In contrast, the use of sagging supports is believed to result in discomfort, poor sleeping quality, and waking symptoms caused by the irritation of adjacent soft tissue and nerves of the distorted spine ( Verhaert et al., 2011b). In general, an ideal sleeping support system should maintain the spine physiologically aligned by providing adequate and appropriate mechanical support ( DeVocht et al., 2006 Verhaert et al., 2011b). However, the corresponding recommendations are based on subjective perception and supine posture only ( López-Torres et al., 2008) and lack supporting experimental data.īesides subjective feedback, sleep therapists identified spine and pressure point positions as additional decisive factors for prescribing sleeping support ( Esquirol Caussa et al., 2017).

To introduce more order into this field, the European standardization body published the EN 1957 standard as a guide to mattress firmness selection according to hardness and area under the deflection curve ( European Committee for Standardization, 2000). The subjective responses gathered from questionnaires may change after an adaptation period ( Liu, Lee & Liang, 2011), and the outcome of subjective comfort evaluation is argued to be easily manipulable based on manufacturer demands because of the highly diverse and vague definition of “comfort” ( Wu, Yuan & Li, 2018). Additionally, poor sleep quality can cause musculoskeletal problems, including chronic pain, low back pain, and arm-shoulder pain ( Cimmino, Ferrone & Cutolo, 2011 Mork et al., 2013).Īlthough the relationship between biomechanics and sleep-associated musculoskeletal problems has been recognized, most mattress evaluations pertain to the use of insecure techniques such as subjective feedback or questionnaires ( Tonetti, Martoni & Natale, 2011 Verhaert et al., 2011b). However, sleep disorders and problems are common, resulting in poor work efficiency, absenteeism, and accidents ( Swanson et al., 2011). Therefore, sleeping systems and supports are considered to be important environmental components affecting physical comfort during sleep and thus influencing health. Some of the most frequent postures and locomotions in our lifetime are those adopted during sleeping.

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