices to promote mobility and enhance
quality of life for people who have difficulties
in sitting or walking
 In addition to providing mobility, an appropriate
wheelchair benefits the physical health and quality of
life of the users by helping in reducing common
problems such as pressure sores, progression of
deformities and improve respiration and digestion.
 Biomechanics of sitting

 Prolonged sitting while working in an office has become a

standard function in our society. While seated postures do
conserve energy and permit a worker to focus on a task, the
posture also involves a significant amount of spine flexion
 Biological tissue relies on mechanical loading and stimulation to
grow and maintain itself. Specifically, the human spine needs
cyclic compressive loading to maintain health.
 In sitting, compressive loading is low yet fairly static
 In a study examining low back loading at the L4/L5 disc level,
Callaghan and McGill (2001) found average compressive loads to
be significantly higher in unsupported sitting (1698 N)
 flexed postures have been found to decrease the flow of nutrients
into the intervertebral discs, thereby increasing the risk of disc
herniation
DISC FORCE:
Disc force and office desk
 ARM RESTS
 The importance of arm rests is often underestimated
 Arm rests unload the shoulder girdle
 Weight of the arms is 10 % of body weight
 Variety of arm positions
 In cars, arm rests are often absent or too low
 A proper arm rest must be placed below the mass centers of upper and lower
arm
 Backrest

 The backrest of a seat or chair is the part

which you rest your back on.
 a support used to rest one's back.
 Chair backrests have been proposed to
promote good spinal posture, while also
reduc-ing trunk muscle activation
Provides stability for the vertically erected
trunk .
 Prolonged sitting commonly exac-erbates
low back pain (LBP). chairs with backrests
and chairs that reduce hip flexion
 Advantages

 the prevention of a lumbar kyphosis most

important function of the back rest.
 The mass center of gravity of the trunk dorsal
to the
 ischial-tuberosities forces the lumbar spine into
 kyphosis
 Click-clack phenomenon : the transition from
lumbar lordosis to lumbar kyphosis by the
combination of backward rotation of the pelvis
and ventral flexion of the spine.
 Lumbar backrest support almost eliminates
lumbosacral and sacroiliac movement.
 Angle

 The backrest should support

you and slope back slightly.
The ideal angle between the
seat and the backrest is about
100 to 110 degrees. The base
of the bench should give you
room to pull your feet back
toward your body.
 Lumber Support

 The function of a lumbar support is to exert a firm

force on the upper side of the pelvis and the lumbar
area to prevent tilting in kyphosis
 Support should not reach higher than the lower edge of
the scapulae.
 The thoracic spine is stiff enough (ribs) and a higher
back rest pushes the shoulder blades forward, which
overrules the lumbar support and hinders the
shoulders to stretch and to turn to the left and the right
The absence of a back rest, like sitting on a crutch
always leads to a C-form of the spine
 Muscular activity & backrest inclination

Erector Spinae Muscle • Extends down the

back • Involved in lateral (sideways) flexion
of back & extension activities, e.g.
maintaining back posture in any “sitting”
position • The greater the EMG
(electromyography) muscle activity, the
greater the compressive force on discs.
Increased backrest inclination lessens the
need for spinal support from the erector
Spinae muscle, thereby lowering its EMG
activity.
 PROBLEMS RELATED TO SITTING

AFTER A LONG WORKDAY SITTING AT YOUR DESK, DO YOU FEEL AS

REFRESHED AS WHEN YOU ARRIVED AT THE OFFICE THAT MORNING?
THE ANSWER IS LIKELY NO.

PRESENTED BY:
ZAINAB ALI
19005241043
 GENERAL PROBLEMS RELATED TO SITTING:

 LOW BACK PAIN

 EFFECT ON IVDS
 UPPER CROSS SYNDROME
 LOWER CROSS SYNDROME
 COCCYDYNEA
 RESTLESS LEG SYNDROME AND PRESSURE SORES:
 Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a condition that causes an
uncontrollable urge to move your legs, usually because of
an uncomfortable sensation. It typically happens in the
evening or nighttime hours when you're sitting or lying
down. Moving eases the unpleasant feeling temporarily.
 Pressure sores are caused by sitting or lying in one
position for too long. It’s important to know that a
pressure sore can start quickly. In fact, a Stage 1 sore can
occur if you stay in the same position for as little as 2
hours. This puts pressure on certain areas of your body.
 It reduces blood supply to the skin and the tissue under
the skin. If you don’t change position frequently, the blood
supply will drop. A sore will develop.
 LEG CROSSING:

 The majority of people cross their legs often when sitting, alternating
left over right & right over left
 There many reasons to do this, but in the literature there is no scientific
proof about the benefit or demerit of leg-crossing
 Less activity of the internal oblique abdominal muscles(legs not
crossed)
 By crossing the legs, an alternative and less fatiguing means is found for
self-bracing of the SI joints
 DVT AND BLOOD CLOTS:
 Deep vein thrombosis is a type of blood clot that’s most common in the legs.
When part of this clot breaks off, it can cut off the flow of blood to other
parts of the body such as your lungs, causing a pulmonary embolism. This is
a medical emergency that can lead to major complications or even death.
Sitting for too long, even on a long road trip, can cause DVT.
 Sitting for long periods of time can cause blood to pool in the legs. This can
lead to varicose veins, or spider veins, a smaller version of the former.
Though generally not harmful themselves, these swollen and visible veins
can be unsightly. In rare cases, they can lead to more serious conditions,
like blood clots.
 PIRIFORMIS SYNDROME:

 Piriformis syndrome is a condition in which the piriformis muscle,

located in the buttock region, spasms and causes buttock pain. The
piriformis muscle can also irritate the nearby sciatic nerve and cause
pain, numbness and tingling along the back of the leg and into the foot
(similar to sciatic pain).
 Prolonged sitting may lead to direct compression against the sciatic
nerve. Piriformis syndrome has, therefore, sometimes been referred to
as "fat wallet syndrome" or "wallet sciatica," as it has been found to
occur in people continually sitting against their wallet on a hard
surface.