Lift chair : an assistive chair design for lower back pain in elderly patients.

Malaysian the older population has doubled in the past two decades to almost 1.4 million in 2000. By 2020, this number is expected to grow to more than 3.4 million. Lower back pain is one of the most frequently reported chronic health problems affecting the elderly population. The pain can be categorised as it is derived from the pathological factors or the muscle stress factors. Pathological factors refers to reflexive pain that derives from any diseases and muscle stress factors refers to the patient's reflection of pain which might be derived from the muscle strain, prolonged sitting or just a mere back pain felt by the patient. Sitting is the most observed posture that is well associated with elderly. In this research proposal, researcher will discuss the need of an effective seating design solution in minimizing the lower back pain suffered by the elderly. The research intends to bridge the gap between medical and design field as researcher needs to integrate the medical findings that will direct the design development. The research is conducted based on qualitative data approach;observation and interviews. The observations are done at elderly welfare home, nursing home and private home whereas the interviews involved the medical experts such orthopedic surgeons, chiropractor, rehab medicine expert, gerontologist and patients. From the findings, researcher managed to investigate possible means to assist lower back pain patients in design perpective.