Are you sitting correctly?
In 2015 in the UK, England’s Chief Medical Officer revealed that 23 million working days were lost to office-related ill health, and a staggering 553,000 cases were work-related musculoskeletal disorders. While it is impossible to determine what exact percentage is attributable to poor posture – there is no doubt that poor office seating and desking can be a pain in the backside, literally and financially.
There are many versions of the above diagram on the world wide web, essentially the key things to ensure are:
- When you sit back in the chair you have a gap between the seat pan and the back of your knees.
- You adjust the height of your chair so when your feet are flat you are seated near a 90 angle.
- Your chair armrests work as an extension of your desk, supporting your arm/elbow. Armrests that adjust backwards are great for this. It avoids desk and armrest clashing.
- That the height of your desk should be adjusted to fit you and your chair with your arms relaxed at a 90 angle. Once your chair is set up to your physique you shouldn’t need to adjust the height of your chair when you pull yourself up to the desk. – If you need to do so, then you may need to consider a height adjustable workstation.
- BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY – DON’T FORGET TO MOVE! Most office chairs will have a tilt lock. In an ideal world you shouldn’t lock your chair in a static position, instead adjust the tension of your chair so that when you lean back you’re neither pushing or feeling like your falling. This means that the back of the chair will then move freely with you whilst typing, phoning, leaning back.
A few of our favourites
The Do Chair.
It goes without saying that people come in all shapes & sizes so the need for a range of adjustability is essential. With shared work-spaces becoming increasingly common, This chair has been designed to do more with less.
Rather than being presented with a multitude of knobs & levers, the Do chair has a self-adjusting weight balancing mechanism, allowing each individual user to sit and move freely with this chair without the concern of manually adjusting the tension.
The Boullée
The elegant pilates gym ball.
Although this isn’t a permanent replacement for an office chair, it’s unique shape counterbalances the monotony of sitting still, and provides a dynamic seating experience during which you can move about and balance on. A great alternative to encourage participants to be active in meetings, or for rolling up to a hot desk.
