Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine the biomechanical mechanisms driving passengers’ lower-limb postural shifts during seated sleep on a flight to prevent negative effects on passengers’ physical health. Twenty subjects participated in an observational study and a subsequent experiment on fatigue development and tissue oxygenation changes during seated sleep in an economy-class aircraft seat. Three of the most frequently used postures, which involved four targeted muscles of the legs and the thigh-buttock region, were selected and examined in the experiment with the following measures: muscle electromyogram, tissue oxygenation, and body contact pressure distribution. The results showed that the fatigue of the tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius and the compression of the region under the medial tuberosities were relieved by alternations among the three positions—position 1 (placing the shanks forwards), position 2 (placing the shanks neutrally), and position 3 (placing the shanks backwards). This research reveals the mechanical properties of the biomechanical factors functioning in lower-limb postural shifts during seated sleep and provides design optimization strategies for economy-class aircraft seats to reduce the negative effects on passenger health.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Funding
This study was funded by Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province (No. 2022JQ-422) and High-end Electronic Equipment Industrial Design Center of The 20th Research Institute of CETC (No. 2021-JCJQ-JJ-1018).
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The author HZ accomplished the research. LM and ZY helped to refine the data and revise the paper.
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Communicated by Lori Ann Vallis.
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Zhang, H., Meng, L. & Yang, Z. Biomechanical mechanism driving typical postural shifts of lower limbs during sleeping in an aircraft seat. Eur J Appl Physiol 123, 2023–2039 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-023-05220-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-023-05220-5