The effect of a thoracic spine postural cushion on seated spinal posture in asymptomatic participants in the eThekwini municipality

Abstract

Background: Back pain has been associated with prolonged sitting. There have been several postural aids designed to help alleviate this pain, mostly lumbar support cushions. Few studies have assessed how a thoracic support cushion could affect posture. Objective: The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of a thoracic spine postural cushion on seated posture, during a reading task initially, then after one and two minute intervals, in terms of subjective (comfort rating) and objective outcomes (angle of forward head posture, head translation, head force, hip translation and Posture Number™), as recorded by Posture Pro. Methods: The study was a quantitative observational pre-test post-test design which recruited adult participants between the ages of 18 and 45, of any race or gender, who were asymptomatic in terms of back/neck pain and resided in the eThekwini Municipality. All participants were allocated to one group, with multiple objective measures and a subjective measure of comfort. Thus, they were their own control, i.e. each participant’s posture was assessed with and without the RidgeBack™ cushion, while carrying out a reading task on a computer screen. Photographs were taken of participants at zero minutes (baseline), one minute and two minutes and their posture was automatically measured by software on Posture Pro. Results: Significant improvements in posture were found in all measures (forward head position, head translation, head force and Posture Number™) at baseline (p < 0.001), one minute (p < 0.001) and two minutes (p < 0.001) with the cushion compared to without the Ridgeback™. Hip translation showed no statistically significant change at baseline (p = 0.428), one minute (p = 0.055) or two minutes (p = 0.577) during the study. Intra-group analysis showed that the improvements in posture were maintained over the study duration when the cushion was utilised. When assessing subjective comfort of participants, there was higher comfort rating when using the cushion, but this finding was not significant (p = 0.071). Conclusion: This study showed that the RidgeBack™ thoracic support cushion resulted in an improved posture when compared to no cushion. Further studies are required in symptomatic populations and over a longer duration to determine the impact of the cushion on back pain caused by sitting.