TY  - JOUR
A1  - Ohlendorf, Daniela Maren
A1  - Maurer, Christian
A1  - Bolender, Elisabeth
A1  - Kocis, Veronica
A1  - Song, Martha
A1  - Groneberg, Jan David Alexander
T1  - Influence of ergonomic layout of musician chairs on posture and seat pressure in musicians of different playing levels
T2  - PLoS one
N2  - Introduction: Musicians often perform in forced postures over a long period of time, which in the worst case may lead to playing-related musculoskeletal disorders. In this context, the ergonomics of the musician's chair (construction and surface quality) can be an influencing factor, with impact on the seating position of the upper body and the pressure distribution of the bottom. Therefore, the relationship between different musician chairs and musicians of different playing levels (professional, amateur or student) was analyzed in order to gain useful insights whether playing experience, playing level, playing style (symmetrical or asymmetrical) or gender have an impact.
Method: The total dataset of 47 musicians (3 playing levels: professional, amateur, student) were analysed on six musician chairs with different ergonomic layout. Sitting on each chair without instrument (condition 1) and with instrument (condition 2), the upper body posture (videorasterstereography) and the seat pressure (load distribution) were recorded.as Also, a subjective assessment concerning constitutional data, sitting behaviour, prevailing pain in the musculoskeletal system, sport activity and chair comfort rating, was completed using a questionnaire.
Results: There were significant differences shown in 6 of 17 variables, where all between and within factors were accounted for with a MANOVA. Two measurements of the upper body posture (scapular distance and scapular height) differentiated between playing level. Four of the pressure measurements (pressure under the sit bone and the thigh for the left and the right side) differentiated between chairs and the two conditions (with and without instrument). Chairs with soft cushioning had a mean pressure reduction of about 30%. The pressure was increased by about 10% while playing an instrument. Subjective rating was correlated to age for some of the chairs.
Discussion: Differences between chairs are mainly associated with the pressure distribution under the sitting surface. Playing with an instrument puts an additional force onto the surface of the chair that is more than the weight of the instrument. No relationship between pressure data and upper body posture data could be found. Therefore, it can be speculated that the intersubject variability is larger than systematic differences introduced by the chair or instrument.
KW  - Ergonomics
KW  - Tubers
KW  - Knees
KW  - Musculoskeletal system
KW  - Factor analysis
KW  - Normal distribution
KW  - Arms
KW  - Myalgia
Y1  - 2018
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/48486
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-484864
SN  - 1932-6203
N1  - Copyright: © 2018 Ohlendorf et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
VL  - 13
IS  - (12): e0208758
SP  - 1
EP  - 14
PB  - PLoS
CY  - Lawrence, Kan.
ER  -