{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,6]],"date-time":"2026-10-06T13:14:33Z","timestamp":1791292473785,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"7","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,8]],"date-time":"2022-07-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1657238400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["11732015"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["11732015"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["11972315"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["11972315"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Biology"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Sleeping support systems can influence spinal curvature, and the misalignment of the spinal curvature can lead to musculoskeletal problems. Previous sleep studies on craniocervical support focused on pillow variants, but the mattress supporting the pillow has rarely been considered. This study used a cervical pillow and three mattresses of different stiffnesses, namely soft, medium, and hard, with an indentation load deflection of 20, 42, and 120 lbs, respectively. A novel electronic curvature measurement device was adopted to measure the spinal curvature, whereby the intervertebral disc loading was computed using the finite element method. Compared with the medium mattress, the head distance increased by 30.5 \u00b1 15.9 mm, the cervical lordosis distance increased by 26.7 \u00b1 14.9 mm, and intervertebral disc peak loading increased by 49% in the soft mattress environment. Considering that the pillow support may increase when using a soft mattress, a softer or thinner pillow is recommended. The head distance and cervical lordosis distance in the hard mattress environment were close to the medium mattress, but the lumbar lordosis distance reduced by 10.6 \u00b1 6.8 mm. However, no significant increase in intervertebral disc loading was observed, but contact pressure increased significantly, which could cause discomfort and health problems.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/biology11071030","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,8]],"date-time":"2022-07-08T11:37:08Z","timestamp":1657280228000},"page":"1030","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["The Influence of Mattress Stiffness on Spinal Curvature and Intervertebral Disc Stress\u2014An Experimental and Computational Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Tommy Tung-Ho","family":"Hong","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yan","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China"},{"name":"The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen 518057, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8805-1157","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Duo Wai-Chi","family":"Wong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China"},{"name":"The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen 518057, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Guoxin","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1789-0778","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Qitao","family":"Tan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tony Lin-Wei","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6027-4594","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ming","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong 999077, China"},{"name":"The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen 518057, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,7,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e6364","DOI":"10.7717\/peerj.6364","article-title":"Sleeping mattress determinants and evaluation: A biomechanical review and critique","volume":"7","author":"Wong","year":"2019","journal-title":"PeerJ"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"257","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sleh.2015.08.001","article-title":"Effect of different mattress designs on promoting sleep quality, pain reduction, and spinal alignment in adults with or without back pain; systematic review of controlled trials","volume":"1","author":"Radwan","year":"2015","journal-title":"Sleep Health"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"169","DOI":"10.1080\/00140139.2010.538725","article-title":"Ergonomics in bed design: The effect of spinal alignment on sleep parameters","volume":"54","author":"Verhaert","year":"2011","journal-title":"Ergonomics"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"A1","DOI":"10.2519\/jospt.2017.0302","article-title":"Neck Pain: Revision 2017","volume":"47","author":"Blanpied","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. 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