ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Students remain in a sedentary position inside classrooms for 60% to 80% of their school day. As such, research has associated students' prolonged seated posture on school furniture with their discomfort and musculoskeletal pain. The correlation between the shape of the seat surface and the zones of the body making contact with these surfaces constitutes an essential factor in determining comfort-enhancing seat design. OBJECTIVE: This study's primary aim lies in contrasting the standard, current school chair against two seat prototypes, both designed and built from digital models, comparing seat-user pressure distribution and contact area during students' performance of different school tasks. METHODS: Participants (nâ=â13), ages 7 to 19, performed school tasks sitting on three different chairs' seat surfaces during the test: the current seat used in schools and two seat prototypes, each designed based on body anatomy. The seats were evaluated through a force-sensing array pressure-mapping system. RESULTS: The measurements from designed seat prototypes provide a better distribution of pressures and greater contact area with the students' anatomical areas (buttocks and thighs) than the seat currently used in the specified schools. The improvement in pressure values and contact area as seen in the second designed seat prototype is due to its inclination angle and contact with students' sacral zone. CONCLUSIONS: This research work found that a seat's shape based on human anatomical features (buttocks and thighs), compared to a completely flat seat, creates a higher reduction of body pressures and an increase in the body contact area, with the intent to increase comfort and reduce musculoskeletal pain.
Subject(s)
Buttocks , Interior Design and Furnishings , Pressure , Thigh , Adolescent , Child , Equipment Design , Ergonomics , Female , Humans , Male , Sitting Position , Students , Young AdultABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Prepare a conceptual model that facilitates understanding of the relationships between the variables that lead children to adopt postures in school transportation vehicles that increase injuries in traffic accidents. METHODS: For identification of the variables, direct information on school transportation was collected through focus groups, with bus aides and bus drivers, on-board filming during the transport of children, and recording of the dimensions of components in different types of school buses. The information collected was analyzed using the Atlas.ti v6 software and the construction of a model through deduction. RESULTS: Important relationships were found between adoption of potentially hazardous postures by children during transport to and from school and the seat and seat belt dimensions, the characteristics of the transportation service, and the role of bus aides. CONCLUSIONS: In order to adopt coherent interventions in school transportation safety, it is necessary to consider not only the technical aspects of the vehicle or posture that are controlled in crash tests but the specific variables of the activities that lead children to adopt postures that put them at greater risk of injury.
Subject(s)
Models, Theoretical , Motor Vehicles , Safety , Acceleration , Accident Prevention , Adolescent , Child , Child Behavior , Colombia , Equipment Design , Female , Humans , Male , Motor Vehicles/standards , Posture , Seat Belts , Transportation , Video Recording , WorkforceABSTRACT
OBJETIVO: Elaborar un modelo conceptual que permita comprender las relaciones entre las variables que llevan a los niños a adoptar posturas en los vehículos de transporte escolar que incrementan los efectos lesivos en caso de accidentes de tránsito. MÉTODOS: Para la identificación de las variables se recolectó información directa de la actividad del transporte escolar por medio de grupos de enfoque, con asistentes de ruta y conductores de estos vehículos, la filmación interior de autobuses durante el transporte de los niños, y el registro de dimensiones de componentes en diferentes tipos de autobuses escolares. El análisis de la información recolectada se hizo mediante el software Atlas ti v6 y, la construcción del modelo, por medio de un proceso deductivo. RESULTADOS: Se encontraron relaciones importantes entre la adopción de posturas potencialmente riesgosas por parte de los niños durante el transporte escolar y las características dimensionales de los asientos y cinturones de seguridad, las características del servicio de transporte y el rol del asistente de ruta. CONCLUSIONES: Para llevar a cabo intervenciones coherentes y específicas en el ámbito de la seguridad en el transporte escolar, se deben considerar no solo aspectos técnicos concernientes al vehículo o condiciones posturales controladas en pruebas de choque en laboratorio, sino también las variables específicas de la actividad que llevan a los niños a adoptar posturas que incrementan el riesgo de lesiones.
OBJECTIVE: Prepare a conceptual model that facilitates understanding of the relationships between the variables that lead children to adopt postures in school transportation vehicles that increase injuries in traffic accidents. METHODS: For identification of the variables, direct information on school transportation was collected through focus groups, with bus aides and bus drivers, on-board filming during the transport of children, and recording of the dimensions of components in different types of school buses. The information collected was analyzed using the Atlas.ti v6 software and the construction of a model through deduction. RESULTS: Important relationships were found between adoption of potentially hazardous postures by children during transport to and from school and the seat and seat belt dimensions, the characteristics of the transportation service, and the role of bus aides. CONCLUSIONS: In order to adopt coherent interventions in school transportation safety, it is necessary to consider not only the technical aspects of the vehicle or posture that are controlled in crash tests but the specific variables of the activities that lead children to adopt postures that put them at greater risk of injury.