After so many articles and discussions like this one here and reading about iclubby and emperor workstation, I took the task to my hands. Couple of days back, I hacked together a good reclining chair that is a lot comfortable then sitting. I wrote a quick mail with images here.
Your Office Chair Is Killing You
61–70 of 88 posts
Re: Your Office Chair Is Killing You
#62After so many articles and discussions like this one here and reading about iclubby and emperor workstation, I took the task to my hands. Couple of days back, I hacked together a good reclining chair that is a lot comfortable then sitting. I wrote a quick mail with images here. http://anil-bkdsb.posterous.com/my-work-station-1
Your images try to pull from gmail, thus don't load.
Re: Your Office Chair Is Killing You
#631.5 months ago I got rid of my chair and made my desk work at standing level. I love it. My body feels better. I can't ever foresee myself going back. I was originally going to buy a good chair but I didn't see the point when it seemed that standing would be better, cheaper, and allow me to be more flexible with my space.
What kind of work do you do?
Re: Your Office Chair Is Killing You
#64Sit in any any regular chair, and don't lean back. Simple, similar to the "stool perch" recommendation, free and universally available.
This is something I'm skeptical about in this article. I know that I can sit in such a way as to give my spine an S curve. However, I also know that I inevitably curve my back if I am sitting down for long stretches of time.
I bought a Swopper chair to use at home. I would say it definitely helped me sit up straight at home.
Re: Your Office Chair Is Killing You
#65I 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…
Good advice in general about mobility, but I think that your PEs were more likely to have been the result of an underlying clotting problem that you might have rather than solely from sitting too long.(also, thrombosis after surgery, injury is more likely) I wish I have your discipline to take frequent breaks though.
My brother got a blood clot in his leg a few years ago at age 26. He was exceptionally fit, and did a lot of research into blood clots. At the time, it was considered a problem of old, overweight people, or those recovering from surgery. But they've become a lot more common in young people in the last few years, even occurring disproportionately in athletes. It's been nicknamed Economy Class Syndrome, since the cramped seating on planes is particularly conducive to clot formation.
Re: Your Office Chair Is Killing You
#66I would be interested to know if sports like cycling also have some kind of the negative health impact caused by the long periods of "sitting down".
yes and no.
Cycling puts an unnatural curve in our lower back, very similar to sitting in a chair, and due to the way the muscles work, cyclist end up with tight hip flexors and hamstrings and stretched spinal erectors (sorry, I've been out of Physiology for a while so can't remember the exact names of the muscles) which can further exacerbate the problem. Compare a cyclist with a runner, and you can see a noticeable difference in posture.
However, I wouldn't call it a 'negative health impact', as the activity is improving your health. Just be sure to stretch, and counter the muscle imbalances that the sport produces.
Many sports have similar results because they are unnatural. For example, snowboarders in big mountain areas end up with a unnaturally strong/tight oblique muscle on one side and one stronger leg. Surfers likely don't have this issue because the majority of their exertion occurs during the paddling phase and the length of time actually spent riding the wave is quite short.
Re: Your Office Chair Is Killing You
#67Older people who move around have half the mortality rate of their peers. Well that proves something. No chance of mixing up causation there.
I assume that's sarcasm?
Re: Your Office Chair Is Killing You
#68Chaise 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.
Mark Pilgrim, IIRC, uses a Poäng chair. I thought this was a bad idea at first, but if you can get the keyboard and monitor adjusted right, it could be quite comfortable.
Interesting. Had no idea what a Poäng chair was, but when I Googled I saw that the tilt of the seat and back is pretty much how I set my chair.
Re: Your Office Chair Is Killing You
#69After so many articles and discussions like this one here and reading about iclubby and emperor workstation, I took the task to my hands. Couple of days back, I hacked together a good reclining chair that is a lot comfortable then sitting. I wrote a quick mail with images here. http://anil-bkdsb.posterous.com/my-work-station-1
Your images try to pull from gmail, thus don't load.
Added the images now. Thanks for pointing that out.
Re: Your Office Chair Is Killing You
#70I'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…
I was excited about the Embody, but when I tried it for a couple of hours I found that the whiffle-tree structure, which equalizes the pressure across the back, allowed my lumbar spine to collapse into C-shape. I was so disappointed...