Wearable Sensor Device for Posture Monitoring and Analysis During Daily Activities: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

The increase in technological advancements in recent years has led to the emergence of a new lifestyle. Although being assisted by machines for small-scale tasks in daily housework makes daily life easier, this has caused people to reduce their daily active movements and negatively affects human health. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the conversion of the working style to the home environment, working hours spent at the desk are more than ever. Due to the prolongation of the working time, the employees stay in the same position more inactive, thus their muscles weaken and they start to have muscle disease. Weaknesses in the muscles have occurred to the formation of postural problems in people. In our study, a smart vest system was developed to detect and control posture disorders. The proposed system is designed to recommend the most suitable exercises to avoid any physical discomforts. It is also aimed to detect hunched posture by collecting data on the person wearing the vest through sensors. Besides, it is encouraged to correct the posture disorder by warning the person audibly during the hunched posture. The experiments conducted with eight participants showed that the proposed system warns the users with necessary posture corrections, proving its potential use.