Biomechanical investigation of prolonged driving in an ergonomically designed truck seat prototype

Abstract

A postural evaluation during a prolonged driving task was conducted to determine the ergonomic validity of a new freely adjustable truck seat prototype. Twenty participants were recruited to perform two 2-h simulated driving sessions. Postures were assessed using motion capture, accelerometers and pressure pads. Subjective discomfort was also monitored in 15-min increments using ratings of perceived discomfort (RPD) and the Automotive Seating Discomfort Questionnaire. Participants had a more neutral spine posture during the first hour of the drive and reported lower RPDs while sitting in the prototype. Pairing the gluteal backrest panel with the adjustable seat pan helped reduce the average sitting pressure. The industry-standard truck seat may lead to the development of poor whole body posture, and the proposed ergonomic redesign of a new truck seat helped improve sitting posture and reduce perceived discomfort. Practitioner Summary: A new freely adjustable truck seat prototype was compared to an Industry standard seat to assess hypothesised improvements to sitting posture and discomfort for long haul driving. It was found that the adjustable panels in the prototype helped promote spine posture, reduce sitting pressure and improved discomfort ratings.

Association of Exposures to Seated Postures With Immediate Increases in Back Pain: A Systematic Review of Studies With Objectively Measured Sitting Time

“…A sensitivity analysis was conducted including only the 5 studies that were rated as having an overall low risk of bias (n ¼ 121). 35,38,40,42,43 Also among these studies, an increased pain rating from baseline after sitting exposure was also observed.…”

“…The titles and abstracts of the 361 remaining articles were screened, and of these, 75 full papers were accessed for further review of eligibility. Sixty-five articles were excluded and the remaining 10 articles, 21,[35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43] including data for 330 participants, were included in this study (Fig 1).…”

“…Two studies were conducted in the field, 39,41 and the rest were conducted in a laboratory-controlled setting. Three studies 21,38,39 examined sitting in automobile seats, whereas the rest of the studies used office-type chairs. Of the 7 studies that examined an office-type chair, 1 study used a chair with the backrest removed.…”

“…Durations of sitting ranged from 1 hour to an average of 6.96 h/d (including breaks) for 5 days with the sitting duration in most studies (8 of 10) being between 1 and 3 hours. In all studies, ratings of perceived LBP or discomfort were made with a C10 Borg Scale, 43 a visual analog scale (10 cm 21,36,40 or 100 mm 38,39,42 ), the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, 37,41 or the 5-point numerical rating scale. 35 Attempts were made to contact authors directly where pain rating data were presented with no reference to baseline measures.…”

“…More complete details of the recruitment strategy, period, and locations could have been included by most of the studies, and the reporting of the statistical analysis was unclear in 1 study. 36 Consequently, 5 of the 10 included studies were rated as having an overall low risk of bias, 35,38,40,42,43 and 5 were rated as having a moderate risk of bias. 21,36,37,39,41 No study was rated as having an overall high risk of bias or as having a high risk of bias in any 1 domain.…”