ANTHROPOMETRIC STUDY OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS STUDENTS IN OSUN STATE, NIGERIA

Classroom furniture designs have been linked to musculoskeletal disorders among school age persons due to high level of mismatches between the furniture dimensions and student anthropometrics. The majority of the time students spend in the classroom is spent sitting on school furniture. Yet, designing school furniture in Nigeria based on anthropometric data of users has not received adequate attention. Anthropometric data of primary and secondary school students in Osun state, Nigeria, was therefore collected in order to study the mismatch in the chairs and tables used by students. Research was conducted in twelve primary and secondary schools in Osun State. During the study, 950 students, aged between 6 and 11years the in primary and 11-20 years in the secondary schools participated, with an equal number of males and females. The students' various body dimensions (seated elbow height, shoulder height, knee height, popliteal height, buttock-popliteal length, stature, and body weight) were measured using a standard anthropometer. Microsoft Excel was used to compute the percentiles of the measured data. In addition, the existing furniture dimensions were measured in the selected schools. For students in the selected schools, this study proposes dimensions for seat height, seat depth, seat width, backrest height (upper), armrest height, and desk height based on the obtained anthropometric data. As a result of the present study, it is evident that tables and chairs used in the schools were not designed with anthropometric data of the concerned students in mind.