| Reading any guide on finding the right ergonomic | | | | simply is not ergonomic, no matter how you build |
| chair will no doubt start with expounding on the | | | | it. |
| need for good lumbar support and maintaining the | | | | Our bodies, perhaps as a result of being primarily |
| proper S-curve in your spine. While it is true that | | | | designed for locomotion, prefer a hip angle of 130 |
| you want to maintain the S-curve in your spine, | | | | degrees. This is roughly the position you |
| this advice really misses the boat. Most | | | | experience with your front leg while running, and |
| purportedly ergonomic devices often fix only | | | | the same position astronauts float into in zero |
| surface issues of poor body positioning, but leave | | | | gravity. A proper ergonomic chair starts with the |
| the root problems completely untouched. The | | | | 130 degree hip angle as its primary criteria. At the |
| most flagrant of these is the attempt to build the | | | | very least, the chair should have adjustable seat |
| ultimate ergonomic chair back, or what I call "The | | | | tilt. Opening your hip angle reduces stress on the |
| Ergonomic Chair Back Fallacy." | | | | hips, and naturally opens the curve back up in |
| The fundamental flaw is that our bodies were not | | | | your lower back. Anyone who has sat in a |
| designed to be fit into right angled chairs to begin | | | | kneeling chair for a day can tell you that you don't |
| with. It's hard to believe since we've been sitting in | | | | need lumbar support to sit effortlessly erect with |
| standard 90 degree chairs for millenia and it's | | | | an S-curve in your spine. The chair back, while |
| become so accepted. However, if you take a | | | | nice to rest against once in a while, is actually not |
| model skeleton and sit it in to a chair, you will | | | | even necessary for sitting with good posture. |
| notice a sharp rounding of the lower back that | | | | Unfortunately, very few chairs are designed with |
| bends the spine into a C-shape. Taking a look at | | | | the 130 degree hip angle in mind. The few brands |
| that protruding lower back, it's no wonder so | | | | that do make them are well worth your time in |
| many of us suffer from ruptured disks! Most | | | | seeking out. Kneeling chairs are a great |
| ergonomic chairs attempt to fix this by using | | | | alternative, but may take you some getting used |
| lumbar support to put the curve back in your | | | | to. Either way, knowing the right criteria to look |
| lower back, but they just force the problem to | | | | for and ignoring the all too common hype about |
| another area--your pelvis is thrust into your thighs | | | | the latest, greatest ergonomic chair back will pay |
| giving you tight hips. The standard right angle chair | | | | you dividends in comfort and health. |