Poster presentation Master Graduation Project

1. Method
- 24 participants (10 male, 14 female)
- One sitting workstation
- Four workstations from The End of Sitting
- 10 minutes per workstation
- Indirect calorimetry (Cosmed K4b2 portable gas exchange
analyzer)
- Local body part discomfort test
Background
Recent studies clarified that prolonged sitting behavior has
hazardous effects on health1. Inspired by these findings, Rietveld
Architecture Art Affordances (RAAAF) and visual artist Barbara
Visser have built their vision of the office of the future. In the office
landscape, which they call “The End of Sitting”, users are being
invited to work in several non-sitting postures2. A recent study
revealed that a majority of the users transfer from location during
their work3. Furthermore, these non-sitting workstations are
suggested to be healthier than conventional sitting workstations.
Therefore, the current study focused on the energy expenditure and
perceived comfort.
Conclusion
This study reveals that energy expenditure levels were higher in
most workstations from The End of Sitting compared to sitting,
which suggest that the workstations are healthier than sitting
workstations. Among other things, discomfort was a result of
both external forces on the body and muscle strain. Further
research should aim to clarify long term effects on
musculoskeletal comfort and on productivity.
Results
Four workstations from ‘The End of Sitting’ and the
most common postures
A B C D
A B C D
References
1 van der Ploeg, H. P., Chey, T., Korda, R. J., Banks, E., & Bauman, A. (2012). Sitting Time and
All-Cause Mortality Risk in 222 497 Australian Adults. Archives of Internal Medicine, 172(6),
494–500.
2 Rietveld, E. (2016). Situating the Embodied Mind in a Landscape of Standing Affordances for
Living Without Chairs: Materializing a Philosophical Worldview. Sports Medicine, 1–6.
3 Withagen, R., & Caljouw, S. R. (2015). “The end of sitting” : An Empirical Study on Working in
an Office of the Future. Sports Medicine, 1–9.
Working in an Office Without Chairs;
What are the Effects on Energy Expenditure?
R. de Vries, dr. S.R. Caljouw
Center for Human Movements Sciences, University of Groningen
Aim
To evaluate the effects of working in The End of Sitting on
energy expenditure and comfort.
Number of participants with local body part discomfort
compared to sitting
7 – 8 (more
comfort)
same
comfort
9 - 10 (more
discomfort)
vriesrutgerde@gmail.com