Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Posture monitoring in healthcare: a systematic mapping study and taxonomy

  • Review Article
  • Published:
Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Palliative treatments for back pain usually include exercise, analgesics, physiotherapy, prostheses, and surgery in severe cases. Technologies for postural monitoring are growing, and they are important in preventing back pain and mitigating permanent damage. Remote work, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, made people spend more time than usual in chairs and environments not certified by the health aspects of work. This research investigated through a Systematic Mapping Study (SMS) contributions in posture monitoring for healthcare in smart environments, including the different methods to obtain the posture, the limitations, and the target audience of the proposed models. The SMS was conducted in eight databases, including articles from January 2012 to March 2022. The initial search yielded 3161 articles, of which 34 were selected after applying the filtering criteria. Moreover, this study presents the challenges related to posture behavior monitoring, identifying studies and implementations that apply assistive technology for postural monitoring and improving the health and life of remote workers. In addition, three commercial postural devices are presented, and what challenges they currently face. Regarding healthcare, results showed a prevalence of using the Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as wireless sensor networks and inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors. This article also proposes a taxonomy, showing the most used technologies and algorithms for improving posture, besides the posture-monitoring hierarchy classifying into three important branches: (a) Data Collect; (b) Data Transmission; and (c) Data Analysis.

Graphical Abstract

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

References

  1. Dey M, Frazis H, Piccone Jr DS, Loewenstein MA (2021) Teleworking and lost work during the pandemic: new evidence from the CPS. Monthly Labor Review, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, July 2021. https://doi.org/10.21916/mlr.2021.15

  2. Apollo Technical (2021) Apollo technical engineered talent solutions. Available at: https://www.apollotechnical.com/working-from-home-productivity-statistics. Accessed 16 March 2022

  3. Daneshmandi H, Choobineh A, Haleh G, Mehran K (2017) Adverse effects of prolonged sitting behavior on the general health of office workers. J Lifestyle Med 7:69–75. https://doi.org/10.15280/jlm.2017.7.2.69

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Pronk NP, Katz AS, Lowry M, Payfer JR (2012) Reducing occupational sitting time and improving worker health: the take-a-stand project, 2011. Prev Chronic Dis 9:110323. https://doi.org/10.5888/pcd9.110323

  5. Robertson M, Amick BC 3rd, DeRango K, Rooney T, Bazzani L, Harrist R, Moore A (2009) The effects of an office ergonomics training and chair intervention on worker knowledge, behavior and musculoskeletal risk. Appl Ergon 40(1):124–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2007.12.009

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Choobineh A, Motamedzade M, Kazemi M, Moghimbeigi A, Pahlavian AH (2011) The impact of ergonomics intervention on psychosocial factors and musculoskeletal symptoms among office workers. Int J Ind Ergon 41(6):671–676. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169814111001053. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ergon.2011.08.007. Accessed 12 Sept 2021

  7. Chen Z, Li X, Zhou Z, Wu Z, Xiong Y (2021) Human posture detection method based on wearable devices. J Healthc Eng 2021:2040–2295. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/8879061

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Roh J, Park H, Lee KJ, Hyeong J, Kim S, Lee B (2018) Sitting posture monitoring system based on a low-cost load cell using machine learning. Sensors 18:208. www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/18/1/208. https://doi.org/10.3390/s18010208. Accessed 12 Sept 2021

  9. Ribeiro P, Soares AR, Girão R, Neto M, Cardoso S (2020) Spine cop: posture correction monitor and assistant. Sensors 20:5376. https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/20/18/5376. https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185376. Accessed 15 Sept 2021

  10. Nizam NB, Jinan T, Aurthy WBN, Hossen MR, Ferdous J (2020) Android based low cost sitting posture monitoring system. 11th International Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (ICECE), Dhaka, Bangladesh, pp 161–164. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICECE51571.2020.9393150

  11. Ahmad J, Sidén J, Andersson H (2021) A proposal of implementation of sitting posture monitoring system for wheelchair utilizing machine learning methods. Sensors 21(19):6349. https://doi.org/10.3390/s21196349

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Piñero-Fuentes E, Canas-Moreno S, Rios-Navarro A, Domínguez-Morales M, Sevillano JL, Linares-Barranco A (2021) A deep-learning based posture detection system for preventing telework-related musculoskeletal disorders. Sensors 21(16):5236. https://doi.org/10.3390/s21155236

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  13. Cronin J, Kritz MF (2008) Static posture assessment screen of athletes: benefits and considerations. Strength Cond J 30(5):18–27. https://doi.org/10.1519/SSC.0b013e318187e241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Haynes S, Williams K (2008) Impact of seating posture on user comfort and typing performance for people with chronic low back pain. Int J Ind Ergon 38(1):35–46. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169814107001412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ergon.2007.08.003. Accessed 14 Aug 2021

  15. McBride D, Derrett S, Gray A, Harcombe H (2008) Prevalence and impact of musculoskeletal disorders in New Zealand nurses, postal workers and office workers. Aust N Z J Public Health 33(5):437–441. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1753-6405.2009.00425.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Lie W-N, Huang H-C, Chen K-T, Liang J-Y, Lo Y-C, Chiang J-C, Huang W-H (2022) Posture monitoring for health care of bedridden elderly patients using 3d human skeleton analysis via machine learning approach. Appl Sci 12(6):3087. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12063087

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Kumar KVR, Elias S (2021) Real-time tracking of human neck postures and movements. Healthcare 9:1755. https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/12/1755. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9121755. Accessed 15 Aug 2021

  18. Yoong NKM, Perring J, Mobbs RJ (2019) Commercial postural devices: a review. Sensors (Basel) 19:5128. https://doi.org/10.3390/s19235128

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. UPRIGHT GO 2 (2023) UPRIGHT posture training device - everyday posture coaching. https://store.uprightpose.com/products/upright-go2. Online. Accessed 14 Feb 2023

  20. Hempvana arrow posture (2023) Hempvana Arrow Posture. https://www.amazon.com/Hempvana-Arrow-Posture-Adjustable-Corrector/dp/B07RX1S6GJ. Online. Accessed 9 Mar 2023

  21. Hidrolight Boost Posture Corrector (2023) Hidrolight. https://hidrolight.com.br/product/corretor-postural-boost/. Online. Accessed 9 Mar 2023

  22. Moreira R, Teles A, Fialho R, Baluz R, Santos TC, Goulart-Filho R, Rocha L, Silva FJ, Gupta N, Bastos VH, Teixeira S (2020) Mobile applications for assessing human posture: a systematic literature review. Electronics 9(8):1196. https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/9/8/1196, https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics9081196. Accessed 22 July 2021

  23. Tlili F, Haddad R, Ouakrim Y, Bouallegue R, Mezghani N (2018) A review on posture monitoring systems. 2018 International Conference on Smart Communications and Networking (SmartNets), Yasmine Hammamet, Tunisia,  pp 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1109/SMARTNETS.2018.8707392

  24. Petersen K, Vakkalanka S, Kuzniarz L (2015) Guidelines for conducting systematic mapping studies in software engineering: an update. Inf Softw Technol 64:1–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Ahmed E, Yaqoob I, Gani A, Imran M, Guizani M (2016) Internet-of-things-based smart environments: state of the art, taxonomy, and open research challenges. IEEE Wirel Commun 23(5):10–16. https://doi.org/10.1109/MWC.2016.7721736

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Keshav S (2007) How to read a paper. ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review 37:83–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Lee H, Choi YS, Lee S, Shim E (2013) Smart pose: mobile posture-aware system for lowering physical health risk of smartphone users. CHI EA ’13, pp. 2257–2266, New York, NY, USA. Assoc Comput Mach. https://doi.org/10.1145/2468356.2468747

  28. Tanaka K, Ishimaru S, Kise K, Kunze K, Inami M (2015) Nekoze! - Monitoring and detecting head posture while working with laptop and mobile phone. In: 2015 9th International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare (PervasiveHealth), pp 237–240. https://doi.org/10.4108/icst.pervasivehealth.2015.260226

  29. Chopra S, Kumar M, Sood S (2016) Wearable posture detection and alert system. 2016 International Conference System Modeling & Advancement in Research Trends (SMART), Moradabad, India, pp 130–134. https://doi.org/10.1109/TENCON.2017.8228098

  30. Estrada J, Vea L (2017) Sitting posture recognition for computer users using smartphones and a web camera. TENCON 2017 - 2017 IEEE Region 10 Conference, Penang, Malaysia, pp 1520–1525. https://doi.org/10.1109/TENCON.2017.8228098

  31. Wölfel M (2017) Acceptance of dynamic feedback to poor sitting habits by anthropomorphic objects. In Proceedings of the 11th EAI international conference on pervasive computing technologies for healthcare (PervasiveHealth '17). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, pp 307–314. https://doi.org/10.1145/3154862.3154928

  32. Bibbo D, Battisti F, Conforto S, Carli M (2018) A non-intrusive system for seated posture identification. 2018 IEEE 20th International Conference on e-Health Networking, Applications and Services (Healthcom), Ostrava, Czech Republic, pp 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1109/HealthCom.2018.8531165

  33. Dobrea D-M, Dobrea M-C (2018) A warning wearable system used to identify poor body postures. 2018 Advances in Wireless and Optical Communications (RTUWO), Riga, Latvia, pp 55–60. https://doi.org/10.1109/RTUWO.2018.8587900

  34. Yongxiang J, Jingle D, Sanpeng D, Yuming Q, Peng W, Zijing W, Tianjiang Z (2019) Sitting posture recognition by body pressure distribution and airbag regulation strategy based on seat comfort evaluation. 7th International Symposium on Test Automation and Instrumentation (ISTAI 2018). J Eng 2019(23):8910–8914. https://doi.org/10.1049/joe.2018.9143

  35. Kale H, Mandke P, Mahajan H, Deshpande V (2018) Human posture recognition using artificial neural networks. 2018 IEEE 8th International Advance Computing Conference (IACC), Greater Noida, India, pp 272–278. https://doi.org/10.1109/IADCC.2018.8692143

  36. Bramhapurikar K, Prabhune A, Chavan S, Ghivela GC, Sengupta J (2018) A wearable posture corrector device. 2018 9th International Conference on Computing, Communication and Networking Technologies (ICCCNT), Bengaluru, India, pp 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCCNT.2018.8493960

  37. Lawanont W, Inoue M, Mongkolnam P, Nukoolkit C (2018) Neck posture monitoring system based on image detection and smartphone sensors using the prolonged usage classification concept. IEEJ Trans Electr Electron Eng 13(10):1501–1510. https://doi.org/10.1002/tee.22778

  38. Marino C, Vargas J, Aldas C, Morales L, Toasa R (2018) Non-invasive monitoring environment: toward solutions for assessing postures at work. 2018 13th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (CISTI), Caceres, Spain, pp 1–4. https://doi.org/10.23919/CISTI.2018.8399204

  39. Min W, Cui H, Han Q, Zou F (2018) A scene recognition and semantic analysis approach to unhealthy sitting posture detection during screen-reading. Sensors 18:3119. https://doi.org/10.3390/s18093119

  40. Adochiei FC, Adochiei IR, Ciucu R, Pietroiu-Andruseac G, Argatu FC, Jula N (2019) Design and implementation of a body posture detection system. 2019 E-Health and Bioengineering Conference (EHB), Iasi, Romania, pp 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1109/EHB47216.2019.8969997

  41. Anwary AR, Bouchachia H, Vassallo M (2019) Real time visualization of asymmetrical sitting posture. Proc Comput Sci 155:153–160. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187705091930938X. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2019.08.024. Accessed 6 Oct 2021

  42. Bootsman R, Markopoulos P, Qi Q, Wang Q, Timmermans AA (2019) Wearable technology for posture monitoring at the workplace. Int J Hum-Comput Stud 132:99–111. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1071581919301004. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2019.08.003. Accessed 15 Oct 2021

  43. Chung HY, Chung YL, Liang CY (2019) Design and implementation of a novel system for correcting posture through the use of a wearable necklace sensor. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 7(5):100472. https://doi.org/10.2196/12293

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Flutur G, Movileanu B, Karoly L, Danci I, Cosovanu D, Stan OP (2019) Smart chair system for posture correction. 2019 22nd Euromicro Conference on Digital System Design (DSD), Kallithea, Greece, pp 436–441. https://doi.org/10.1109/DSD.2019.00069

  45. Anwary AR, Vassallo M, Bouchachia H (2020) Monitoring of prolonged and asymmetrical posture to improve sitting behavior. 2020 International Conference on Data Analytics for Business and Industry: Way Towards a Sustainable Economy (ICDABI), Sakheer, Bahrain, pp 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICDABI51230.2020.9325598

  46. Jheanel E. Estrada and Larry A. Vea (2020) Real-time human sitting position recognition using wireless sensors. Proceedings of the 2020 2nd international conference on image, video and signal processing (IVSP '20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, pp 133–137. https://doi.org/10.1145/3388818.3393714

  47. Kumar CA, Sridhar VG (2021) Design and analytics of smart posture monitoring system. J Phys Conf Ser 2115:012048. https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-6596/2115/1/012048

  48. Anwary AR, Cetinkaya D, Vassallo M, Bouchachia H (2021) Smart-cover: a real time sitting posture monitoring system. Sensors Actuators A: Phys 317:112451. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924424720317660. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sna.2020.112451. Accessed 20 Sept 2021

  49. Ardito M, Mascolo F, Valentini M, Dell’Olio F (2021) Low-cost wireless wearable system for posture monitoring. Electronics 10:2569. https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/10/21/2569. https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10212569. Accessed 20 Nov 2021

  50. Farnan M, Dolezalek E, Min C-H (2021) Magnet integrated shirt for upper body posture detection using wearable magnetic sensors. 2021 IEEE International IOT, Electronics and Mechatronics Conference (IEMTRONICS), Toronto, ON, Canada, pp 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1109/IEMTRONICS52119.2021.9422488

  51. Kulikajevas A, Maskeliunas R, Damaˇseviˇcius R (2021) Detection of sitting posture using hierarchical image composition and deep learning. PeerJ Computer Science. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj-cs.442

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  52. Ramalingam M, Puviarasi R, Chinnavan E, Shern QC, Zolkipli MF (2021) Alarming assistive technology: an IoT enabled sitting posture monitoring system. In: 2021 International Conference on Software Engineering Computer Systems and 4th International Conference on Computational Science and Information Management (ICSECS-ICOCSIM), pp 592–597. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICSECS52883.2021.00114

  53. Rodriguez A, Rabunal JR, Pazos A, Sotillo AR, Ezquerra N (2021) Wearable postural control system for low back pain therapy. IEEE Trans Instrum Meas 70:1–10. https://doi.org/10.1109/TIM.2021.3057935

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Tlili F, Haddad R, Bouallegue R, Shubair R (2022) Design and architecture of smart belt for real time posture monitoring. Intern Things 17:100472. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iot.2021.100472

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Osborn LE, Iskarous MM, Thakor NV (2020) Chapter 22 - sensing and control for prosthetic hands in clinical and research applications. Wearable robotics. Academic Press, pp 445–468. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128146590000229, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-814659-0.00022-9. Accessed 3 Nov 2021

  56. Lu ML, Waters T, Werren D (2015) Development of human posture simulation method for assessing posture angles and spinal loads. Hum Factors Ergon Manuf 125(1):123–136. https://doi.org/10.1002/hfm.20534

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of FAPERGS/Brazil (Foundation for the Supporting of Research in the State of Rio Grande do Sul), and CNPq/Brazil (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development). We would also like to thank the Applied Computing Graduate Program (PPGCA) and University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS) for embracing this research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Vale Do Rio Dos Sinos (Unisinos), Av. Unisinos, 950, São Leopoldo, RS, Brazil

    Bruno Dahmer Camboim, João Elison da Rosa Tavares & Jorge Luis Victória Barbosa

  2. Contronic Sistemas Automáticos, S. Rudi Bonow, 275, Pelotas, RS, Brazil

    Mauricio Campelo Tavares

Authors
  1. Bruno Dahmer Camboim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. João Elison da Rosa Tavares
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mauricio Campelo Tavares
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jorge Luis Victória Barbosa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bruno Dahmer Camboim.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Camboim, B.D., da Rosa Tavares, J.E., Tavares, M.C. et al. Posture monitoring in healthcare: a systematic mapping study and taxonomy. Med Biol Eng Comput 61, 1887–1899 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-023-02851-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11517-023-02851-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation