Creating Your Ergonomic Office Environment, Part 1

Once buying your ergonomic office chair, your journey towards a better office is just beginning. Now you must correctly set up your chair and create an ergonomic environment. Once seated in your chair, proper positioning is a key element in keeping up good blood flow and body health. Movement is critical during the work day, and proper movement is critical to good ergonomics. It all starts with knowing how to properly position your back and legs.

While seated in your chair, start by adjusting your backrest angle and the seat pan to place the torso and the upper legs at 90 degrees or in a slightly more reclined position. This provides for good lower back support. Studies have found that the slightly reclined position is the most desired posture and a proper tilt mechanism, preferably with locking positions is critical to practicing good ergonomics.

Have your feet firmly on the floor is also very important. If your feet are not touching the floor, even with seat height adjusted, you will need to find a footrest or platform to rest your feet on. When viewing a picture of this posture on the human body, you will notice that 90 degrees is the overall effect. The arms are at an angle 90 degrees from the chest, the lower abdomen is 90 degrees from the lower leg and the upper leg is 90 degrees angled from the lower leg.

To continue creating an ergonomic environment, place your monitor so the middle of the screen is eye level to reduce the stress to the neck muscles. Follow the manufacturers recommended distance from the computer monitor to your eyes.

You probably spend a great deal of time typing or using a mouse device in your workstation. To properly arrange your mouse and keyboard, relax your arms allowing them to hang down naturally from your shoulders. Next, bring your forearms up so that they are positioned parallel with the ground. You want your wrist to be in a neutral position. Place your chair in front of your workstation desk and adjust the height of the seat so that your elbows are just at or above the keyboard height. You’ve done it with little effort, now practice makes perfect. Try to remember to keep the posture throughout the day and soon it will come naturally.

Taking the right position in your office chair is critical for a long term body health and good ergonomics can help prevent future back, neck, and arm problems. Ergonomic positioning is easy once you get used to the posture. When practicing your office ergonomics, make sure to remember how critical it can be to keeping productive and healthy in the workplace.

Author Bio:
Amy Pedersen has worked in the Ergonomics and Office Furniture
industry for over 10 years and is owner of Sit On This Ergonomics,
operating a number of ergonomic websites dedicated to Office
Chairs and the practice of good Workplace Ergonomics.

Featuring a wide variety of Executive Chairs, Leather Office Chairs,
Mesh
Seating & Task Office Chairs with an Online Sales Catalog. Their
Huge
Office Chair Collection and the Sit On This Ergo
website
provides detailed ergonomic information on proper chair positioning and
seating in the workplace environment to help people to find the perfect
Office Chair for their situation.

Visit Our Office Chair Collection:
Sit On
This Ergonomics

More Ergonomic Information:
Ergonomics
Explained

How to Choose Your Chair:
Picking
the Right Office Chair for You

Know Your Office Chair Needs and Options Before Buying

There are thousands of options to choose from when picking your office furniture, from different features and styles to colors. With such a large market, it can be confusing when trying to find and order the chair that best suits your needs. The most important feature to look for in a chair are the ergonomic options. Practicing proper ergonomics can promote a healthy spine and good posture. This will help reduce pain and possible related health problems.

The standard options available on most task office chairs and stools are things like seat height adjustment levers, a tilt mechanism, tilt locking pins, and lumbar support with adjustments on each. Having proper lumbar support and the adjustability of the tilt mechanism are perhaps the most important features for good ergonomics. The lower back is the area affected by the most stress when sitting for a long period of time; extra lumbar support is really effective to help relieve some of the pressure to the lower back. Lumbar support can also be optioned with an adjustment scale to help place the support where needed for the user’s specific body type.

The desired position when seated in your office chair is in a slightly reclined position, therefore a tilt mechanism is needed for proper positioning. This also works to prevent future long term back problems. Some tilt mechanisms also come with locking positions to help the user properly recline into the desired position for the task at hand.

Another feature that is helpful to users but is often found mostly in more expensive models is an option referred to as “synchro-knee tilt.” This allows the user’s feet to stay on the floor while supporting a straight back or in a reclining position. Ergonomics also call for your feet to be placed squarely on the floor at all times to help keep the spine in the correct position. The ratio is approximately 2 degrees for recline in each position or the back support and 1 degree for recline in each position for the seat.

Finally, a headrest can be helpful to the taller user or to the user who spends more time reclining than the average worker. When choosing a high backed model versus a mid or low backed model it seems to be more of a matter of taste than ergonomic needs. Most executive chairs feature a high back while the task chairs are standard in a mid back form. The “Big and Tall” options within office chairs are growing bigger. When choosing the features for a chair where you intend to spend a great deal of your day, keep in mind your body type and individual tasks that need to be performed daily to find the perfect office chair for you.

Author Bio:
Amy Pedersen has worked in the Ergonomics and Office Furniture
industry for over 10 years and is owner of Sit On This Ergonomics,
operating a number of ergonomic websites dedicated to Office
Chairs and the practice of good Workplace Ergonomics.

Featuring a wide variety of Executive Chairs, Leather Office Chairs,
Mesh
Seating & Task Office Chairs with an Online Sales Catalog. Their
Huge
Office Chair Collection and the Sit On This Ergo
website
provides detailed ergonomic information on proper chair positioning and
seating in the workplace environment to help people to find the perfect
Office Chair for their situation.

Visit Our Office Chair Collection:
Sit On
This Ergonomics

More Ergonomic Information:
Ergonomics
Explained

How to Choose Your Chair:
Picking
the Right Office Chair for You

Ergonomics and your Aching Back

After I graduated from college, and while working to put my husband through school, I took a job at a law office as a file clerk. Because of limited space and the nature of my job, I didn’t get a typical office set up. My “desk” was comprised of an old, leather executive chair that had been sitting in storage waiting to be thrown away. This chair was crammed in between two of the three rows of filing cabinets, and I cradled my laptop on my lap while balancing stacks of paper around me on the floor. Although the nature of the job isn’t physically demanding, the environment left me physically tired at the end of each day. My back hurt from poor support and being hunched over. My hands and wrists hurt from using the keyboard on my computer improperly. I could even feel the strain in my neck and my feet.

Thankfully, I’ve since moved out of that make-shift desk into an office that is now ergonomically friendly and my back thanks me everyday. The human spine is comprised of vertebrae like a stack of bones, with the bones in the lower back curve in. In between these vertebrae is a separate disk, and like an ice pack, it’s strong exterior protects a gel like substance inside. In the normal position, the space between the vertebrae and the disks are evenly filled with this “gel”. When leaning forward, like I was having to be all hunched over a computer, the vertebrae pushes all the gel to the rear of the back. This compresses the nerves that exit the central nervous system. In response, the nerves tighten up in your back muscles, because they think they are supposed to contract the lower muscles in the back. Eventually, the muscles slowly pull the vertebrae further out of line while pushing the gel further back against the nerves.

If the body is continually subjected to this position, it can cause severe, if not permanent pain. The same nerve that is cause pain in your back also runs down the leg to the feet and toes. In a worst case scenario the “ice pack gel” can completely rupture and you can be in for a long recovery.

The good news is that ergonomics can prevent this pain. Proper lumbar support is essential for prevention of muscle and nervous system issues when seated at your office or workstation. Without this support serious injuries can occur and impede workplace production. Proper lumbar support can be found in most good office chairs that are labeled “Ergonomic”. Make sure when shopping for you chair that it has the back support you need to make it through the work day.

Author Bio:
Amy Pedersen has worked in the Ergonomics and Office Furniture
industry for over 10 years and is owner of Sit On This Ergonomics,
operating a number of ergonomic websites dedicated to Office
Chairs and the practice of good Workplace Ergonomics.

Featuring a wide variety of Executive Chairs, Leather Office Chairs,
Mesh
Seating & Task Office Chairs with an Online Sales Catalog. Their
Huge
Office Chair Collection and the Sit On This Ergo
website
provides detailed ergonomic information on proper chair positioning and
seating in the workplace environment to help people to find the perfect
Office Chair for their situation.

Visit Our Office Chair Collection:
Sit On
This Ergonomics

More Ergonomic Information:
Ergonomics
Explained

How to Choose Your Chair:
Picking
the Right Office Chair for You

Posture Knee Office Chairs and How they can Help Your Back at Work

I have been asked many times by my customers over the years about how the posture knee office chairs can help ergonomically. With the kneeling style of chair becoming quite popular recently, employees have heard about them from friends or collegeages. Although not simple, the answer can be stated shortly in that “it helps the body take the correct position while sitting to reduce stress on the lower lumbar (back) region”.

Posture Knee models are fast becoming popular as people spend more and more time in front of the computer. America is starting to see epidemic problems with back pain, carpal tunnel and various work related injuries due to all of this sitting in front of a workstation for longer periods of time.Kneeling chairs are used differently then the standard task office chair with a typical seat and back.

The kneeling chair models are used while sitting in position with your thighs dropped to an angle of about 60 to 70 degrees from the standard vertical. When sitting in a normal chair your posture would be more 90 degrees overall with your upper thighs 90 degrees from your lower leg and your upper torso 90 degress from your upper thighs. This would be the posture while sitting in a normal office chair.

This posture no matter how ergonomic requires some of your body weight to be supported by your shins putting a strain, however small, on your spine. When seated for long periods of time, a small strain can become a large problem eventually.The designs of these chairs, wanted to correct the body’s ergonomic posture to essential “open up” the angle of the body between the thigh and spine to retain the curvature of the back and keep the body in a more slightly reclined posture. Studies show that even in the standard office chair, a person should stay or lock their chair in a slightly reclined posture to maintain this lumbar curvature.

Even though the term “kneeling” is often used due to the appearance of the person when seated in a posture knee model, a person is actually still sitting and bearing of the main body weight is really not placed on the knees at all. Some doctor’s have started recommending posture knee chairs for people with certain injuries or even diseases of the backbone or knees due to the extra benefit and lumbar support this positioning enables.

When seated in a posture knee chair, the body is really in a position which is between that of a person sitting or standing and keeps the curvature of the spine at a very realxed “place” and many people seem to be trying and loving this new mode of sitting at the workstation.

History:

Invented in Norway in the 1970’s the kneeling chairs seemed to stress finding a design that rid the problem of strain placed on a person’s spine when seated in the conventional right angled task computer chair.

One of the first designers was Hans Christian Mengshoel, who used experiments with different types of sitting devices which placed support under a person’s shins. Furniture designers Peter Opsvik, Oddvin Rykken, and Svein Gusrud followed suit, each developing their own version of the posture knee chair to promote.

Copyright, 2007 All Rights Reserved, Sit On This Ergonomics, LLC

Author Bio:
Amy Pedersen has worked in the Ergonomics and Office Furniture industry for over 10 years and is owner of Sit On This Ergonomics, operating a number of ergonomic websites dedicated to Office Chairs and the practice of good Workplace Ergonomics.

Featuring a wide variety of Executive Chairs, Leather Office Chairs, Mesh Seating & Task Office Chairs with an Online Sales Catalog. Their Huge Office Chair Collection and the Sit On This Ergo website provides detailed ergonomic information on proper chair positioning and seating in the workplace environment to help people to find the perfect Office Chair for their situation.

Visit Our Office Chair Collection:
Sit On This Ergonomics

More Ergonomic Information:
Ergonomics Explained

How to Choose Your Chair:
Picking the Right Office Chair for You

Selecting the Right Upholstery for your Office

With literally thousand if not millions of choices within the office furniture industry, it can be difficult to pick the perfect chair for you and your office. One must sort through different styles, upholstery, and color options that are available on the market today. Here are a few considerations that may help make your search a little easier.

Decide which kind of “look” you want your office to have; traditional, modern, artdeco, laid back, or maybe a foreign theme. With office furniture, you can have your choice of leather, mesh, vinyl, and several types of standard fabrics in a variety of colors and patterns. The furniture also has the option of a metal or wood bas with titanium or black finishes and which casters are best, not to mention some of the many upgrades that are available.

Leather is available in many different grades and styles. The dye used on leather is also made of different levels of quality, making the outcome vary. The highest grade option available in an executive office chair model is Italian top grain leather, a high end option in many different chair styles. The standard grades of leather generally range from sued to cowhide patchwork to top grain leather. While leather offers many options and can proved a classic or luxury look, it can also add to the bill. Leather is one of the most expensive options for custom seating, and can increase the price tag anywhere from thirty to eighty percent of the original price.

Mesh chairs are becoming a popular option in today’s furniture industry. The Herman Miller Aeron Mesh Chair is the most popular inquiry online. Mesh chairs allow air flow to the skin similar to a window screen or sheer fabric material, this allows the user’s body to stay at a comfortable temperature while using the chair. Some mesh chairs also come with an optional leather or other material covered cushion.

The choice of upholstery when picking office furniture is crucial, and can make or brake the entire theme. It’s best to start shopping for furniture with an end picture in mind, this will help sift through the thousands of options available.

Author Bio:
Amy Pedersen has worked in the Ergonomics and Office Furniture industry for over 10 years and is owner of Sit On This Ergonomics, operating a number of ergonomic websites dedicated to Office Chairs and the practice of good Workplace Ergonomics.

Featuring a wide variety of Executive Chairs, Leather Office Chairs, Mesh Seating & Task Office Chairs with an Online Sales Catalog. Their Huge Office Chair Collection and the Sit On This Ergo website provides detailed ergonomic information on proper chair positioning and seating in the workplace environment to help people to find the perfect Office Chair for their situation.

Visit Our Office Chair Collection:
Sit On This Ergonomics

More Ergonomic Information:
Ergonomics Explained

How to Choose Your Chair:
Picking the Right Office Chair for You