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Home Ergonomic Trends

Update: Ergonomic Arm Support Prototypes For Mobile Users

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April 21, 2022 - Updated on February 24, 2024
Reading Time: 5 mins read

People who use mobile devices tilt their heads to operate them. That strains the spine. Once muscles adapt, text neck syndrome distorts the entire spine. That leads to lethargy, headaches, and spinal disc pressure. Even so, most ergonomic arm support systems for mobile users are prototypes.

Ergonomic arm support prototypes for mobile device users
L-R: Khon Kaen U. School of Physical Therapy prototype; Autofull Mecha Master arms; ChairsFX lapboard.

An adult’s head weighs around 10-12 pounds. Most people tilt their necks forward by 45° when texting.

That angle adds 50-60 extra pounds of force to the neck and shoulders ( 5 x more than the normal load). The resulting pains are what’s known as Text Neck Syndrome.

Text neck angles and head pressure

In 2022, around 6.5 billion people have mobile phone subscriptions. The average person spends around 3 hours using their phones each day. Over a year, that works out to around 1200 hours of severe neck and shoulder strain(1).

Text neck degeneration
If left untreated, text neck can turn you into a hunchback!

Despite this, most ergonomic arm support systems for mobile users only exist as prototypes. Even so, recent studies have provided clear parameters — and testing methods — to bring mobile arm support prototypes to market.

Mobile Support Design Parameters

Recent research from Khon Kaen University in Thailand has clarified the ergonomic support needs of mobile users. The best flexion angles known thus far are 0° for the neck and 30° for the shoulders.

Product developers seeking to play with these numbers can measure results using for cheap using open source Electromyography devices. Here’s a summary of the key points:

Best Neck Flexion: 0°

The recommended neck flexion range(2) for mobile computing is 0-15°. This effectively reduces muscle activity in the Cervical Erector Spinae (CES) and Upper Trapezius (UT).

Best mobile neck position
The perfect neck position balances the head above shoulders with a 0° tilt.

The best angle is 0°. A perfectly balanced head helps your entire body stay in a near-perfect neutral alignment. That keeps muscle activity to a minimum, leaving more energy on the table for computing.

Learn more: Health Problems Caused By Bad Neck Angles

Best Shoulder Flexion: 30°

What is it that most mobile ergonomic studies only focused on the neck? It wasn’t until 2021 that a Khon Kaen University study (3) finally shed light on the ideal shoulder flexion for mobile computing.

Best shoulder flexion for mobile computing
A 30° shoulder flexion exerts minimal stress on surrounding muscles.

A 0° neck flexion was tested with various shoulder flexions (15°, 30°, 45°, and 60°). A 30° flexion proved the best compromise of activation levels among all relevant muscle groups. That angle also received the lowest neck and shoulder discomfort scores.

Learn more: Health Problems Caused By Bad Shoulder Angles

Use EMG To Measure Muscle Activity

The Khon Kaen researchers verified their prototypes by measuring muscle activity in the neck and shoulders. Typically, this gets done using electromyography (EMG) devices. The problem for commercial researchers is that these are very expensive.

Electromyography device
Open Source EMG devices let prototype developers measure muscle activity levels in-house.

Good news: low-cost, Open Source EMG systems ($112 per unit) have emerged(4). This means that product developers can build on existing research — and gauge muscle activity levels in-house!

Mobile Arm Support Prototypes

In late 2021, this prototype(3) was unveiled by a team at the School of Physical Therapy of Khon Kaen University. It is the world’s first that provides ergonomic mobile support with a clear biomechanical basis. In use, it locks neck flexion into a 0° tilt and shoulder flexion at 30°.

Ergonomic arm support prototype device for smartphone users
This mobile arm prototype supports a 0° neck flexion and 30° shoulder flexion.

Those angles were proven to yield the lowest muscle exertion over 20 minutes of mobile gaming. Without support, muscular fatigue increased over time, especially in the shoulders.

With the prototype, muscle activity dropped significantly. Pressure was reduced in the anterior deltoid, cervical erector spinae, and trapezius muscles. As a result, muscular fatigue was insignificant.

Over the past few years, the gaming chair industry has also released a few mobile support concepts. Here’s a summary:

Autofull Mobile Arms

Autofull’s Mechanical Master chair was released in 2020 as the world’s first mobile gaming chair. Sadly, the concept was ahead of its time. A year after its release, it was discontinued.

Reducing text neck injuries
Autofull’s Mechanical Master chair was discontinued in early 2021.

At a glance, its extendable arms look like an amazing concept for mobile gamers. However, when compared with Khon Kaen Uni standards, the shoulder angle looks problematic.

Autofull Mech Master shoulder angle
The Mecha Master places the shoulders at a radically different angle than the recommended 30°.

Future Potential

The latest and greatest gaming chairs have hot-swappable magnetic armrest caps. If support angles can get worked out, mobile mech arms fit well into this multi-device workstation of the future.

Magnetic armrests with mobile support arms
Secretlab’s Magnetic Arm tech paired with Mecha Arm caps solves mobile support problems.

DXRacer Modular Device Holder

In early 2021, DXRacer refreshed its product line with a new modular concept. This lets you extend the functionality of your chair with add-ons. For mobile users, there’s a laptop and device holder.

DXRacer Air laptop holder
The multifunction device holder merges PC and mobile devices.

The idea is to support a deskless work environment! The problem is that the angles are off.

Master chair laptop holder
The laptop position forces the user to strain their neck while computing.

As is, to operate their laptop or mobile devices, users need to tilt their heads. Over time, that will cause a serious case of hard-core text neck syndrome.

Conclusion

Around 6.5 billion (82% of the world) people use mobile phones for around 3 hours each day. Most do so with a 45° forward head tilt. That places around 50-60 pounds of force on the neck and shoulders.

Text neck syndrome effects
Text neck starts as upper body pain. If untreated, it can distort the entire spine into a severe state of kyphosis.

Text Neck Syndrome starts out as neck and shoulder pain. If untreated, it can degenerate into chronic musculoskeletal disorders.

Despite this, institutions have so far ignored these health risks. For example, Apple generated $180 billion from iPhone sales in 2021. However, the company spent zero researching text neck solutions caused by its own products.

Luckily, tiny little Khon Kaen University in Thailand has stepped up. Its Ergonomic Arm Support Prototype gives product developers plenty to work with.

The big takeaway is that institutional support for work-related diseases is insignificant. Luckily, an emerging field of DIY ergonomics is primed to fill the gap. Studies show when taught proper body mechanics, people can train themselves into healthy positions.

How to use muscle memory to boost health
A bit of discipline is all you need to lock muscles into healthy long-term patterns.

Then, muscle memory takes over to lock down good posture habits — for life! As a result, you needn’t wait around for mobile arm support systems to reach the market. Instead, read this feature to start taking a proactive approach to your postural health:

Use Muscle Memory To Form Healthy Ergonomic Habits

Footnotes

  1. Pablo Robles. ‘Why your smartphone is causing you text neck syndrome’. January 25, 2019. https://multimedia.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2183329/text-neck/index.html, (accessed 10 April 2022).
  2. Suwalee Namwongsa, et al. ‘Effect of neck flexion angles on neck muscle activity among smartphone users with and without neck pain’, Ergonomics. 2019 Dec;62(12):1524-1533. DOI: 10.1080/00140139.2019.1661525, (accessed 11 April 2022).
  3. Weerasak Tapanya, et al. ‘Ergonomic arm support prototype device for smartphone users’, Applied Ergonomics Volume 95, September 2021, 103458. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003687021001058, (accessed 11 April 2022).
  4. Benjamin C.Fortune, et al. ‘Low-cost active electromyography’. HardwareX Volume 6, October 2019, e00085. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468067219300501, (accessed 11 April 2022).

Anil Ramsey

Anil Ramsey

I'm the ChairsFX founder and Chief Editor. I'm a member of the OSHA Education Center Association (OECA), with an OSHA Ergonomics Certification. Beyond these credentials, I've been hands-on testing the world's finest ergonomic desk chairs since 2018. Learn more about me and this website on the About Us page.


 

Table of Contents

  1. Mobile Support Design Parameters
    1. Best Neck Flexion: 0°
    2. Best Shoulder Flexion: 30°
    3. Use EMG To Measure Muscle Activity
  2. Mobile Arm Support Prototypes
    1. Autofull Mobile Arms
    2. DXRacer Modular Device Holder
  3. Conclusion

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