The determination of static anthropometry characteristics for designing and evaluating the comfort of saddle chair.

Background and aims: Many people have to sit down during daily activities. The process of sitting down especially for a long time in comparison of standing up cause many back pains. Special chairs with special backs and sits are designed for offices, industries and institutes because of back pain of sitting down for a long time and increasing the performance of employees. The target of this research is also the designing of a saddle chair based on the anthropometry characteristics of people and then evaluating the conformance of this chair. Methods: A number of 178 males between 25 and 55 years in an assembling industry were cooperated and their eight anthropometry parameters according to Pheasant's criteria at the same anthropometric conditions were measured in this research. Then according to the achieved information, the saddle chair were designed and 30 people were selected randomly to use the saddle chair five hours per day for one month at the second phase. Finally, the comfort of this chair was evaluated by the questionnaire sheet. Results: The saddle chair is designed according to the design parameters; the max and min height, width, depth and width of saddle, the depth of chair identity range and the design criteria of achieved anthropometry characteristics. The evaluation of chair comfort with used quantitative scale is shown in the comfort sense of users and their satisfaction (Average is more than 7.5 of 10). Conclusion: According to the user's expression of comfort in this research and respecting to this fact that other countries have been designing and producing the proper chair according to the anthropometry characteristics consequently recommended to perform the same research on diverse parts of country. Therefore, it is suggested to design and produce the proper chair according to the body dimensions and characteristics of individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]