This week we’re taking it back...waaay back. A question I’ve been asking myself a lot lately is, since not all people sit in chairs, why do we? Different cultures assume completely different postures and never adapted to the chair. So why did the West adapt the chair? What is the history behind it? It seems to me that the reason why we sit the way we do may never be answered, but that doesn’t mean historians don’t know a lot about the history of the chair in the West. One thing is certain: our chair habit was created, modified and nurtured, reformed and democratized in response to social- not genetic, anatomical or physiological forces. The purposes of designed objects changed...
Our mission is to solve the problems caused by sitting using several ergonomic guidelines. We’ve covered all the millions of things that sitting improperly can do to your body. We’ve covered all the millions of reasons why you should improve your work set up to be more ergonomically friendly. However… It turns out that there are several ergonomic guidelines that have created their own problems. For example: most researchers recommend a very wide angle between the seat and the back of the chair (around 110 degrees). They say this because the wide angle is supposed to reduce intra-discal pressure and decrease lumbar muscle activity. BUT it is not entirely clear that reducing disc pressure or muscle activity is necessarily beneficial....
Ergonomic recommendations are a pretty simple to follow and will most definitely help minimize the effects of sitting, but they will likely never eliminate the damage caused by a lifetime of sitting. Most chairs in our homes, offices and daily life fail to meet at least some of the basic standards of what is considered an ergonomic performance. There’s a guideline which allows you to do a simple assessment of your own workspace’s performance. We’ve curated that list with an easy to follow explanation of each point to help ensure you understand your current set up a bit better. 1. Chair Height. Chair seats should not be too high. The standard height for an ordinary task chair with a...
I never used to put much thought into chairs, they were just always there when I wanted one. My mom occasionally (or all the time) would tell me to “sit up straight” but other than that, posture never really crossed my mind. The chair is a part of our day to day life. Always present. Always silently supporting us. It wasn’t until I became involved with Sleekform that the science behind chairs (or ergonomics, if you will) ever crossed my mind. Never before had I wondered about what made a good chair and I certainly had no idea what sort of impact the chair was making on my overall well being. I couldn’t have told you what made a bad...
If I Sit In It, Will I Turn Into a Squirrel? A lot of our prospective customers have their doubts that sitting like this could be sustainable for long working hours and that the movement might hinder their focus, or make them feel squirrely. Fear not, fellow squirrels! Sure, it seems a little unnatural to have a rocking chair in your workspace or office, but if you ask us it’s even more unnatural to be sitting still and remaining stagnant for the whole day. Humans were built to move. Designed to be constantly switching postures and moving our spines. We’ve unknowingly created a society for ourselves which doesn’t always serve us, but it’s all we’ve ever known (literally… did you...
