Spending every Monday to Friday, from 9 to 5 o’clock sitting in your office chair means only one thing – this piece of furniture is a part of you and it absolutely needs to be the best one you can purchase, for the sake of your health and productivity. Yes, it’s no secret that the sedentary lifestyle can be the cause of a number of dangerous health conditions with osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and colon cancer being the worst ones. But what can we do when our professions require us to sit on a desk all day long and work hard like a horse? Well, the answer is simple and symbolic enough – saddle up like one to perform our best. Introducing – the saddle office chair.
Upon first glance, this type of chair might not seem to you like a good choice, but it is the latest advancement in ergonomic office furniture. It’s called a saddle office chair because it literally consists of a seat in the form of a saddle, and normally, has no backrest. The chair’s design is inspired by horse riders who are well-known for their good posture and strong backs. Sitting on a horse engages all the muscles and bones of the body to keep balance. The aim of the saddle seat is to imitate exactly the same experience, helping you out to maintain a good posture in the modern workplace.
It has a mechanism which tilts the chair automatically following your movements and creates a fun feeling, similar to horse riding. However, this mechanism is not there to solely entertain you and has a more important purpose – adjusting the chair to a position which puts the least amount of pressure on your muscles, joints and ligaments. This mechanism, combined with the overall structure of the saddle, encourages the person to sit with correct posture by stabilizing the pelvis. A stabilized pelvis carries the body’s weight more efficiently, which eliminates the stress on the lumbar discs. Moreover, the pelvis directly controls the spine’s curvature and releases the pressure put on it from sitting for prolonged periods. Consequently, a properly aligned spine and relaxed lumbar disks eliminate the risk of back pain and reduce the stress on the shoulders and neck.
The saddle seat is not your traditional flat surface chair seat. It has a curve in the middle which creates a wider angle between the hips and the knees for a more natural position than the 90º angle of a normal chair. As a result, the tension in the legs is reduced and the blood circulation is improved. This eliminates the risk of blood clots and other cardiovascular diseases and keeps you from becoming the not so proud owner of unsightly varicose veins .
You might think this chair’s downside is having no backrest, however, this is actually one of its most effective features for keeping you sitting upright. If your spine is positioned correctly, your back won’t get tired and won’t need to relax on the backrest. Try to be aware exactly when you use your office chair’s backrest. Usually, when we are focused in our work, we tend to lean over to get close to the computer. And the only time we use our backrests is when we need to take a break from slouching over. But if you try to slouch over in a saddle chair you will instantly feel that you are out of balance. This makes you better aware of you posture so you can immediately correct it. Moreover, sitting without leaning on a backrest strengtheners the lower back’s core muscles. A win win.
