Thanks to the Covid lockdowns Buzzfeed journalist Farrah Penn found herself working from home and experiencing discomfort from an average office chair. She went searching for answers and came across kneeling ergonomic chairs as a potential solution to her posture issues. She reached out to me for my advice, and here is a brief synopsis of the article, along with a link to the full article below.
Heather Jeffcoat, DPT
Working from home and experiencing discomfort from an average office chair?
I Used A Kneeling Ergonomic Chair For 30 Days
I work a desk job and was experiencing neck and shoulder pain, so I tried switching up my chair to see if it would help.
Hi! I’m Farrah, and like a good portion of all office culture employees, I am still working from home during the pandemic. My current “office” chair cost me a total of $30, but I’ve been having an increase of shoulder and neck pain, which I attribute to hunching while working at my computer. Basically, I’m desperate to try something new, which led me down the rabbit hole of ergonomic chairs.
When I came across the Sleekform kneeling ergonomic chair, I was like, “THIS WORKS?!?” The people using this chair in photos looked comfortable. I also noticed they weren’t hunched! So I decided to learn a little more from the Sleekform team and try it for myself.
I reached out to Dr. Heather Jeffcoat, DPT and owner of Fusion Wellness & Femina Physical Therapy, who told me,
Research does support improved pelvic tilt at a 120-degree angle with the knee at a 90-degree angle (a normal degree of lordosis is also referred to as our ‘neutral spine’). When your lower back is in neutral to slightly anteriorly tilted, your transverse abdominus and pelvic floor muscles are able to engage more optimally than when it is in a flexed (rounded) position.”
When I asked Dr. Jeffcoat if a kneeling ergonomic chair provides an ideal way to relieve discomfort from an average office chair, she explained:
Certainly, people with knee injuries would need to use this with caution as the force appears transmitted to the knees. This could be beneficial for folks with hip impingement, as they will often have pain going from sit to stand, but those are typically at angles around 90 degrees of hip flexion. One study suggested a 135-degree incline specific to folks with limited hip flexion range of motion as being a recommended hip angle. Having less flexion takes it out of an impinged position and could potentially reduce hip pain in folks as well. If back or neck stiffness or pain is the primary concern, then what this does posturally for the spine is a good option to consider. However, I don’t see it as an ideal chair for everyone.”
If you want to know more about relieving discomfort from an average office chair, continue to the full article here.
For more articles we have written about how to correct your posture, click here.
