Title: An ergonomic study of body motions during Muslim prayer using digital human modelling

Authors: Faisal Aqlan; Abdulaziz Ahmed; Wen Cao; Mohammad T. Khasawneh

Addresses: Department of Industrial Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, The Behrend College, Erie, PA 16563, USA ' Department of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, New York 13902, USA ' Department of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, New York 13902, USA ' Department of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, New York 13902, USA

Abstract: This research presents an ergonomic study of body motions during Muslim prayer (i.e., Salāt) using digital human modelling. A factorial analysis is conducted considering four main factors: population, gender, percentile, and prayer posture. For healthy individuals, the results showed that all the main factors are significant, but no interaction effects were found to be significant. It was also found that there is an inverse relationship between the time spent on each prayer posture and the back compression force affecting the person during that posture. In addition, modifications to the bowing posture were studies for individuals with low back pain considering three main factors: back angle, knee angle, and pain level. It was found that all the main factors and one interaction effect (back angle × knee angle) are significant. This can help identify the back and knee angles that minimise the compression force for individuals with low back pain.

Keywords: ergonomic assessment; digital human modelling; DHM; Muslim prayers; body motions; back compression force; Islam; ergonomics; population; gender; percentile; prayer posture; bowing posture; low back pain; back angle; knee angle; pain level; praying.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISE.2017.081914

International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, 2017 Vol.25 No.3, pp.279 - 296

Received: 02 Dec 2014
Accepted: 15 Feb 2015
Published online: 31 Jan 2017 *

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