Sitting, standing, walking should be part of everyone’s day at work
We all know that aerobic and strengthening exercise is one of the keys to good health. Researchers in the last 2-3 years who specialize in exercise physiology and biomechanics are finding that the positive effects of exercise can be undone by a lack of muscular activity.
This lack of muscular activity is increasing due to our long hours in the office and in our home offices after our workdays!
Some of these experiments have used mice, Australian television watchers & the people who operate the buses with the TTC and Coast Mountain bus company. With these studies have come a clearer understanding about the impact of inactivity on our health including spinal health, internal organs function and health and bone density to name a few. The findings go a step further to find that even those of us who engage in regular, aerobic exercise have many of these benefits wiped out because we sit for so many hours at work, in the car/commute and than at home either on our couches or in our home offices.
Our modern lives and use of technology have increased our risk for chronic diseases and greater rates of morbidity because we do not have to engage our anti-gravity muscles or move dynamically through our days.
University of Tennessee researcher Gregory Heath says, “Essentially, opportunities for physical activity have been systematically engineered out of our daily lives.”
At this point in time most of us now sit for more hours each day than we sleep. Our fitness levels are declining as a result of this and this is having serious impacts on both our physical and mental health.
It is time to rethink how work is completed in the office workplace. We are already seeing evidence of this in our ergonomic national ergonomic practice where employees are asking if they can find a way to sit and stand through their day at work. Employers, Interior Designers & furniture manufacturers will need to catch up with this demand; employee’s health is at stake as is their productivity.
The Ergonomic Team at Optimal Performance (note this article as written entirely in a standing posture).
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I read your articles every day. I still remember the one I read where you said the average person does not need, nor do they benefit from a high back chair. A mid back or a smaller back rest provides the needed lumbar support to benefit the average person.
I wish to some day work with you and your quality company. It will hopefully happen one day.
I enjoyed Pamela Jones article on Deep Vein Thrombosis, it is discussed every time I fit someone for a chair.
ISE another Canadian company we represent offers a great line of sit to stand products. They range from key board trays to electric heigth adjustable work stations.
Have a great day, Mike
HI Michael – so glad you are reading my Blogs and also commenting as I enjoy this type of discussion. Re the high back chair this refers to the chairs with the additional head rest on them which are recommended only in the case where one of our clients has a neurological condition and lack head control or is someone is post operative cervical spine. Otherwise the headrests place the head/neck into flexed postures of > 20 degrees which causes the lever arm of the neck to be elongated & the paraspinal muscles then have to counter the weight of the head.
Hope this helps as I did not use the correct terminology re high back and glad you caught this.
We work with ISE so glad to see you rep their product lines!
Cheers
Jane Sleeth
Thank you for reading our Blog series at OPC. Send us some of your information as we would be happy to ReBlog from your work as well. JESleeth