The attenuating effect of forward bending alerting system on the frequency of poor posture in nursing care

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of an alert system that can feed back information about the forward bending angle of the trunk on an improvement of poorposture,which occurs during nursing care. Sixteen healthy subjects participated in this study. The experiment consisted of two periods (3 days each); (A) The subjects performed nursing care without using the alert system as a control experiment of the below procedure initial phase. (B) The other procedure was to performed nursing care with using the alert system. We measured the number of forward bends (41°or more) during nursing care and compared the differences between the two periods. The number of forward bends of 41°or more that occurred during nursing care was significantly reduced in the intervention period, which used the alert system, compared to the control period. These results suggested that the alert system about the forward bending may be effective in improving posture during nursing care.