Application of Computer-aided Ergonomic Simulation in Designing Supine Computer Workstation

Seated posture has been considered as potentially one of the major contributing factors for several musculoskeletal disorders such as lower back pain, neck and shoulder disorders. Especially, people with low back pain experience great discomfort related to computer operations in sitting position. When changing posture to lying down, not only can release psychological stress, but also alleviate musculoskeletal burdens. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to design a new supine computer workstation, allowing people to lie in the bed and operate a computer. This paper presents how to apply computer-aided ergonomic simulation in designing a new supine computer workstation. At first, Taiwanese anthropometric data were referred to build a 3D model of a supine computer workstation. And then, JACK software was used to simulate human-workstation interaction in order to find the problems of the originaldesign. Finally, a physical prototype of the revised supine computer workstation was made for realistic test. The developed supine computer workstation was confirmed to be used successfully for operating computer in lying position. More field studies are required to test if supine computer workstation outpaces the sitting position workstation for musculoskeletal strains, subjective comfort, and operation performance.