Design for assisting elderly with poor motor control skills and managing their low-back pain

Abstract

There is a rapid increase in the aging population and an individual‘s life span in our society is getting longer than in the past. With this rapid increase, the aging population is suffering from a progressive decline in health and physical fitness. The rapid growth of the elderly population is already emerging as a challenge and the number of people with chronic conditions and functional disabilities is increasing worldwide. As such, there is a greater demand to address these problems considering the elderly population. The most common problems in old age are caused by musculoskeletal disorders that affect the performance of older people, especially those staying at home with personal computer use for office work or general-purpose. Arthritis and Parkinson‘s, Spine abnormality, and chronic LBP are the most common musculoskeletal disorders that contribute to the difficulty for older people in using computers. Arthritis and Parkinson‘s diseases are age-related diseases that cause motor control impairment and increase hand dexterity decline and shaky hands tremor and discourage the use of computers among older people. Spine abnormality and chronic LBP usually caused due to continuous sitting postures and prolonged sitting that result in muscle stiffness and strain and increase trunk fatigue. As such, difficulty in mouse use and persistent LBP caused by musculoskeletal disorders will make the use of computers difficult among older people. Based on this rationale, this research intends to address the assistance of elderly mouse use without changing its physical configuration and managing their LBP conditions through customized exercise alternatives. As these problems are multifaceted and required multidisciplinary knowledge, therefore this research attempts to extend design methods to more integrated and transdisciplinary fields in contract with design to address age-related problems in older people. The research produced solutions for difficulties in mouse use and LBP conditions that influence the use of computers among older people. Based on the solutions, this research suggests design guidelines and recommendations in the assistance of older people with poor motor control skills and managing their LBP associated with sitting positions.