[Low back pain perception from the prolonged use of a dynamic seat in sitting posture]

Objective To determine whether a tilting system located in the seat of a chair allows for performing voluntary macro-repositioning movements of the pelvis in order to reduce the perception of pain after a prolonged period in the sitting posture. Methods Eight women participated in the experiment. They were asked to sit on the chair with the tilting system and the chair without the tilting system for sixty minutes on two different days but carried out at the same time of day. Discomfort was assessed with the visual analogic scale. Results people used the tilting system to do postural changes of macro-repositioning. However, these movements were less than the movements done with the body, not using the system. Moreover, discomfort perception was the same for each chair. This might be due to the fact that total of macro-repositioning movements did not change. Conclusion Future research should evaluate the effect of tilting systems that provide macro-repositioning in a controlled form, not like in this study. Also, it is necessary to study if these types of automatic systems contribute to the reduction of the discomfort due to a prolonged period in the sitting posture.