Why Good Posture is Bad
I have often repeated that the obsession with perfectly upright backs is unhealthy and nothing more than a remnant of Victorian England era ideas. Sitting bolt uprights puts all the weight of the upper body on the lower spine. Sitting slightly reclined is better, since the back of the chair now supports some of your upper body weight. Now something I thought was common sense to anyone who spent some time thinking about it has been verified scientifically.
From this issue of “The Week” Magazine under the Health and Science section
Why Good Posture is Bad
For generations, schoolteachers and moms have told young people to stop slouching and sit upright. That advice, it turns out, was wrong. Sitting with a straight back, says a new study, actually puts enormous pressure on the spinal column and can lead to chronic back pain. Researchers at Woodend Hospital in Aberdeen, Scotland, Developed and MRI technique that allowed them to observe the spinal columns of 22 volunteers as they sat for long hours. Some were told to slouch over a video game console, some sat upright at a 90-degree angle, and others leaned back at a 135-degree angle. After watching their spines move and settle, the scientists concluded that the reclining position was by far the best for the back. Slouchers caused wear and tear to the lower spinal disks, but the vertical pressure of the upright position caused the most damage, forcing the spine’s disks and muscles out of line. “we were not created to sit down for long hours, but modern life requires it,” study author Waseem Bashir tells the London Times. To avoid a lifetime of “Pain, deformity, and chronic illness,” he recommends sitting in a chair that provides full support to the spine when you lean slightly backward, which mimics the supine position.
How many people have suffered through back injuries because of this poor advice? How many thousands of hours and millions of dollars have been lost, because at some point people thought this ridiculous thing?
Was more comfortable than this?
Ergonomic science is only now starting to rid itself of its pseudo scientific origins.
Do a google image search on “Ergonomic Chair” and everyone suggests a bolt upright, and very unhealthy, posture.
My product, the ErgoSlope, was designed around this position, as well as information from other studies, such as those from the UCLA Ergonomics dept which suggests appropriate arm elbow angles of 100 degrees (the natural resting angle of the elbow) instead of the 90 degree strict right angle dictated by bolt upright backs.
UCLA Ergonomics
Imagine keeping the correct arm angle, but then sitting with a straight back as modern ergonomics suggest, the result:
Doesnt look so bad at first, until you realize your about to slide out of your seat, and you still have that terrible vertical back that compresses your lower spine with all your upper body weight all day.
What’s so great about that 100 - 110 degree angle? Actually, it’s the natural resting angle of your joint. That is the natural angle all of your joints return to in absence of any forces applied to them, and it’s the most comfortable and least stressed position. Notice the UCLA Arm Angle suggestions do not also suggest wrist angles. So, whats the natural resting angle of all your joints?
The easist way to find out is to take a look at astronauts sleeping in microgravity, here are a few random ones
Just look at those arm / wrist angles! You arms are not straight down at your sides, but spread out slightly at your shoulders. Your elbows are at a wide open angle, and wrists tilt down and in slightly. These are the natural resting positions of the arms. The shoulders, elbows, and wrists all revert to the naturally most comfortable position.
Some ergonomic setups claim to try to emulate this natural resting position. However, matching it with the always suggested victorian bolt upright position, which the FMRI study referenced above (and common sense) should show is is problematic, leaves you with some uncomofortable angles, such as the UCLA cartoon computer worker about to slide out of his seat.
Combine these nuetral resting positions, however, with a recumbant office chair, and you have the optimal in office comfort. These nuetral resting positions are the ones the ErgoSlope easily facilitates - just picture a keyboard and mouse under his hands and arms of these astronaugths!
Where did I get my idea from? Not million dollar studies or extensive research, but simply looking at the way astronauts sleep in space as in these pictures, and from something knowledge I had accumulated over time about acceleration and back injury. In one book about the human body and space travel I read:
"Up to 30 g’s can be tolerated in the supine position without structural damage. Although head and arm movements become impossible at 6 g’s, the wrists, hands, and fingers can move at accelerations up to 12 g’s." pg 68 LIVING IN SPACE by G. Harry Stine
This ‘Supine’ position is the reclined or laying flat on your back position. While we won’t be experiencing 30g launches at work, sitting all day, hours on end, putting all your upper body weight on your lower spine is a recipe for disaster when a little bit of reclining will take alot of the weight of your back off your spine. In contrast to the supine position, if you accelerate vertically when standing upright, the max any person can take without serious injury (to the spine) is about 2 - 3 g’s! That could be as simple as merely landing wrong in a jump or too abrubt of a stop coming down stairs!
Back injueries, in fact, are the most common debaliting injury for stunt car drivers who often make small jumps, or helicoptor pilots, who often through small malfunctions or pilot error in the diffiuclt landing procedure might drop the helicoptor a few few, but sitting bolt upright in their pilots chairs their lower spine is compressed brutally. If they simply had a reclined chair, a whole lot of injuries might be avoided.
Here then, is a nice Ergonomic Recumbant Chair design coupled with an Ergoslope Desk add on
The ErgoSlope is the best facilitation of this comfortable seating position and arm and shoulder angles. Add a nice Microsoft Ergonomic keyboard to the mix and you have a good comfortable resting position for each joint of your body.
So, get your self a decent office chair that can recline back (it’s best to find one which will also raise the front of the seat, as this helps to forcibly shift upper body weight onto the back of the chair and off your lower spine), slap on an ErgoSlope, and you’ll be able to work comfortably for hours on end.
See more at www.ErgoSlope.com
