Toward Better Posture: A Wearable Back Posture Alerting Device

Abstract

Back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide, preventing many people from engaging in work or other everyday activities. Good posture entails training your body to develop a habit that exerts the least amount of pressure on supporting ligaments and muscles; however, posture is not consciously maintained. Instead, muscle groups automatically support and enable flexing the spine, meaning efforts to consciously improve posture will ultimately fail. Over time, muscles develop habits that can put extra strain on the back and make correcting posture difficult. The greatest contributor to postural problems is poor everyday postural habits, common in a work environment that requires long hours of sitting or standing. Harmful consequences of poor posture include misalignment of the spine, back pain, sore muscles, improper lung function, blood vessel constrictions, improper gait, and proneness to injury. Reversing bad posture should be tackled as soon as the problem is identified, and having an easily accessible posture monitoring device would be useful in preventing long-term detrimental effects of bad posture. In this project, I developed and tested a wearable garment that monitors, evaluates, and communicates real-time sensory feedback on back posture.