A study on suitability of ergonomically designed chair for physically handicapped children

Abstract

Sitting down is a natural human posture. As 1.9 percent of the total population of the country is disabled therefore working chair for them should be designed according to their requirements to make their sitting convenient. Hence the study was undertaken to find out problems faced by handicapped children in the school. For the present study 33 orthopedically handicapped children studying in 6-12 standard were selected from various schools of Pantnagar and Rudrapur. The research design used for the study was descriptive cum experimental. Purposive sampling was done and data were gathered by personal interview method, observation method and through recording of data. Subjects were allowed to work on ordinary as well as on an ergonomically designed chair one by one and muscular stress while working was measured by student physiograph in the form of EMG, postural stress by observing frequency of postural changes and anthropometric measurements in sitting position by using anthropometer. The results of ANOVA showed that there exists a significant difference in muscular stress and the frequency of postural changes of respondents while working with ordinary as well as ergonomically designed chair by Godrej. On the basis of anthropometric measurements, improved design of the chair was recommended for handicapped children studying 6-12. standard.