title: Are pressure measurements effective in the assessment of office chair comfort/discomfort? A review.
abstract: Nowadays, the majority of jobs in the western world involves sitting in an office chair. As a result, a comfortable and supported sitting position is essential for employees. In the literature, various objective methods (e.g. pressure measurements, measurements of posture, EMG etc.) have been used to assess sitting comfort/discomfort, but their validity remains unknown. This review therefore examines the relationship between subjective comfort/discomfort and pressure measurements while sitting in office chairs. The literature search resulted in eight papers that met all our requirements. Four studies identified a relationship between subjective comfort/discomfort and pressure distribution parameters (including correlations of up to r = 0.7 ± 0.13). However, the technique for evaluating subjective comfort/discomfort seems to play an important role on the results achieved, therefore placing their validity into question. The peak pressure on the seat pan, the pressure distribution on the backrest and the pressure pattern changes (seat pan and backrest) all appear to be reliable measures for quantifying comfort or discomfort.
authors: Institute for Biomechanics ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli Strasse 10, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: zempr@ethz.ch.
authors: Roland
authors: R
authors: Zemp
authors: Institute for Biomechanics ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli Strasse 10, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors: William R
authors: WR
authors: Taylor
authors: Institute for Biomechanics ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli Strasse 10, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors: Silvio
authors: S
authors: Lorenzetti
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D006804:Ergonomics / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007374:Interior Design and Furnishings / Q000592:standards*
keywords: Comfort; Office chair; Pressure measurements