[Distribution of the seating pressure on unupholstered chairs]

A majority of the population in industrialized countries does its work while sitting. The necessity of morphologically and physiologically adapting body-supporting systems to the human body cannot be limited to the use of traditional body measurements and certain inclination angles. An investigation of the sitting-pressure distribution is also necessary. The instruments developed for this purpose, the pressure-measuring chair and the sitting pressure simulator, are presented, and their results illustrated by specific examples. As a result of these investigations, sitting-pressure distribution and sitting behaviour have become test-criteria for the suitability of sears, office chairs, etc.