The world of Ergonomics is fast paced and has its own share of “fads” when it comes to what people think is going to be their “silver bullet” for an ergonomically correct seated work station.

In past years it was a kneeling chair. More recently it has been treadmill workstations, spring based stools and exercise “ball” chairs. After analyzing all of these options, it seems that SAFETY must be the major consideration in choosing the correct seat.

Ball chair

When we look at all the seating options out there, there are 5 KEY areas to focus on:

Seat pan

Is the chair pan (the part you sit on), the right fit?  It should be long enough so that there are 2-3 fingers width between the back of your knees and the end of the chair. Some chairs have an adjustable feature that will help to adjust shorter or longer. 

Does the back of the chair raise and lower? It is important that the lumbar support (which most of today’s chairs seem to have) is hitting you at the right spot and not resting at your buttocks. Otherwise, the support will tend to push you out of your chair.

Back support
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Is there contact between the chair and your upper back?  If your back support stops anywhere shy of the mid-shoulder blades, then it is not supporting you and you are prone to slumping once your back fatigues.  Even though sitting on a ball has the advantage of demanding that you participate in your posture, your muscles will ultimately fatigue and sitting on a therapy ball all day will work against you. If your chair doesn’t fit well, an external upper back support may remedy the situation without the need to buy a new chair.

Remember, with a slump comes the common head “poke” forward and for every inch your head sits forward of your shoulders it doubles in weight. This means that a normally 8-10# head will weight 30-40#. No wonder our neck, shoulders and back get tired!

Are your arm rests properly positioned? In an ideal world, you will have multi-adjustable arm rests that move up/down, in/out and swivel to support your forearms. In this way, your shoulders can rest with your arms at your side instead of having to hold your arms up, too far forward or away from your body.

Many people complain that the arm rests get in the way of them being able to fully pull up to their desks. This is actually a position we are trying to get you to avoid because, if you are trying to type on your desk-top, you are often contributing to your neck, shoulder and back pain by having your arms too far in front of your body.

100-YEAR-OLD-YOGA
feet on floor

Does your seat adjust up and down enough to allow for proper set up in relation to your desk height? Ideally, your feet should be flat on the floor with your hips and knees 90-100 deg.  With your elbows 80-90 deg bent, close to your side, you should be able to work on your keyboard comfortably.  If your desk is too high, one option is to raise your chair and use a footrest.  Often this still doesn’t solve the problem. The better solution is to install a keyboard tray that can adjust to your ideal position and allow you to sit back in your chair without reaching forward to work.  Give it a try! You might be surprised how much better you feel at the end of the day.

If all this seems overwhelming, you’re not alone but there are ergonomists out there that can help you before your aches and pains become a way of life. Since arranging your workstation in an ergonomic way is unique to each person, you may want to seek professional advice if your arrangement is triggering or perpetuating painful muscles or joints.

For further information on guidelines to finding the correct ergonomic “gizmos” or assessment of your own work-station, feel free to contact us at hello@backbonecushion.com. We are here to help get you back on track.

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