Your Office Chair Is Killing You
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Your Office Chair Is Killing You
1–10 of 88 posts
Re: Your Office Chair Is Killing You
#2I am going to share my experience, hopefully this will help someone: about 3 1/2 years ago, I went through a brief period of long hours at my desk (I had just previously had a hiking accident, dislocated shoulder, broke bones, and found that a period of long-hours and hard work took my mind off of recovering from shoulder surgery).
During this brief period I developed blood clots in one leg from sitting too long, and was really lucky to survive two large pulmonary embolisms. I often share this story as a warning to others. BTW, I average wilderness hiking for about ten hours a week (gentler walks when recovering from surgery) and that was not enough to prevent the blood clots.
Now, I use a 20 minute timer to get me up and walking around for a few minutes, 3 times an hour. Frequently standing and walking around is a recommended habit! Bad sitting habits almost killed me, and I needed over two years to mostly recover, so please take this seriously.
Re: Your Office Chair Is Killing You
#3Get a treadmill desk:
Re: Your Office Chair Is Killing You
#4I mentioned this in another thread, but I got this stool:
http://www.amazon.com/Safco-3442BL-Extended-Height-Swivel/dp...
I'll switch between reclining with it(I have a multi-level home desk setup and can stretch my legs out), sitting at the edge of the seat with the legs on the ground, sitting using the footrest, or standing.
Re: Your Office Chair Is Killing You
#5any studies on the kneeling stools?
Re: Your Office Chair Is Killing You
#6Chaise longues? That'll work. I sit in a sort of feet-up semi-recline as it is.
Maybe I just need to bring the patio furniture into the office.
Re: Your Office Chair Is Killing You
#7any studies on the kneeling stools?
"Ericson and Goldie studied spinal shrinkage of three different types of chairs while performing video display unit work and found that subjects shrank more when sitting on a forward sloping chair with knee support than on a conventional chair.[3]
Drury and Francher studied the original Balans kneeling chair in 1985, concluding that overall it was "no better than conventional chairs and could be worse than well-designed conventional office chairs."[4] Lander et al. conducted another experiment in 1987 comparing the kneeling chair with a conventional chair and concluded that their experimental data "do not support the manufacturer's claim that the Balans chair is likely to decrease complaints of [lower-back pain]".[5] A 1989 study on a sample of 20 subjects concluded that the Balans chair promoted greater lumbar curvature than the "straight back chair" during relaxed sitting, typing and writing and that it could contribute to treatment of lower back injuries.[6] A more recent study from 2008 confirms that "ergonomically designed kneeling chairs set at +20 degrees inclination do maintain standing lumbar curvature to a greater extent than sitting on a standard computer chair" and suggests that "Further research with a greater number of subjects and on different chair designs is warranted."[7]"
Links to references on the Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kneeling_chair
Re: Your Office Chair Is Killing You
#8I'm awaiting the arrival of a Herman-Miller Embody, which is my engagement present! It's very expensive, but...er...'worth it'. Meaning I've trialed it for a week and loved the feel and the way it subtly encourages movement while sitting. It simply blows away anything I've sat on, including the Aeron they loaned me until it arrives. The fiancee got a ring - but surely a really good chair is much more worthwhile for a developer who works from home a lot?!
http://gizmodo.com/5071571/herman-miller-embody-review-the-b...
Re: Your Office Chair Is Killing You
#9I am going to share my experience, hopefully this will help someone: about 3 1/2 years ago, I went through a brief period of long hours at my desk (I had just previously had a hiking accident, dislocated shoulder, broke bones, and found that a period of long-hours and hard work took my mind off of recovering from shoulder surgery). During this brief period I developed blood clots in one leg from sitting too long, and…
I also recommend a timer. I use water for my timer - drink lots and keeps you going to the bathroom often. Unfortunately, this isn't good for solving hard problems that involve much concentration, but my back often needs a break.
Re: Your Office Chair Is Killing You
#10Anyone have a good chair recommendation that doesn't cost $500? The stool concept struck me as a great idea, until I saw the price. (Maybe I should be in chairs?)