Anthropometric Engineering Approach in Conceptual Design of Sleeping Pillow

Sleep is an essential element for maintaining health, which is associated with several factors in improving its quality, including the use of a suitable pillow that, with effective support, can support the spine in the neck area and it prevents complications such as headache, neck pain and shoulder pain .The purpose of this study was to provide a suitable pillow design in accordance with the dimensions of Iranian people for proper support in both back and flank positions.

84 volunteers (40 males and 44 females) with an average age of 29/47 years (SD=7/91) were enrolled. Anthropometric characteristics such as head width in the ear area, head length, head height, etc. were determined using a caliper, a Canon SX60HS camera, a digimizer software, Excel and SPSS version 20. Different percentiles of the body dimensions of men and women were calculated. The findings were used to calculate the dimensions of different parts of the ergonomic pillow.

Based on different dimensions of the head, neck and shoulder area in the sample, the pillow was designed with a width of 70 and a depth of 26/4 cm for men and a width of 65 and a depth of 26/4 cm for women.

It is anticipated that the pillow designed according to anthropometric measurements of Iranian subjects can reduce head and neck pain and spinal problems. It is also recommended that other research has to be done to standardize the dimensions and type of pillow material in all parts of Iran.