Dynamic sitting aids, like air-filled cushions, encourage postural shifts and activate trunk muscles, potentially mitigating musculoskeletal discomfort and preventing the onset of low back pain. However, evidence on optimal design and pressure is lacking. This project addresses these gaps by developing a portable cushion to reduce discomfort in high-risk office workers. A systematic, four-phase iterative approach optimized the cushion’s diameter, construction, and air fill. The resulting round cushion, with two layers of chambers at 21–25 kPa, promotes postural shifts and trunk muscle activation while maintaining comfort. Future research should evaluate its application and sustained benefits in diverse office environments.

People with a physically demanding job have an unhealthy disbalance in occupational and leisure-time physical activity (PA). We aimed to understand which contextual factors influence this disbalance, and explore opportunities for lifestyle interventions that could restore this disbalance. We applied a contextmapping study with six production workers from a Dutch coating department. Participants filled in a sensitizing booklet with PA-related activities, and were interviewed afterwards. Participants reported reasons for (not) being active in leisure-time using an experience sampling method. Our results indicate that main reasons for being inactive during leisure time were their believes that occupational PA is enough for a healthy lifestyle, and the need to rest after work. Results show that lifestyle interventions should tackle workers inadequate risk perception and over-exhaustion to empower them to shift their PA behavior in a healthier direction. This indicates the need for a holistic approach targeting both home and working environments.