CHANCES ARE you’re aware of the need to sit up and sit less at work. But it’s often easier to just stay put, roll your shoulders forward and hunch your back, a shape that resembles sketches of those stooping early humans from which we evolved.
One in four Americans stays planted for more than eight hours a day according to a 2018 analysis from the CDC, contributing to back, neck and head pain, and sapping your energy.
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Traditional desk chairs have long shared the market with active sitting chairs, which invite movement or claim to encourage more spine-friendly postures. Kneeling chairs emerged in the late-70s, claiming to reduce lower back pain. A few years later, everyone was taking conference calls on exercise balls, the bobbing blobs said to build core strength and zap calories. Various wobbly stools touted similar benefits.
Then we heard sitting was problematic, so we stood. Contrary evidence emerged: One 2017 study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, followed more than 7,300 workers for 12 years and discovered those who stood for long periods had a twofold increase in heart disease risk.
When Dr. Turner Osler transitioned from the operating room to an office job where he sat 60 hours a week conducting biostatistics research, the trendy chairs he tried left him achy and unsatisfied. So he decided to adapt the best parts of each for his own design, an active stool dubbed the QOR360 (from $350, qor360.com).
Like kneeling chairs, his QOR360 puts your knees below your hips but it doesn’t compress them. Instead, it sets both joints at an obtuse angle, helping increase circulation in your legs and decrease muscle tightness. Like exercise balls, the active seat’s proprietary RedRocker tech urges constant movement.
While some office chairs encourage the so-called “90-90-90 arrangement”—where your hips, knees and ankles are all bent at 90 degrees—Dr. Osler’s chair deliberately doesn’t. “There’s no shred of evidence that 90-90-90 has any benefits,” said Alan Hedge, Ph.D., professor emeritus of ergonomics at Cornell University.
Still, users of the QOR360 shouldn’t chuck their old office chairs yet. “At the beginning, people may experience back and shoulder fatigue, because they have to use muscle groups that may be a little weak due to sitting in a new posture,” said Ron Snarr, Ph.D., an assistant professor of health and kinesiology at Georgia Southern University.
The QOR360 isn’t an instant fix—Dr. Osler agreed it may take a couple of weeks to get comfortable with it—and bouncing between two chairs comes with its own aches. Evolution can be a slow and painful process.
THE QUEST TO ESCAPE OFFICE BACK PAIN: A BRIEF HISTORY
We’ve tried kneeling...
Kneeling chairs claim to reduce lumbar pain by pitching workers forward. But by placing undue pressure on the knees, they restrict movement and kill circulation in the legs.
We’ve tried wobbling...
Little science confirms the truism that exercise balls engage your core and relieve back pain. And since you can’t adjust their height, people often sink into them, putting pressure on their spines.
We’ve stood at attention...
Scientists said sitting was killing us, but standing desks might not be the fix. Six hours on your feet only burns 54 calories more than sitting and one study found that standing during work can up the risk of heart disease.
Worth trying?
Shown here in a full-length view, the QOR360 Active Stool opens up your hips and knees to increase circulation. and its active seat keeps your body in constant motion. From $350, qor360.com
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Goodbye, Back Pain? This Office Chair Was Designed by a Trauma Surgeon - Wall Street Journal
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