The Biomechanical, Physiological, and Cognitive Effects of Active Workstations and Utilizing Anthropometric Data to Improve the Usability
Open Access
- Author:
- Cho, Jae Hyun
- Graduate Program:
- Industrial Engineering
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- August 07, 2017
- Committee Members:
- Andris Freivalds, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Andris Freivalds, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Ling Rothrock, Committee Member
David Nembhard, Committee Member
Melissa Jean Bopp, Outside Member
Liza S Rovniak, Committee Chair/Co-Chair - Keywords:
- Anthropometry
Biomechanics
Physiology
Active Workstations
Sedentary Behavior
Office-Related Task Performance - Abstract:
- The benefits of a physically active lifestyle are well known, such as reducing the risks of devel- oping type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and some cancer types. However, many adults in high-income and developed countries work in sedentary jobs and report lack of time for physical activity. Studies have shown that prolonged sedentary behavior has been contributing significantly to the obesity epidemic. To prevent the spread of this, researchers have studied the use of active workstations to help accomplish light physical activity during office work. However, further investigation is needed to validate and better understand the use of active workstations. To further understand the possibility of using active workstations to improve health while main- taining work efficiency, this study investigates the physiological, biomechanical, and cognitive effects of using active workstations and discusses ways to improve the usability. The objectives include: (1) Investigating the ergonomic characteristics associated with using an under desk bike; (2) Comparing office related work performance while using an under desk bike to working in a seated position; (3) Comparing the energy expenditure of using active workstations (under desk bike, under desk elliptical trainer, and treadmill desk) to a seated or standing position; and (4) Comparing the muscle demands and joint kinematics of using active workstations to a seated or standing position. The findings for each research question are the following: (1) Recommended workstation mea- surements were proposed to accommodate 95% of the general U.S. population in using under desk bikes; (2) Under desk cycling had no significant effect on reading, logical reasoning, and phone call answering performances, but typing performance was significantly different, with a modest deterioration, compared to the traditional seated posture; (3) Using active workstations at light physical activity level could significantly increase energy expenditure by 67.5 (under desk bike) or up to 122.5 (treadmill desk) more kilocalories per hour compared to sitting or standing at the desk; and (4) Normative values regarding the muscle demands of eight lower extremity muscles and sagittal plane kinematic measures of the hip, knee, and ankle joints during the use of active workstations were determined to help guide clinical decision making related to lower extremity training and rehabilitation through active workstations. This study presents a range of topics on the physiological, biomechanical, and cognitive effects of using active workstations in a controlled lab setting to support the research on promoting light physical activity in the workplace. Future studies may conduct a longitudinal field study and include diverse populations to obtain more widely applicable results.