User satisfaction survey of the developed back-stretching machine

Abstract

Back pain is the problem that reduce the life quality of people and is found widely in working age group. Exercise such as the back bending position requires no equipment and can help stretching the back effectively. However, it requires the strength in certain parts of the body to do this kind of exercise; hence, not everyone can perform this type of exercise easily. Therefore, the authors developed the back-stretching machine with an automatic system in order to assist the user to achieve the back stretching position more conveniently. To evaluate the usefulness of the developed back-stretching machine and to develop better solutions, the performance test and the user satisfaction survey are required. Therefore, this article aims to study the user satisfaction of this developed back-stretching machine. The sample group or the user in this article was 14 people, age between 22-60 years old. They were either students or staffs in the Faculty of Engineering at Sriracha. The survey was taken place at the Faculty of Engineering at Sriracha, Kasetsart University, Sriracha Campus, Chonburi, Thailand. After the users used the machine for 5 working cycles or around 2 minutes per person, it was found that the majority of the sampling group satisfied with this back-stretching machine in overall in the level of “good”. The best aspect of satisfaction was that the convenience of usage. Nevertheless, for the aspect of back muscle relief, the satisfaction was in the level of “almost good”; and for the aspect of spinal flexibility, the satisfaction was in the level of “moderate”.