Ergonomic Comfort At Work - How To Re-design Your Desk and Chair? Low Sitting

You too can re-design your work station to suit your own body and your own circumstances with sound ergonomics for more comfort. Ergonomics (or human factors) is the science of designing the job, equipment, and workplace to fit the worker for increased productiviy. Proper ergonomic design is necessary to prevent repetitive strain, which can lead to long-term disabilities like carpal tunnel syndrome and chronic neck and back pain. It is well worth redesigning your work station for both better health and improved productivity. In this Hub we discuss why sitting on chairs too much can seriously damage your health and suggests ways to increase your body's freedom of movement while working at a desk.

Sitting at a Table or Desk

What exactly happens when you are perched on a chair? It limits the body to a very small number of positions, none of which are comfortable for very long. The upper part of the body leans over the desk or table, supported by your elbows and hands.

When you are engaged in a telephone conversation or taking notes, you are leaning to one side, the head tilts accordingly, adopting a permanently imbalanced position. What is going on below the desk? The seat area has to adjust its movements slightly but constantly every time a movement is made upstairs (above the desk) by the arms, the head, etc. The waist, hips and thighs are making compensating movements to keep the body in balance. To facilitate these movements, the pelvis should be straight so that the trunk is supported by the sitting bones (the base of your pelvis: two hard protrusions under your seat) and not the tail. So far so good, the pelvis is supported by the chair, but the weight of your legs is still pressing down on the ankles and feet, which really don't get much relief at all.

Observe people sitting on chairs. Legs shift, cross, uncross, kick a little. Feet twitch with discomfort. Crossing the legs takes the weight off one foot temporarily but only to give it to the other foot, so that's no help. Meanwhile the heart, whose job it is to circulate blood throughout your body, has to pump blood to the brain and down to the weighed down toes stuck inside laced, well polished shoes. No wonder a person is tired after a day's work at the office or a dinner party in a posh restaurant! What is the solution? The solution is to frequently get up, walk about, arch back and, preferably, circumstances permitting, lie down on the floor and kick your legs high up in the air. At the office, take the trouble to re-arrange your work station to fit your very own body measurements.

Sit on a chair facing sideways to the mirror and look at your pelvis. Which way are you sitting?

1. This sitting position is not the most balanced way of sitting. However, since the key in sitting is to (a) frequently change position and (b) to always make sure that the spine is supported, it is perfectly o.k. to slouch for a short while, as long as you take the trouble to support the gap between the chair and your spine as shown here with the little red cushion.

2. This position is the most balanced way of sitting. However, it is not easy to hold for any length of time unless the back is appropriately supported to prevent slouching. Again, notice that back support.

3. Perhaps the keyboard is too far away from you or you wouldn't have to lean forward like this.

1.The seat of your chair should be at knee height (where your legs bend), so that your feet can rest flat on the floor. Failing this, if your legs are dangling or resting on the ball of the foot. You will be uncomfortable and develop varicose veins from the constant pressure of the chair edge against the back of your knees.

2.Your weight must rest on the sitting bones (two protrusions under your bum), not the tail bone. Prop something behind your lower back if you have a tendency to slouch.

3. When you are seated, the desk top should be at waist height, where your elbow bends to allow the forearms and hands to rest horizontally on the desk without having to lift your shoulders. This is also the correct height for a key board.

4. The height of a computer monitor should be at eye level, to allow your spine to be held fully erect and balanced. This is impossible with laptops so I compromised and raised the laptop onto a couple of thick photo albums and use a wireless pen tablet on the table top.

One of the main causes of back pain, being overweight, and constant fatigue is that we sit on chairs too much. Most of our waking hours is spent sitting - at breakfast, on the bus, in the car, at work, at lunch, at the dinner table, in the toilet. In fact, if we are not either walking or sleeping we are probably sitting. Holding a position for any length of time is the most tiring form of activity. It takes more energy and effort to sit perched on a chair for hours than to run around the block. Sitting on chairs causes stiffness in the hips and legs because the legs are held in a constantly bent position. The result is a permanent shortening of the hamstrings (the tendons behind the knees).

Please try the following short experiment and be surprised.

1. Lie on your back on the floor or on your bed.

2. Now lift your feet up towards the ceiling. What shape are your legs making?

Chairs were originally invented long, long ago, in less hygenic times to stay off cold and dirty foors. This was long before central heating, clean carpets and parquet flooring. Now please take the trouble to  get off your chair   for a minute and sit on the floor. You can discover your very own built-in seat. Simply sit on the floor with a straight back and gently rock from side to side so as to feel your sitting bones, the two base-protrusions under your pelvic bone.

Now I let you in on a secret:

I got so fed up and uncomfortable sitting at my desk that I found an alternative way of working. I recently sawed off the legs of a wooden chair, and use a very low wooden coffee table as my desk. In this way my legs rest on the floor under the table. Or I can bend my knees, move my legs in many different ways to vary the positions while working for many hours non-stop.

Then, even more recently, just a few days ago, I found I didn't even need the legless chair; finding it more comfortable without it. Yes, you may think, but what about back support? Easy! Now I can lie back and have a rest, close my eyes to think while untangling my tired neck and upper back all at the same time!

This new way of working with its many possible variations of holding my body has made me a lot more productive and less tired. The greatest advantage is that I don't feel stiff anymore. On the contrary; I am beginning to feel supple and mobile again like in my dancing days. I was almost not going to tell you for fear of being "weird", but if you think about it, the largest part of the world lives on the floor and their bodies are a lot less degenerated than ours. As long as the room is clean, for me, for now, this is an ideal solution.

Sitting on the floor may not be every body's cup of tea, especially if you are stiff in the hips and knees. But you can all make a gradual change towards increased comfort and mobility. Every individual can re-design their work station to fit personal needs. My last option of working on the floor with plenty of space around to move and stretch works best for me. I give you those extreme examples to illustrate that by listening to your body, by trying out different possibilities you can attain more comfort and improved productivity. It's called ergonomics, or physical intelligence.

Be Aware of the Chair

The science is in and it's scary. Sitting on chairs is bad for you - very bad. So much so that some workplaces are starting to act. Read more in this article:

Be Aware of the Chair by Lissa Christopher

Finally...

Good luck with your experiments at redesigning your work station. If you found this Hub useful, rate it, leave a constructive comment or even better, join me, Sue Adams, as a follower to get updated with my future Hubs and videos.