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Asymmetrical change in the pelvis and the spine during cross-legged sitting postures

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Abstract

People spend much time with cross-legged sitting by increasing the time spent in the chair. Prolonged cross-legged sitting postures might cause spinal disorders and trunk asymmetry problems. We investigated the biomechanical effects of cross-legged sitting postures on the pelvic and spinal regions. 3D-motion analyses were performed on 26 healthy subjects. Data were collected while the subjects sat in four different postures: the control posture (without crossed legs) of sitting upright on the chair; the knee-on-knee (KoK) posture (the right knee on the left knee), the ankle-on-knee (AoK) posture (the right ankle on the left knee) and the ankle-on-ankle (AoA) posture (the right ankle on the left ankle). EMG signals were also collected for abdominal muscles. Cross-legged sitting postures showed significantly greater kyphotic curves in the lumbar and the thoracic spines and pelvic posterior tilting, when compared with the control posture. The pressure on the right buttock area was greater in the AoK posture than in the control posture, and the pressure on the left buttock area in the KoK posture was greater than in the control posture. Cross-legged sitting postures showed significantly greater external oblique muscle activation when compared with the control posture.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering and Institute of Medical Engineering, Yonsei University, Wonju, 220-710, Korea

    Soonjae Ahn, Seunghyeon Kim & Youngho Kim

  2. Department of Rehabilitation Therapy, Yonsei University, Wonju, 220-710, Korea

    Sunyoung Kang & Hyeseon Jeon

Authors
  1. Soonjae Ahn
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  2. Seunghyeon Kim
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  3. Sunyoung Kang
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  4. Hyeseon Jeon
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  5. Youngho Kim
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Correspondence to Youngho Kim.

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Recommended by Associate Editor Yoon Hyuk Kim

Soonjae Ahn received the M.S. degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Yonsei University in 2012. He is currently a Ph.D. student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Yonsei University, Korea. His research interests are in the area of rehabilitation engineering and EMG signal analysis.

Seunghyeon Kim received the M.S. degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Yonsei University in 2012. He is currently a Ph.D. student in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Yonsei University, Korea. His research interests are in the area of rehabilitation engineering and musculos-keletal modeling.

Sunyoung Kang is a graduate school student of doctoral program at Yonsei University. Her research focuses on movement science and musculoskeletal health with particular focus on the lumbopelvic segment and hip joint using the motion capture system and electromyography system.

Hyeseon Jeon is a physical therapist who received her Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Science from University of Florida in 2003. She is an associated professor in Department of Physical Therapy at Yonsei University in Korea. Her research interest is motor control with a special focus on neurological rehabilitation.

Youngho Kim received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Hanyang University in 1982. Then, he received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Iowa in 1989 and 1991, respectively. He is currently a Professor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Yonsei University, Korea. His research interests are in the area of human movement, rehabilitation engineering, and biomechanics.

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Ahn, S., Kim, S., Kang, S. et al. Asymmetrical change in the pelvis and the spine during cross-legged sitting postures. J Mech Sci Technol 27, 3427–3432 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-013-0865-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-013-0865-5

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