subject: Your Office Chairs Could Be Hurting You [print this page] Most of us spend an average of eight to nine hours per day sitting down. If this is the case for you, stop and take a moment to evaluate how your body feels while seated for extended periods. Do you feel an ache in your back? Do you feel a slight numbness in your lower thighs or buttocks? Do you experience lethargy as a result of sitting? These symptoms usually stem from restricted blood circulation.
Believe it or not, these symptoms are completely normal, and they're not good. They may well be caused by doing precisely what you're doing, sitting. New studies in the fields of molecular biology, bio mechanics, epidemiology, and physiology is gravitating toward a startling conclusion. Sitting could be a risk to your health. Sometimes exercise alone can't offset the effects of consistently poor body position.
The general public needs to understand that the mechanics of sitting down are completely different than that of standing. Physicians recently determined that people with obesity have a natural predisposition to be attracted to a seated position and to chairs in general. That's true even after obese people lose weight.
Physicians indicate that even when you're standing or just walking around, you're employing specialized sets of muscles designed for supporting your posture. These special muscle groups never tire. These muscle groups are unique and very rich in enzymes. When you are in a seated position these muscle groups are relaxed and enzyme production drops by 90 to 95 percent, leaving fat to lie dormant in the bloodstream. After being seated for several hours, healthy cholesterol drops by twenty percent.
Older people who are active have approximately one half the mortality rate of their peers who are inactive. Folks who regularly surf the web or watch television develop higher rates of obesity, hypertension, high triglyceride levels, low HDL cholesterol, and higher blood sugar regardless of their weight.
On average, lean people stand for two hours per day or longer than their lesser active counterparts.The chair you're currently seated in right now is more than likely contributing to the problem. For the most part you can't do much worse than sitting on a standard office chair.
The spine wasn't meant to stay stationary for long periods of time when in a seated position. Using an easy to understand C or S shaped spinal analogy, it's easy to predict which of these shapes will collapse first when under duress. However, when you sit, the lower lumbar curve collapses, turning the spine's natural S shape into a C shape. This hinders abdominal and back muscles that support the body.
The body is then left to assume a slumping position. As a result the lateral and oblique musculature weakens and is incapable of supporting body weight. This produces a chain reaction effecting the entire body. You see, when you are sitting, you are supporting all of your weight through pelvis and spine. This puts pressure on the discs in your back.
The chair industry produces an incredible volume of advertising which subsequently drives perceptions about what makes for a healthy and comfortable seated position. Generally speaking, perceptions regarding posture were formed in the sixties and seventies as complaints of back pain from employees started to be vocalized.
The primary problem, according to industry experts was the absence of lumbar support. Lumbar supports do not actually aid your spine. This perception has become deeply embedded in the mind of the general public but the perception is not based on actual experience.
Over the past 30 years, task chairs have more than tripled in sales, into more than a three million dollar market fueled by more than one hundred manufacturers. Some of the best selling US made chairs are ones that feature lumbar support.
One of the best selling chairs in America is the Aeron chair, manufactured by Herman Miller. The chair ranges in cost based on extended ergonomic features starting around 750.00. There are many users across the country who swear these chairs and just as many expert researchers who refute their efficacy. Even though some experts agree the Aeron chair lacks the range of height and lateral adjustments needed for maximum comfort and mobility, Herman Miller continues to produce them as-is, because of their continued stream of successful sales.
From a sales perspective, this really exemplifies the idea that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. One the designers who engineered the Aeron said he wasn't hired to engineer the perfect product for a typical eight hour work shift, he was employed to improve on Herman Miller's best selling chair. He essentially stated they were given instructions to design chairs for the next generation.
If you're looking for a good cost effective alternative to Aeron, you may want to consider lines manufactured by OFM and Office Star. They boast most of the same ergonomic features as the Herman Miller chairs for about a third of the cost. Experts agree that one of the best ergonomic seated positions is called perching, a semi-standing position at approximately 42 inches high, that distributes weight to the legs rather than the back. This keeps the S-shape of the back cohesive.
Some of the most popular versions of this type of sit-stand hybrid chair include the HAG Capisco chair, and the Swopper stool. Other viable alternatives for maintaining correct posture are the Mayline Vari Task table, and certain types of ball chairs which have the ability to shift or bounce your spine into a C shape.
Conventional thinking could be our biggest nemesis as relating to healthy posture because most buyers still prefer chairs that look like sporty chairs. Your chairs could be killing you, but it's more than likely your thinking and perception, which are advertising driven, that are ultimately the deadly culprit.
