Abstract
Mus cul oskeletal disorders (MSDs) represent a significant occupational health issue for dental professionals, primarily due to prolonged and demanding postures. To address this issue, an operating stool (OS) featuring a tiltable seat was developed to alleviate physical strain during dental procedures; Although, the optimal seat inclination angle remains undetermined. This study investigated the most effective seat inclination angle to minimize muscular load during simulated dental tasks. 11 healthy male subjects performed scaling tasks with seat inclinations set at various directions (front, diagonal, beside) and angles (0°, 3°, 5°, 7°). Electro myo graphy (EMG) measured muscle activity in the lumbar and thoracic spine regions. Findings indicated that front and diagonal seat inclinations significantly decreased muscular workload, whereas beside inclination had limited impact except in the mandibular anterior region. These results suggest that seat tilting aligned with natural working postures may effectively reduce MSDs in dental practitioners.
Keywords
Ergonomics; Product Evaluation; Dentistry; Electromyography
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.608
Citation
Demoto, Y., Watabnabe, K., Kawakami, Y.,and Tanaka, M.(2025) Optimization of tilt angle for the seat tilting stool based on EMG measurements, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.608
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 9 - Healthcare Design
Optimization of tilt angle for the seat tilting stool based on EMG measurements
Mus cul oskeletal disorders (MSDs) represent a significant occupational health issue for dental professionals, primarily due to prolonged and demanding postures. To address this issue, an operating stool (OS) featuring a tiltable seat was developed to alleviate physical strain during dental procedures; Although, the optimal seat inclination angle remains undetermined. This study investigated the most effective seat inclination angle to minimize muscular load during simulated dental tasks. 11 healthy male subjects performed scaling tasks with seat inclinations set at various directions (front, diagonal, beside) and angles (0°, 3°, 5°, 7°). Electro myo graphy (EMG) measured muscle activity in the lumbar and thoracic spine regions. Findings indicated that front and diagonal seat inclinations significantly decreased muscular workload, whereas beside inclination had limited impact except in the mandibular anterior region. These results suggest that seat tilting aligned with natural working postures may effectively reduce MSDs in dental practitioners.