• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.139-146
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• 2010

Recent studies suggest that prolonged standing at work is associated with varicose veins (VV). The objective of this study was to analyze the differences of VV risk in terms of work types in casino dealers and hotel service workers. Symptoms of VV were evaluated using a self-reported questionnaire from 2,092 participants, and muscle fatigue in the lower legs were evaluated using surface electromyography. The shift rate of median frequency in Gastrocnemius was -30.0% among the casino dealers working in prolonged static standing posture, and - 14.3% among the casino dealers sitting during working time. After adjusting age, gender, smoking, and family history of VV, the risk ratio of VV was 3.67(95% CI 2.03-6.59) in group I (prolonged standing and occasional walking at work), 6.29(95% CI 3.48-11.35) in group II (prolonged standing, occasional walking and heavy lifting at work), and 8.07(95% CI 4.51-14.43) in groupIII(prolonged static standing at work). In conclusion, prolonged standing at work may be a work related risk factor of VV.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to investigate the kinematic and kinetic changes that may occur in the pelvic and spine regions during cross-legged sitting postures. Experiments were performed on sixteen healthy subjects. Data were collected while the subject sat in 4 different sitting postures for 5 seconds: uncrossed sitting with both feet on the floor (Posture A), sitting while placing his right knee on the left knee (Posture B), sitting by placing right ankle on left knee (Posture C), and sitting by placing right ankle over the left ankle (Posture D). The order of the sitting posture was random. The sagittal plane angles (pelvic tilt, lumbar A-P curve, thoracic A-P curve) and the frontal plane angles (pelvic obliquity, lumber lateral curves, thoracic lateral curves) were obtained using VICON system with 6 cameras and analyzed with Nexus software. The pressure on each buttock was measured using Tekscan. Repeated one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the angle and pressure across the four postures. The Bonferroni's post hoc test was used to determine the differences between upright trunk sitting and cross-legged postures. In sagittal plane, cross-legged sitting postures showed significantly greater kyphotic curves in lumbar and thoracic spine when compared uncrossed sitting posture. Also, pelvic posterior tilting was greater in cross-legged postures. In frontal plane, only height of the right pelvic was significantly higher in Posture B than in Posture A. Finally, in Posture B, the pressure on the right buttock area was greater than Posture A and, in Posture C, the pressure on the left buttock area was greater than Posture A. However, all dependent variables in both planes did not demonstrate any significant difference among the three cross-legged postures (p>.05). The findings suggest that asymmetric changes in the pelvic and spine region secondary to the prolonged cross-legged sitting postures may cause lower back pain and deformities in the spine structures.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.190-197
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• 2010

Background: Conventional spinal saddle block is performed with the patient in a sitting position, keeping the patient sitting for between 3 to 10 min after injection of a drug. This amount of time, however, is long enough to cause prolonged postoperative urinary retention. The trend in this block is to lower the dose of local anesthetics, providing a selective segmental block; however, an optimal dose and method are needed for adequate anesthesia in variable situations. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated the question of whether only 1 min of sitting after drug injection would be sufficient and safe for minor anorectal surgery. Methods: Two hundred and sixteen patients undergoing minor anorectal surgery under spinal anesthesia remained sitting for 1 min after completion of subarachnoid administration of 1 ml of a 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine solution (5 mg). They were then placed in the jack-knife position. After surgery, analgesia levels were assessed using loss of cold sensation in the supine position. The next day, urination and 11-point numeric rating scale (NRS) for postoperative pain were assessed. Results: None of the patients required additional analgesics during surgical manipulation. Postoperative sensory levels were T10 [T8-T12] in patients, and no significant differences were observed between sex (P = 0.857), height (P = 0.065), obesity (P = 0.873), or age (P = 0.138). Urinary retention developed in only 7 patients (3.2%). In this group, NRS was $5.0{\pm}2.4$ (P = 0.014). Conclusions: The one-minute sitting position for spinal saddle block before the jack-knife position is a safe method for use with minor anorectal surgery and can reduce development of postoperative urinary retention.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.155-165
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• 2014

Objective: The aim of this study is to develop an office chair enabling to keep working at reclined sitting posture. Background: Sedentary workers are supposed to change the posture frequently during long hours of sitting. A reclined sitting position has been recommended to reduce disc pressure. But slumped sitting posture caused by the buttock sliding forward without any adjustment of back reclining is commonly observed. The worker seems to have tendency to change the sitting posture maintaining working condition. We assumed the reason to be their hands movement away from the working space when tilting backward. Method: Slide mechanism allowing seat to move forward was designed to maintain the hand position in working space during reclining. A prototype was manufactured and tilting motion was analyzed using motion capture system. Four experiment chairs were tested including the manufactured prototype chair and three other commercial chairs. Results: A backward movements of the hand position were 13.0mm, 101.7mm, 156.1mm and 139.3mm at the prototype chair, compared to chair B, chair C and chair D, respectively. And the movement was remarkably small at the prototype chair. Conclusion: The developed seat sliding chair allows back tilting maintaining hand position at working space. We expect the user tilting back more often than normal tilting chair during seated work. But further investigation is required to figure out the effectiveness of the developed chair using prolonged working hours. Application: The developed office chair directly affects commercialization.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.18-35
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• 1997

The purpose of this study were to determine causes of low back pain in bus drivers who usually work in prolonged sitting position and to find the relationship of back pain with general characteristics and work environmental characteristics, stress symptoms, to com맹re lordosis angle of habitual driving posture and resting posture in low back pain group and non-low back pain group, and to use this result as a basis for improvement of work environment and comprehensive rehabilitative management of low back pain. Ninety-eight bus drivers were selected from the membership of an urban transit union in Seoul. These informations were collected from May 1, 1997 to May 25, 1997 by means of structured questionnaires and X-ray findings. These data were analyzed by $x^2$ test, t-test, logistic regression using SAS. The major results were as follows: 1. Of the respondents, 66.3% of bus drivers were found to be experiencing back pain. 2. Of the respondents of low back pain groups, 78.5% reported that major cause of low back pain was due to prolonged sitting. 3. The group with experiences of frequent or continuous vibration had more low back pain (p<0.05). There were no significant differences among other work environmental factors. 4. Average stress score was significantly higher in the group with low back pain than in the group without low back pain (p<0.05). 5. The results of the logistic regression analyses were statistically significant vibration from seat and stress score among the risk factors (p<0.05). 6. Averaged lordosis angle of habitual driving posture was $7.6{\pm}14.9$ degrees in low back pain group, $16.5{\pm}8.7$ degrees in non-low back pain and averaged lordosis angle of resting sitting posture was $10.8{\pm}13.7$ degrees in low back pain, $18.9{\pm}9.6$ degrees in non-low back pain group but the difference in mean lordosis angles of two groups was not statistically significant. The results of this study indicate that professional drivers developed chronicity of low back pain due to unfit seat, poor habitual posture and stress from vibration or other risk factors. Therefore, there is need to improve work environment, i.e. enough resting, to set a seat to support lumbar spine properly and to provide comprehensive rehabilitation program including early diagnosis, proper treatment and education for self help management.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.255-265
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• 2014

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate comfort levels of functional and non-functional chairs using subjective comfort rating, interface pressure measurement, muscle activity measurement, and skin temperature measurement. Background: Chairs are used for a prolonged period of time for sitting in many places such as the office, at university, at school, in industry, and so on. Almost all people use chairs in their everyday life. The functional properties of the chair are associated with comfort. Method: The subjective evaluation contains questions regarding chair comfort which can be rated with five point scale. The body-seat interface pressure was measured using a pressure mat system. The symmetry of sitting was measured using electromyography. The change in body part (thigh and buttock) temperature before and after sitting on a chair was measured with an infrared camera. Results: Participants rated significantly (p < 0.05) higher comfort scores for the functional chair in relation to the buttock and thigh region. Also, the participants felt a better cushion effect in the functional chair. When using the functional chair, lower interface pressure, better thermal comfort, and better symmetry of erector spinae muscle activity were observed. Conclusion: Overall, interface pressure measurement, muscle activity measurement, thermal imaging and subjective comfort score results showed that the functional chair was more comfortable than the non-functional chair. Application: The adopted methodologies could be used to measure the seating comfort of train seats.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.93-102
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• 2015

Prolonged sitting can contribute to low back pain. The lumbar taping can be applied to correct the sitting posture. This study aimed to investigate the effect of lumbar taping on lumbar kinematics and the muscle activities of multifidus (MF) and internal oblique in the individuals with nonspecific chronic low back pain (NSCLBP) as they type for 30 minutes. Nineteen subjects with NSCLBP (9 people in non taping group and 10 people in taping group) were recruited. Lumbar taping was applied to the taping group before typing. Both groups started typing in a neutral sitting position with their feet on the floor. The change of posture and S2 posterior tilting (S2P) were measured to investigate kinematic data. Three sensors were attached on T12, L3, and S2 to identify the change of posture. Surface electromyography was used to measure the muscle activities. Palpation meter was used to standardize the angle of pelvic tilt in sagittal plane before typing. All instruments were used to measure each data before and after typing. Independent t-test was used to compare the changing values of lumbar kinematics and muscle activities before and after typing between both groups. The changing values of S2P and change of posture of L3 and S2 were significantly smaller in the taping group compared to the non taping group (p<.05). The changing value of muscle activities of MF between before and after typing was significantly smaller in the taping group compared to the non taping group (p<.05). In conclusion, the lumbar taping during the 30-minute typing task can be applied to maintain correct sitting posture in the lumbar and pelvis and to maintain activation of MF.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.46-55
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the two different types of chairs on trapezius muscle activation during dictation tasks. Seventeen university students, each of whom were within ${\pm}1$ standard deviation of the mean Korean standard body size, voluntarily participated in this study. Surface electromyography was used to collect electrical signals from both the upper and lower trapezius muscles. Amplitude Probability Distribution Function (APDF) was performed to analyze the muscle activity. The findings of this study were 1) The backrest-point height of the auditorium chair and the height, length and width of the connected desk were shorter than what was suggested by the KS. Another difference was that the auditorium chair had a bigger angle of the backrest compared to the classroom chair. 2) Regarding within-subject effect the sole statistically significant difference was found between activation of the upper trapezius muscle. The upper trapezius muscle's %RVC in the APDF 10th-50th-90th percentile was statistically higher for participants sitting in the auditorium chair than for participants sitting in the classroom chair (p<.05). 3) There was an interaction effect between the 'two chair-types' and the 'two muscle-sides' in the APDF 10th-50th percentile (p<.05). 4) There was an interaction effect between the 'two chair-types' and the 'three gaze-direction' in the APDF 90th percentile (p<.05). The findings of this study indicated that maintaining a writing posture for a prolonged period of time in an auditorium chair significantly increased the left upper trapezius muscle activation compared to a classroom chair.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.8
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• pp.295-302
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• 2019

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of adolescent health behavior on obesity using an online health behavior survey. The subjects of this study were 12,090 middle school students and 14,248 high school students among 26,338 Korean youths that responded to an online survey of youth health behaviors in 2018 (14th). There were significant differences in lifestyle, mental factors, exercise habits, and sitting habits as health behavior factors. The risk of obesity was higher in smokers (p<0.001), drinkers (p<0.001), those who ate breakfast less than four times a week (p<0.001), those who consumed fruit less than four times a week (p<0.001) and those who ate fast food less than two times a week (p<0.001). The obesity rate was higher in people with high-stress (p<0.05). Exercise habit as a factor was higher in the obesity rate than in physical activity by three times as much (p<0.001), whereas students categorized as muscular (p<0.01) had one to two times more physical activity (p<0.001). Students who had less than six hours of learning purpose were found to have higher obesity rates than those with more than six hours of learning purpose (p<0.001). In conclusion, the obesity rate did not increase with prolonged sitting habits, but did increase with longer sitting time except for those who studied purpose folly. Therefore, it is necessary to have a set time for internet use, as well as to educate schools about proper lifestyle, and to promote healthy exercise habits.

• Journal of Convergence for Information Technology
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• v.11 no.11
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• pp.219-228
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• 2021

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of sedentary time on quality of life and oral health-related behaviors using the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. A total of 19,983 data were analyzed using the IBM SPSS 25.0 program, and complex sample logistic regression analysis was performed to confirm the effect of sedentary time on health-related quality of life and oral health-related behaviors. As a result, the longer the sitting time, the worse the quality of life (p<.05). There was an increase in the number of cases of not brushing (p<.05). Also, as for dental treatment, the longer the sitting time, the more prophylactic treatment and periodontal treatment increased (p<.05). Therefore, it is judged that it can be used as basic data to improve the quality of life and increase oral health-related behaviors in consideration of the socio-demographic characteristics of prolonged sedentary time.