Effects of Prolonged Sitting Posture on Neck and Shoulder Joints During Occupational Driving:Human Ergonomic Simulation Software

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of prolonged driving posture for occupational drives on the upper back muscles. There have been limited papers in the literature that studies the upper body muscles hence this study focuses specifically on neck and shoulder muscles. A human simulation software called Jack software was used to measure the impact of the driving posture on these muscles. Three different trunk conditions relative to the angles were adopted as follows: extension, neutral and flexion. The trail incorporated four different postures to mimic the real driving experience including the neck muscle at the neutral position, neck lateral rotation to the left and neck extension. The results of this study reveal that the lowest discomfort levels of both neck and shoulders were measured at the trunk flexion position, thus it suggested that a proper headrest that would support the neck at 15 degrees' extension would help to reduce the strain on the joint.