Office Ergonomics All Starts with Your Chair
So much of our lives are spent sitting — sitting at a desk for work, sitting on the train or in our cars to commute, sitting to enjoy a meal with friends. Much of the average person’s life demands this, which is why exercise and routine movement can do so much for our overall physical and mental health! What if the issue with sitting isn’t just the lack of movement, but what we’re sitting on?
When we all started to work from home, we were working from any quiet space we could find. Some of us set up our new offices at the dining room table, while others (including us… guilty!) opted to enjoy the comfort of our couches. Our posture certainly suffered and for others, we might have even started feeling back pain.
It became clear that most of us were working from the long haul and many people purchased “standing desks,” similar to what may have been offered in your office building. These types of desks, or structures to add to your existing desk, allow you to stand while working. Dr. Justin Lewis and the team at Get Adjusted Chiropractic urge you to take that idea one step further. Instead of just sitting or standing, “active sitting” allows you to get your job done while moving.
Our team has partnered with QOR360 to introduce active sitting as an extension of your chiropractic care.
Why is sitting detrimental to our health? Sitting can be harmful to our health for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, our bodies were not designed to sit all day. Our ancestors led on-the-go lifestyles and their routines consisted of daily movement. Many scientists agree that our biology works best when we are in motion and, at the very least, walking.
When sitting, it’s hard to move our bodies out of the 90-degree angles we’ve positioned ourselves in. This can cause pain, specifically in the back and hip areas.
“When people use chairs that are not ergonomically friendly, it causes misalignment of the spine,” explains Dr. Justin Lewis. “Most people show signs of rounded shoulders, forward head carriage, an anteriorly rotated pelvis, and a slouched body position when using a poor ergonomics chair.”
What can active sitting do for the average person? Active sitting is the concept of constant movement while stationary. When you are sitting on a normal chair, you might move to readjust your body every once in a while. Larger, consistent movement is less frequent. Active sitting requires your body to constantly be in motion while in the sitting position.
This helps improve the hours per day that we are moving our bodies. “The better the posture, the less stress that’s put on the body,” states Dr. Justin Lewis.
How can I introduce active sitting into my routine? Dr. Justin Lewis and Get Adjusted Chiropractic have teamed up with our friends at QOR360. They create and design the “gold standard” for active sitting chairs. At the heart of active sitting is to keep your body moving, which can be done with the use of ergonomic and smartly designed chairs.
The Ariel chair, in particular, uses QOR360’s patented rocking mechanism and a softer, more comfortable seat designed for all day sitting.
“This chair looks funky, but feels incredible,” says Dr. Justin Lewis. “It doesn’t look like it would provide much support, but after trying it out, it naturally forces you to improve your posture. Use code: GetAdjusted for 5% off your order.”
If I exercise, what’s wrong with the chair that I currently have? When we sit in chairs that are not ergonomically designed, we lose the back’s natural curve. Most lumbar support doesn’t give the corrective support needed to make up for this loss. Rather than the push given by lumbar support, we should lower our knees all together. By having your knees lower than your hips, your spine is no longer forced into an unnatural posture.
“Office chairs are usually not designed uniquely for each person to promote proper posture. This chair does that and will revolutionize how you sit at your workstation,” emphasizes Dr. Justin Lewis.
With false support from backrests or an non-ergonomic office chair, our spine is distracted from sitting in a balanced position. With a chair designed to support active sitting, we can lower the knees from the hips and introduce that natural curve back into our sitting posture.
Check out our video on TikTok about the QOR360 here. Book an appointment online today or call our office at 845-809-8300 to schedule a visit with Dr. Justin Lewis.
