Interesting question. To answer this we need to

1. Define the age of the particular individuals.

2. The BMI and individuality of every person's body

3. The ability of the furniture to adapt in the different shapes that every person's body will take as he/she will become older (more senior within the school years)

4. The possibility of economic restrains

5. The necessity that every pupil will have a different design and size of the same kind of furniture.

6. The possibility of use of different materials.

7. The necessity to understand the ergonomics and ergonomic measurements of the different students.

8. Finally, are we fully understand the ergonomy and are we apply the measurements correctly?

With out question physiotherapists should be involved.  The therapists are  concerned  with the prevention of injury related to computer use and the impact on overall health. In addition the therapists are treating these students with physical ailments related to unsound ergonomics  in part due to furniture  not readily adjustable .  The therapists understand what is needed for the students to use the furniture and computers with out producing injury.-- again prevention and cost saving.

Hi Samia,

Sound mind  lives in healthy body 

It is an interesting question related to health of teenagers. In my opinion yes; a Physiotherapists can design the furniture in better way according to the physio-  medical requirement of student’s body in the era of computer and lot of instrumentation. 

thanks  

Hi Samia.

The answer is absolutely yes. Due to their knowledge and expertise Physiotherapists should be a member of the team who intervene to design school furniture.  

Dear Samia,

We also experienced a laboratory of ergonomic education in a school with exellent results. I think that physiotherapists should intervene to design school furnitures to manage postual issues of teenagers

The answer is a 'Yes'. Reasons being that design of buildings as well as furniture has to be a collective effort. The physiotherapists must be involved for a healthier future.

My answer is yes. However my answer is accompanied by a reflection. Physiotherapists are scholars of human body movement. Under observation conditions, any physiotherapist could give opinions as to the correct alignment of the body segments when analyzing sitting and standing postures; however, to intervene fully in the design of ergonomic furniture; it would be necessary to do it in a multidisciplinary health team, where several specialists give their opinion and achieve a design consistent with the physical reality from the anthropometric point of view.

Hi 

my opinion is that physiotherapist know well about the problems associated with furniture and the postures. Better to find ergonomist for furniture designing .if it is not possible to find ergonomist  other option is physiotherapist.I think physiotherapists can involve in preventing teenagers' posture issues  through  health education.

Hi Sudath.

Totally agree with your answer as well.

Best regards.

Thanks Luis

Best Regards !

Thanks a lot in participating in this discussion.Best of  luck to all.

Absolutely. In fact, such an approach should be done prior to the teen years.  Prevention of postural deficits is key.  By the teenage years, many bad habits and postural deficits may have already begun. Especially as children are utilizing computers on a regular basis in their education. To accommodate for differences in stature, I would recommend considering adjustability within any design............Hope this is helpful.

Further to my previous entry, I can say that in the case of a person who already has postural deformities or other physical problems, opinion and further intervention from physios is paramount. In such case all ergonomic measurements of the individual are known and it is one off case for management through a physiotherapist. This though is not answering the question which is very generic and questions the design and management in totality; the way that is written. This is how the question reads. So in designing furniture for  the whole class any physiotherapist has to have the knowledge of every individual student and the specific location of this person within the room so they have to design the specific desk of chair in individual basis. This may be very expensive and utopic.

For sure. Why not?

If it's for improvements, the better.

The areas/profissionals should work in strict cooperation/collaboration, as usually said that Design is a inter/multidisciplinary area. Not only for schoolars or teenagers, but for furniture and goods in general, in my pov.

In consideration to Ms Fontanez ( I would recommend considering adjustability within any design) and Mr. Zafiropoulos' answers (So in designing furniture for  the whole class any physiotherapist has to have the knowledge of every individual student and the specific location of this person within the room so they have to design the specific desk of chair in individual basis. This may be very expensive and utopic.), I'd mention the Design for All/Universal Design' question. leaving only the points off the curve to be dealt more carefully, if it's the case.

Hope my opinion is helpful.

http://designforall.org/design.php

Yes for sure ...it must be the way any government should think for a better and healthier life style for their populations....that will also teach the kids the right posture to take and how to feel comfy....physiotherapists are very usefull by their knowlegde if we knew how to really get them in their place.