Enhancing ergonomics: assessing the effect of vibrating insole prototype on female school teachers' muscle activity

Introduction: Throughout the school day, teachers often endure extended periods of standing, resulting in frequent experiences of pain and muscle fatigue by day's end. The purpose of this study was to identify the effectiveness of a prototype of vibrating insole on muscular activity on teachers. Materials and methods: A total of 124 female school teachers participated in this study. During a one-hour classroom teaching session, school teachers were randomly assigned to either the experimental group or the control group. Throughout the hour-long session, wireless surface electromyography (sEMG) sensors were used to continually monitor the muscles in the right and left legs. Results: During the one-hour prototype testing, compared to control group, participants in the experimental group showed a reduction in muscle activity exertion ranging from 13% to 16% in both the tibialis anterior and peroneus longus muscles of the right and left legs. Moreover, there were significant changes of muscle activity exertion among school teachers, X2 (15) = 289.94, p<0.001 within testing period. Conclusion: The study revealed a significant decrease in muscle activities, especially the feet, demonstrating a gradual adaptation to the vibration effects from the insole prototype. This contributed significantly to lower leg comfort during teaching sessions. As a result, the vibrating insole prototype was well-received by school teachers and had a positive impact on their feet comfort throughout the experimental testing session.

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