seat [18]. Training in the use of the adjustable features was
also prominent in all studies. The body sites for decreased
pain were different for each study: one reported back/hip
pain [17]; one neck/shoulder pain [19]; one musculo-skeletal
symptoms anywhere [4] but reported the greatest
reduction in pain was in the neck/shoulder followed by
upper and lower back; one upper limb only [20] and the
final paper reported on lumbar spine discomfort [19]. Only
one study investigated productivity outcomes [18] and
found no significant differences. Similarly the two studies
that assessed elements of posture (for example thigh
angles) also found modest to no differences with their chair
interventions [18,20].
Data analysis
It was not possible to perform a meta-analysis because
of the clinical heterogeneity of the trials. The sources of
this heterogeneity included differing populations, interventions
and outcomes. These were all different from one
study to another, with one exception: Rempel et al and
Wang et al had the same intervention and overall population
but reported different subgroups and outcomes
[17,19]. As such sensitivity analysis was also not able to be
performed.