Anthropometric Dimensions of Lor Students for the Ergonomic Design of Khorramabad School Equipment, Iran (2018)

Article Info Background: Students' physical health, performance, and comfort can be improved by designing equipment according to the needs of their body dimensions. This study aimed to establish a comprehensive database of anthropometric dimensions of students in Khorramabad, Lorestan, Iran. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was conducted to estimate 22 anthropometric students’ dimensions in a sample of 4872 randomly selected students who belonged to the Lor ethnic group. The anthropometric dimensions were measured by a digital caliper and a standardized anthropometric instrument. Data were analyzed using a t-test, and the results were reported in tabular form. Results: The results showed that elementary school students' body dimensions were larger in girls, except for chest depth, abdominal depth, and buttock-knee length. Anthropometric estimates of middle school students indicated that most anthropometric dimensions of girls were larger than boys; for example, the average height in girls with 1531.87 ±72.84 was greater than boys with 1528.16±101.79 mm. Findings in high school students showed that most anthropometric parameters of boys were larger than girls. Also, the t-test showed a significant difference between the means of all measured parameters except the variable of buttock-knee length in male and female students (P <0.05). Conclusions: Given the anthropometric differences obtained in this study, it can be concluded that in designing school equipment, especially desks and chairs, it is necessary to pay special attention to age, gender, level of education, and ethnicity of students in particular.