Do you need an ergonomic chair?
One hundred thousand years ago, the moment Apes erectus chose to stand up, their freed hands created infinite possibilities for their descendants and eventually conquered the world. However, because walking upright changes the stress on the spine, Homo sapiens is burdened with the "original sin" of spinal degeneration. This type of disease, which is almost exclusive to humans, has been plaguing people for almost as long as human history. Modern people have shifted to a lifestyle of working indoors for long periods of time, which has further expanded the susceptibility to this type of disease.
spinal degeneration
The spine can be said to be a miracle in evolution. According to the classification of modern organisms, the phylum Chordata and the subphylum Vertebrates are undoubtedly the crown jewel of the vast biological population of our blue planet. As the core center of the bones in the body, the spine can not only support the body At the same time, it can move in three axes and six directions, and it also forms a spinal canal to protect and wrap the spinal nerves. When I was studying anatomy, I felt that the ingenious design structures of advanced animals really made people doubt whether they could be achieved by continuous trial and error relying on the theory of evolution?
But the more sophisticated and complex the structure, the more likely it is that problems will arise. Let’s clarify what degenerative changes in the spine are—age growth, excessive activities, and overloading will accelerate the aging of the spine, causing vertebral bodies, nerves, Strain changes in intervertebral discs, ligaments, muscles and other tissues can cause neck, shoulder, waist and leg pain and even nerve damage, affecting work ability and quality of life. For us ordinary people, it is often a problem that becomes more common as we age throughout our lives. It is also the most common reason for visiting orthopedic clinics, among which lumbar muscle strain is the most common.
Sitting poses and chairs
Chairs are not a natural creation, so people in different eras sit in different ways. The ancients chose to sit on the ground. Even the princes and nobles only had a thin straw mat under their buttocks, and at most a futon. To this day, countries such as Japan and South Korea still require kneeling as the posture for sitting upright in formal places. Thinking about it, you know that these sitting postures cannot be very comfortable. It is for this reason that chairs that make sitting postures more comfortable have been invented and continuously evolved.
Today, for people who work long hours at their desks, an office swivel chair has become standard equipment, but not all chairs are suitable for sitting and standing for a long time, whether it is the "boss chair" purchased by the group for 100 yuan or the The so-called "esports chairs" that imitate racing bucket chairs will not be very comfortable after sitting for a long time. So, what should a chair look like that can truly remain comfortable while sitting for long periods of time without damaging the lumbar spine?
At this time, we have to mention the concept of "ergonomics". Ergonomics in the modern sense is developed from Taylor's scientific management and achieves higher work efficiency by adjusting the size and design of tools. The so-called ergonomics, in essence, is to make the use of tools as suitable as possible for the natural shape of the human body. The body does not need to actively adapt, thereby minimizing fatigue and damage caused by long-term use of tools.
Through a series of designs, ergonomic chairs can maintain a high level of sitting work efficiency and are less prone to fatigue. It has certain protection for workers and can prevent or reduce musculoskeletal strain or other physical and mental health problems caused by long-term sitting. Simply put, an ergonomic chair is a labor health chair. Closely related to work life.
