Abstract
The purpose of this study is to find out the practical comfortable desk height and the seat height for office workers. In most literatures, the heights of the desk and the seat were determined based on the assumed ideal sitting posture. However, from observations, the ideal sitting posture isn't a common practice in the real world. This study proposed that the desk height and the seat height should be determined by the subjective comfortable heights based on the normal working postures. The subjective comfortable sitting and working heights as well as the objective postural change frequencies of twenty one subjects were measured and recorded for analysis. The follwing results were found: 1. There were no close correlations among the comfortable desk/seat heights and stature, elbow height and popliteal height. 2. There was no significant difference between males and females in the comfortable desk/seat heights. 3. For adjustable office furniture, it is recommended that with shoe heels the desk height should be in the range of 65.3-82.6 cm and the seat height between 39-50.1 cm. The minimum thigh clearance should be 22.1 cm. For fixed desk, the suggested height is 73.8 cm which is the average comfortable desk height. Footrest should be provided for the fixed desk.