Effect of prototype armrest on comfort and muscle activity among selected male university motorcyclists during prolonged riding process
Introduction: Motorcycles had become one of the most popular modes of transportation, well accepted by Malaysians. The awareness for the need safety in motorcycles has increased, with more inventions being applied to ensure safety and comfort motorcyclist. However, motorcyclist struggles with dis...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2015
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| Online Access: | http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/67827/1/FPSK%28m%29%202015%2073%20IR.pdf http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/67827/ |
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| Summary: | Introduction: Motorcycles had become one of the most popular modes of
transportation, well accepted by Malaysians. The awareness for the need safety in
motorcycles has increased, with more inventions being applied to ensure safety and
comfort motorcyclist. However, motorcyclist struggles with discomfort of their arm
during prolonged riding as most of motorcycles in market are not equipped with arm
posture support. Riding motorcycles without armrest can cause adverse health and
psychological effects among motorcyclist in a long term. Therefore, the primary aim of
this study is to examine the effect of using prototype armrest in terms of discomfort
rating and muscle activity on the selected male university motorcyclists during
prolonged riding process.
Method: This study was experimental study among male students and staffs in
Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). A total of 102 motorcyclists had participated in this
study with 51 motorcyclists of experimental group were asked to sit on a motorcycle
with armrest and another 51 motorcyclists of control group sat on a motorcycle without
armrest. The experiment took place in a quiet room in a laboratory with adequate
lighting. Each respondent had to attend experimental sessions on two different days
(with a minimum three day interval between them). Each session had lasted for 2-hour.
During the 2-hour session, a riding simulator system was displayed and respondents
were asked to control the handlebar of motorcycle as in real road. The video screen of
the riding simulator presented a view of road scenery with computer generated video
simulating daytime riding condition. At every 15-minute interval, respondents were
required to evaluate their discomfort level for all body part on the Borg’s CR-10
questionnaire. The Borg’s Scale Rating ( > 5) is considered as the ‘break point’, as
point where the respondents rated their discomfort as strong. Therefore, this point
considered where the respondents started to feel the discomfort in their parts of body.
Besides that, Electromyography signals were used to monitor recorded muscle activity
for the right and left arm of the respondents with the surface of electrodes attached.
Results: The discomfort rating of the experimental group had showed 5% to 15%
reduction compared to the control group during the testing period. Results showed that
the discomfort rating of arm and hands was significantly lower (2.0+2.20, p<0.05)
among experimental group compared to control group. In terms of discomfort ‘break
point’ (Borg’s Scale Rating > 5), arms and hands are the most affected body parts prior
to +82% comfort changes with the use of the prototype armrest. Muscle activity of
respondents showed that there are 10% to 25% reductions of electromyography levels
for both right and left arm’s muscles. There is a positive effect of exertion changes (%)
on the flexor carpum radialis (right=24.54%, left=23.98%) and flexor carpum ulnaris
(right=8.18%, left=10.62%) muscles of both arms with usage of prototype armrest.
The results also revealed that there were significant exertion (X2 (63) = 757.76,
p<0.001) of electromyography levels among experimental group compared to the
control group with 2-hour riding process.
Conclusion: This study has provided new insights into the effects of prototype armrest
usage on motorcyclists during prolonged riding process in a controlled laboratory
session. The use of prototype armrest has provided a beneficial ergonomic feature
which reduces muscle and body’s discomfort and increase riding performance with less
negative impact on muscle activity among motorcyclist. Motorcyclists’ riding posture
is also related to both comfort and discomfort during the riding process. This shows
prototype armrest is capable of providing an ideal support and provide comfort to the
motorcyclists during prolonged riding process. Therefore, this prototype armrest may
reduce fatigue and indirectly reduce accident that contributed by human factors. |
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