1.6. Specific aims and rationale
The specific aims of this study were to further investigate
the impacts of personal, postural, and design factors upon
seat pan interface pressure. Personal factors of interest
included measures of body composition or build. Postural
factors of interest included trunk–thigh angle and the use
of arm rests. Chair design factors were investigated in a
broad sense using actual chairs used in present-day office
settings (rather than use of a laboratory apparatus).
Personal factors were included in the investigation as past
research suggested they may account for a significant and
measurable portion of experimental variability. Postural
factors were studied as they are alterable conditions of
seated work, and could provide results that can be
leveraged in the real world to reduce tissue compression.
Chair design factors were investigated using real world
examples as they represented seating devices in current use
at the time of the study and would be an alterable
conditions of the existing workplace. It was of particular
interest to determine if chair design differences or postural
factors account for greater differences in seat pan interface
pressure.