title: The effect on sitting posture of a desk with a 10 degree inclination for reading and writing.
abstract: A pilot study was carried out on 10 subjects to examine the effect that a desk with a 10 degree inclination had on their sitting posture while reading and writing. A continuous recording of the subjects head and trunk positions was made. Each subject was studied during two periods of 1.5 h on different days. The subject worked at a flat desk on the first day and at a desk with a 10 degree inclination on the second. On average, the position of the head in the sagittal plane was found to be 6 degrees more erect and the position of the trunk 7 degrees more erect when working at a desk with a 10 degree inclination than when working at a flat desk. The maximal decrease in load observed on the cervical spine was 35% and on the thoracic spine 95%. The angle between the head and the trunk did not change significantly when using an inclined desk. Differences in posture in the frontal plane were not observed in this study.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Physics and Technology, Faculty of Medicine, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Wall
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: van Riel
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Snijders
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: van Wingerden
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D007374:Interior Design and Furnishings; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology*; D011932:Reading; D012016:Reference Values; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014956:Writing