Relationship Between Physical Fatigue Variations and Seat Pressure Distribution Characteristics During Prolonged Office Sitting

What the paper says

Prolonged sedentary behavior in office settings has become a critical public health concern, contributing to various chronic diseases. With the advancement of intelligent office systems, real‐time monitoring of posture and physiological responses offers new opportunities to improve workplace health; however, the relationship between seat pressure distribution and physical fatigue during extended sitting remains insufficiently explored. Here, we systematically examine seat pressure distribution characteristics and their association with cumulative physical fatigue during prolonged office sitting to support the development of intelligent office furniture with monitoring and intervention capabilities. A controlled experiment was conducted in which 18 participants (aged 23–27) completed a simulated 3‐h office sitting session. Subjective fatigue was assessed every 15 min using the Borg scale, and cumulative fatigue was quantified using the area under the curve (AUC). Seat pressure distribution was continuously recorded via a pressure sensor mat, and both pressure magnitude–related indicators (e.g., mean and peak pressure) and center‐of‐pressure (COP)–based spatiotemporal features were extracted. Temporal trends were described, and linear mixed‐effects models were applied to examine associations between objective pressure indicators and subjective fatigue while accounting for repeated measurements, sitting duration, and individual‐level covariates. Subjective fatigue increased progressively over time, with distinct differences in cumulative fatigue across body regions. Several COP‐based indicators showed temporal patterns broadly consistent with fatigue progression; however, sitting duration was the dominant predictor of subjective fatigue. After controlling for time and individual differences, most pressure magnitude–related and COP‐based indicators showed limited independent associations with fatigue ratings. These findings indicate that although seat pressure features reflect time‐dependent changes accompanying prolonged sitting, their ability to independently represent subjective physical fatigue is constrained. The results highlight the importance of time‐aware analytical frameworks when interpreting pressure‐based metrics and provide insights for developing interpretable fatigue monitoring approaches in intelligent office environments.