Ergonomic Ball Chairs For Better Health and Comfort
Ergonomic ball chairs may look funny, but there’s a reason why so many people have started using them.
If you are among the millions of office and cubicle workers that sit for most of the day, then there’s a good chance you experience some type of fatigue or pain. Something as simple as the type of chair that you use can make a big difference.
The hip, back and neck pain that many desk workers experience is a direct result of the type of chair that they use. Any prolonged sitting position can lead to injury over time, especially when your chair doesn’t properly support the weight bearing areas of your body.
The Three Main Support Areas:
1. Hips – Your hips are responsible for supporting the bulk of your upper body weight when you’re in the sitting position. Most office chairs will do little to properly absorb the weight and help relive pressure on your hips.
2. Back – The back muscles are constantly in a tense state while sitting, making minor corrections to ensure balance and posture are maintained. You begin to feel the fatigue of your back muscles as the day progresses on. If you consider that typical desk chairs don’t properly support your back or lumbar, it’s easy to see why nagging back discomfort is a common result.
3. Neck – Your neck and shoulders have to support the tension in your arms from common activities such as typing. This tension and stress migrates to your neck muscles which can also be one cause of headaches. The use of properly adjusted arm rests on your chair can help support your arms and shoulders.
Ergonomic Chair Solutions
There are a variety of ergonomic chair designs that can help relieve many of the problems mentioned above. The use of an elevated foot resting pad or platform is able to change the angle of your leg alignment in relation to your hips. This slight adjustment is often enough to help relieve stress on your hips.
Another workspace designed with a desk worker’s comfort in mind would be a standing working station. This involves having an elevated desk space that is adjusted for standing, not sitting positions. This option does help to control hip stress, but standing for prolonged periods of time can introduce new problems such as leg and feet swelling, as well as pain.
A Modern Ergonomic Alternative
You may have noticed your coworkers bringing in inflatable exercise balls to replace their standard office chairs. They’re hard to miss because they look out of place in the office. However, the benefits of sitting on a cushion of air as opposed to a hard chair base includes better support for your hips and back.
Because exercise ball chairs are not designed for prolonged sitting, it’s not recommended that you use one for this purpose. It’s possible to roll off of the ball and injure yourself. Instead, many ergonomic developers have created specially designed ball chairs that use the same concept as the exercise ball, but customized it for use in the office environment.
An inflatable ball is still the core of the ergonomic ball chair, but a sturdy chair frame surrounds the ball to give it more support. Wheel casters have been added to allow easy rolling and arm rests to help relieve strain on your arms and shoulders. A back rest is also common on many ball chairs to support the back and to prevent users from falling backwards.
The design options available today are wide and varied. This is mostly in part because so many people have discovered the health benefits to using such an odd looking chair. As a result, manufacturers have responded to meet the demands of office employees to have better sitting comfort while at work.