Effects of using dynamic office chairs on posture and EMG in standardized office tasks

In the paper a measuring system for the comparative posture and EMG analysis of office chairs is presented. With the system four specific dynamic office chairs that promote dynamic sitting and therefore aim to prevent musculoskeletal disorders (MSD), were analyzed in comparison to a reference chair in two different standardized tasks (intensive mouse use and sorting files). Exemplary results of the ongoing study suggest that postures and the electrical activities of the erector spinae and trapezius muscles depend more on the tasks performed than on the use of a particular type of office chair. This still has to be proved by statistical analysis. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007