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. 2024 Feb 19;24(4):1341.
doi: 10.3390/s24041341.

Wearables for Monitoring and Postural Feedback in the Work Context: A Scoping Review

Vânia Figueira  1   2   3 , Sandra Silva  1   2   4   5 , Inês Costa  1 , Bruna Campos  1 , João Salgado  1 , Liliana Pinho  1   2   3   6 , Marta Freitas  1   2   3   6 , Paulo Carvalho  7 , João Marques  1   2 , Francisco Pinho  1   2
Affiliations

Wearables for Monitoring and Postural Feedback in the Work Context: A Scoping Review

Vânia Figueira et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

Wearables offer a promising solution for simultaneous posture monitoring and/or corrective feedback. The main objective was to identify, synthesise, and characterise the wearables used in the workplace to monitor and postural feedback to workers. The PRISMA-ScR guidelines were followed. Studies were included between 1 January 2000 and 22 March 2023 in Spanish, French, English, and Portuguese without geographical restriction. The databases selected for the research were PubMed®, Web of Science®, Scopus®, and Google Scholar®. Qualitative studies, theses, reviews, and meta-analyses were excluded. Twelve studies were included, involving a total of 304 workers, mostly health professionals (n = 8). The remaining studies covered workers in the industry (n = 2), in the construction (n = 1), and welders (n = 1). For assessment purposes, most studies used one (n = 5) or two sensors (n = 5) characterised as accelerometers (n = 7), sixaxial (n = 2) or nonaxialinertial measurement units (n = 3). The most common source of feedback was the sensor itself (n = 6) or smartphones (n = 4). Haptic feedback was the most prevalent (n = 6), followed by auditory (n = 5) and visual (n = 3). Most studies employed prototype wearables emphasising kinematic variables of human movement. Healthcare professionals were the primary focus of the study along with haptic feedback that proved to be the most common and effective method for correcting posture during work activities.

Keywords: feedback; posture; wearables; work-related musculoskeletal disorders; workstation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of included studies, adapted from PRISMA ScR statement [42].
Figure 2
Figure 2
Characterisation of the context/work task.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Anatomical region analysed.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Type of sensors.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Sensor placement and fixation.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Type of feedback.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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