Spine postures and workstation interactions in gaming: comparisons with office work and ergonomic guidelines

Although prolonged sitting is linked to musculoskeletal disorders in office environments, there is limited work that has assessed kinematic demands in gaming compared to office work. The current objectives were to compare spine postures and micromovements between standardised office work and during gameplay, and to quantify gamer positioning relative to the desk and monitor. Participants completed either three computer gaming or office tasks in the same chair while spine kinematics were recorded from tri-axial accelerometers. Optical motion capture was collected for the head, thorax, desk, and monitor during gameplay. Compared to office work, gamers exhibited significantly greater mean posterior pelvic tilt (increase of 13.1°), thoracic flexion (6.1°), and neck extension (10.6°; p ≤ 0.045). Lumbar spine flexion was also larger (6.3%MaxFlex; p ≥ 0.063). Gamers positioned the top of the monitor close to (55 cm) and above (5 cm) their eyes. Gaming and office work have both shared and unique ergonomic demands.Practitioner Summary Education on ergonomic monitor placement may help moderate thoracic flexion and neck extension in gaming. Chair designs which facilitate decreased posterior pelvic tilt, support the upper back and neck in forward-leaning postures, and encourage using the seatback may also be beneficial.