Incompatibility between Students’ Body Measurements and School Chairs

Children spend about five hours per day sitting down while doing their school work. Considering this as well as the potential inadequate use of school furniture, it is likely that some anatomical-functional changes and problems in the learning process may occur. The aim of this study was to examine possible incompatibility between students’ body measures and school chairs they use. A total of 60 fourth-through sixth-grade students in a single primary boys’ school in Cairo participated in the study. Their ages ranged from 9 to 12 years. Anthropometric measurements including popliteal height and buttock-popliteal length were measured. Seat height and seat depth for the only one style chair that is used in the classes of the three participated grades were measured. Based on the information about students' body dimensions and the chair dimensions, measures of fit or mismatch were constructed. The results revealed a high level of incompatibility between the chair dimensions and the anthropometric characteristics of the primary boy school students as less than 14% of the participated students can find an acceptable fit chair. Most students are sitting with seats that are too low or too deep.