Ergonomic Evaluation of the Angle of Abduction in Laptops Environment

Laptops in 21st century are an integral part of every professional in vivid fields. Off late there has been\ud emergence of several ergonomic injuries such as repetitive strain injuries (RSIs) due to extensive usage of\ud laptops, which can be closely linked with applied force and postures. This study investigated the effect of\ud various angles of keyboard on the applied force and motor action plus response time while performing five\ud distinct tasks. On the basis of literature two different laptops were selected for performing different tasks. For\ud each case the three levels of platform angle were considered as 0°, 5°, and 10°. Male subjects were selected to\ud perform five distinct tasks for each platform angle for both laptops. The force applied (in milli-volts) and the\ud motor action plus response time (milli-seconds) were recorded using an oscilloscope. The data collected were\ud analyzed through ANOVA using MINITAB software. The abduction angle with the least mean response time\ud and applied force were considered as the best from ergonomics viewpoint. The ANOVA results showed that the\ud angle of abduction for both laptops (small and large) do have significant effect on applied force but not on motor\ud action plus response time. The analysis of results indicate that 10° angle of abduction in case of small laptops\ud should be applied to minimize musculoskeletal disorder and repetitive strain injuries.\ud Research relevance: This work suggests that those responsible for the function and operation of laptops would\ud have to redesign the system to reduce injuries, as far as musculoskeletal disorder, repetitive strain injuries and\ud other related problems are concerned. The present work can be quite useful for the system designers of\ud tomorrow