Sitting is a body position that ultimately leaves strains on the body spine especially if it has to be for a very long time. Having to work around your desk in the office usually involves sitting down for a lengthy time and to avoid or compound problems, it is best to have an ergonomic chair that gives the lower back a support and maintain good sitting posture. Usually, office chairs are considered to be ergonomic if their height and lumbar support can be adjusted to give a comfortable sitting posture and the best user experience. Impliedly, these chairs should offer you the opportunity to adjust their height so that your legs can hit the ground at appropriate height and degree and their seat pan should be adjustable to help you sit comfortably.
In reality, sitting may not be much of a physical effort as much as standing or walking is; despite this, it still has a lot of stress effect on the lumbar area of the human backbone. However classy and genteel a job in an office may be, the cumulative sedentary working nature can develop myriads of health complications if appropriate sitting postures are not cultivated. Therefore, for people whose works usually involve having to sit for a lengthy period of time, choosing the best type of chair is an important procedure which is pivotal to the prevention of health complications.
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Traditional chairs which usually have no adjustable parts may be the major precursor to a bad sitting posture and several health problems for many people, hence the importance of substituting them for ergonomic chairs. These chairs take several outcomes into consideration, particularly the health aspect and they are designed with several features to provide comfortable sitting posture while in use. These features may include but not limited to:
- Seat Height Adjustment: they are present so that you can be able to adjust your height to set your knees a little below your hip while your feet are comfortably resting on the ground.
- Seat Pan Depth Adjustment: being able to adjust the depth of your seat pan will determine the amount of support your thighs will have. The seat pan depth adjustment allows you to change the depth of your seat such that the distance that ought to be between the tip of your knee and the chair would be around 1-4 inches wide to ensure that there is maximum support for the leg and free flow of blood.
- Fully adjustable armrests: armrests give support to the shoulders and avoid any experience of strain on the arm. The armrests are adjustable to a suitable degree of your forearm such that your shoulders can be relaxed while you sit and work. One other feature present in these armrests is the width adjustment with which the distance of the armrests can be adjusted to be closer or farther to the body.
- Lumbar Support: This feature is, in fact, one of the most important parts as it relates closely to giving the back maximum comfort and support. Adjustable lumbar support helps to set them back in the right position and doing this at times may involve changing the height of the chair’s back. Although, some of these chairs have their lumbar support independently adjustable in height, depth, and pressure.
- Quality Casters – although this feature is not usually given much priority but is very crucial because they support the entire body weight when sitting or standing up from your chair.
Well-designed chairs are the delight of working while sitting and are to a very large measure more comfortable than traditional or conventional chairs because they are user-friendly. The interesting thing about them is that all their features can be fine-tuned to satisfy your needs and blend with your sitting posture.
Sitting for a very long time on a chair which does not offer neck support could lead to stiffness in the neck and shoulder part of the body. In most cases, it usually results in several health problems including cervical spondylosis. These chairs are therefore fashioned to provide solutions to such problems as they feature headrest on which your head and neck can rest on whenever you stretch out or relax.
Your choice of the chair should be well deliberated as it is definitely pivotal to your health in the long run. Therefore, considering factors like the adjustability, stability, and seat depth are also very important before making any purchase.
You will experience more comfortability even after working several hours during the day if you switch between different sitting positions. Movement of the limbic parts of the body helps to increase the blood flow. This may involve simply taking recesses and short breaks during your working hours while adjusting your back angle at different intervals of the day.
It was stated by a physiotherapist at Revival Bone and Joint Hospital, Mumbai, Dr. Jahnavi Acharya, that people must recognize the fact that the remedy to all health issues associated with work is not just ergonomic chairs but people should particularly be conscious of their sitting posture. This implies that even if you have an ergonomic chair and your sitting posture keeps your back slouched, you would experience just the same negative effect you would get without this chair.
Conclusively, there is no easier way to safely prevent complications that may arise from poor sitting habits and chairs than to maximize the benefit that can be derived from these chairs. Added to the fact that they are pivotal to avoiding health problems, they are also a perfect fit for an individual workspace.
