Working
Working…we all do it…now, more than ever before because of this 24/7 world that we live in. It seems like we never shut down any more doesn’t it? Each of us must take personal responsibility for finding the proper work-life balance. If we don’t find ways to manage that balance, we are prone to fatigue, stress and loss of productivity. Our health suffers and as a result so does our family and our employer.
That is why it is critical that whether we are working from the office, home or in the car that we must have the tools essential to keeping us well and productive. In addition to all your computing equipment and mobile devices, those tools now should include a proper chair, a great workstation or desk with an adjustable keyboard tray, perhaps even a supportive seat support for those of you spending long hours in a car, train or plane. If we don’t take better care of ourselves and our body, we simply can’t perform well or feel good. That’s a fact. So let us help you determine what you need to optimize your workplace. Take a look around our website. Check out chairs, ergonomic accessories, seat supports, even our bags. You don’t have to do it all at once. Choose one thing to focus on at a time. Still confused or don’t know where to start? Call us. We’re here to help!
How To Sit Most Comfortably While Working
The single most important factor to consider when sitting while working is your hip angle. Likely as a result of being built to stand and run, the human body naturally prefers a 130 degree hip angle--close to what you would experience with your front leg while in full stride. Astronauts also float into a 130 degree hip angle in zero gravity.
This creates a natural conflict when we try to jam our bodies into a 90 degree chair. You wind up sliding your bottom forward in your chair and tilting your pelvis back as your hips constantly try to open up. The upright chair back then forces your upper back up rather than leaning back in line with your pelvis. Your head then sags forward as your chest collapses towards your stomach. Stop and check yourself right now, you are probably in this position. This is the classic "C" shaped spine with a flattened out lower back.
You may also find yourself doing "the chair dance" throughout the day without even realizing it. You start off with good intentions and good posture, but eventually you get uncomfortable and your bottom slides forward as you sag into the chair. Being in the "C" shape for too long is also very uncomfortable, so you sit up straight again for a time and then repeat the cycle.
Correcting your hip angle automatically fixes the flattened out lower back problem that most ergonomic chairs try to fix with lumbar support. The best way to get a tried and true sense of this feeling is to sit in a kneeling chair. If you've never done it, you will notice a tremendous difference. Your body naturally and effortlessly lifts into an upright seated position with a perfect "S" curve in your spine. While there may still be some value in having a chair back, it is actually not necessary at all for sitting with good posture.
Standard ergo sitting advice advocates planting your feet flat on the floor, legs parallel to the floor, and sitting upright or leaning slightly back. Already we have violated the 130 degree hip angle if we follow this advice. Leaning slightly back acknowledges the need for a wider hip angle, but when you lean back it becomes impossible to keep your head in line with your spine. It is extremely uncomfortable to hold your head back for a long period of time, so you wind up stooping it forward. Stooping for a long period of time also hurts your neck and ruins your posture.
The second most important rule in good sitting is to support weight with bones, not flesh. Just like the support beams of a building, your skeleton was designed as the load-bearing structure for your body. The two main contact points for sitting are your bottom and your feet.
Your hips come down through your bottom in two points referred to as the "sit bones." Whenever you sit, your weight should be firmly centered over those bones. This is where many super cushy chairs fail because they are so amorphous that they don't allow your bones to properly support your body. Chair seats that have excessive grooves for your bottom and thighs also generally violate this rule.
Your feet, obviously, come in contact with the floor. The body balances itself around the feet, so having them planted firmly on the floor helps maintain good seated posture. Your feet actually have two main contact points with the floor, through the ball of the foot and the heel. You want to keep your weight balanced evenly from front to back on these two points. There is, however, one exception to the feet rule. For kneeling chairs, weight should be balanced on the kneeling pads through your shin bones. It's generally not a good idea to put the weight directly on your knees as the name might imply.
To summarize, this is the ideal sitting position we are trying to create:
- 1. Hips open to a 130 degree angle.
- 2. Weight centered solidly over sit bones.
- 3. Feet flat on floor (or shins if a kneeling chair) with weight distributed evenly between the heel and ball of the foot.
- 4. Upper body straight up, head in line with spine.
With these conditions in place it's all but impossible not to sit upright and feel the relief of pain-free, great posture.
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