Ergonomic Chair
It used to be that most jobs involved standing up, sitting down and generally moving around a lot, either on a farm or at a manufacturing facility of some sort. Over the years, however, the economy has undergone some drastic changes, and while manufacturing is still an important part of the economy, as are service industry jobs which usually involve a lot of moving around, a growing portion of our economy relies on jobs that involve a lot of sitting and typing.
The shift is cited for a number of society wide problems, including drastic increase in the percentage of the population who are overweight or obese, a rise in the cases of back problems, sleep problems, and carpal tunnel syndrome. As a way to counteract some of these problems, OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), an office of the U.S. Department of Labor, began issuing recommendations and studies about how some of these problems might be reduced. However, even before then, furniture companies began designing chairs, desks, and other keyboards that are ergonomically correct.
The dictionary definition tells us that if something is ergonomically designed, it is designed with the intent of increasing worker productivity by decreasing fatigue and discomfort. According to OSHA, the US economy lost over $112 billion dollars in 1995. A group estimated that in 2004, the UK lost the equivalent of $27 billion US to work place injuries. While some of this is due to industrial accidents or people falling and hurting themselves or getting into an accident with the company car, a lot of the blame goes to the over-use and misuse injuries associated with desk jobs.
It is easy to see then why governments would be anxious to prevent people from getting hurt and why companies would invest in new ergonomically correct furniture for their employees. The ergonomic chair, more than any of the other devices and furniture redesigned to be ergonomically correct, may do the most to help increase worker productivity by reducing the unnecessary stress on the worker’s body. A properly designed ergonomic chair can not only prevent muscle atrophy in the core muscles, but it can also help build core muscles. A properly designed ergonomic chair can also help preserve your eyesight, keep your back healthy, and help prevent carpal tunnel syndrome.
