Popliteal height estimation in French elderly people for an ergonomic seat height design

The application of ergonomics, comfort and use in the chair design for elderly people is crucial in supporting correct posture through alignment of the shoulders, hips, and pelvis. Nowadays, several comprehensive geriatric assessments that aim to evaluate mobility, transfer, and balance involve a chair as essential equipment to perform those tests, such as the Timed Up and Go test, the 5-Time-Sit-to-Stand test, the Short Physical Performance Battery test, etc. Additionally, automating such tests for a continuous evaluation at home may afford a constant flow of information regarding small changes, problem identification, and the need of interventions. This can be done by adding ambient sensors to an ergonomic and economical chair. In line with this, anthropometric data are essential to estimate convenient chair dimensions. Due to the lack of data and studies, we propose a regression model to predict the optimal seat height for an ergonomic chair for French elderly people based on the popliteal height and stature values collected from European people. Seat height values were predicted for people between 60 and 69 and those aged 70 years and above, with respect to their gender and the cities to which they originally belonged. Results were validated based on online data and showed 1% and 6% of errors for the male, and 5% and 9% for the female Dutch and Belgian populations, respectively.