Contoured cushioning is commonly used for many different types of seats and mattresses. For example, contoured cushioning is sometimes used in seats, such as office chairs, wheelchairs, and vehicle seats to provide lumbar support and a comfortable seat base. Typically, contoured cushioning is provided by locating padding at specific parts of the seat base or backrest to create areas of greater or lesser cushioning and contouring. Contoured cushioning is sometimes used in seats, such as wheelchairs, to aid the comfort of the user and to help those with significant physical disabilities to sit comfortably and safely in a wheelchair. People with Cerebral Palsy, neuromuscular diseases, brain injuries, spinal injuries and many other medical conditions often need significant and customised contouring of seats to properly support their posture and positioning. The contouring required can be very user specific, with some people requiring different areas of the seat to be raised or lowered and to different extents. The required extent of contouring and the position of contoured areas of the seat may need to be regularly modified for some users. Unfortunately, many known seating systems do not provide contoured seating in which the extent and location of the contouring can be readily altered. It can also be difficult to obtain the full extent of contouring required for high needs users of seats, particularly wheelchairs. As a result, high needs users are prone to slipping into unsafe and/or uncomfortable positions in their seats so that caregivers must regularly adjust the position of the person in the chair. Contoured cushioning is also sometimes used in beds to reduce the risk of pressure injuries to those who are bedridden for long periods of time.
Furthermore, many contouring devices for seats and mattresses provide fixed contouring that cannot be altered to suit the needs of individual users over time. For example, it is often the case also that the same seat cannot be used to suit the different needs of another user. Consequently, these customised (and often expensive) seats may only be useful to one person for a short period of time.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a contouring device that goes at least some way towards overcoming the disadvantages of the prior art or that at least provides the public with a useful alternative to current contouring devices.