Dear Posture People Team,

Thank you so much, especially David, for your expert advice, time and patience helping me on my way to seat-based happiness.

I have only had my RH Logic 400 for four days but I can already say that it has been a life changing experience.

It has made me realize that for years I have assumed that lower back pain and tense shoulders are a fact of life after 30 and an inevitable occupational hazard of my desk based profession, and had accepted them as something I have to live with.

Not so.

Even after one day my partner commented on my upright (standing) posture. I find myself smiling, alert, skipping along the road and around the flat like a puppy and, amazingly, pain free for the first time in years. My spine is loose and bendy, no cramped up back muscles, even my perpetually stuck iliosacral joint seems to have uttered a sigh of relief and unclenched itself.

I expected to be a bit more comfortable working on a decent chair, but I didn’t expect how huge an effect it would have on my free time! I even sleep better, probably because my muscles aren’t cramped up from the days work.

There are a few points obvious to me now as to how this chair achieves such wondrous results, with me ay least.

Firstly, it adjusts so well and in all necessary directions that I can make it fit my shape exactly. That means all contact points with the chair have about even pressure, I feel like I’m floating, and the chair holds me in a good posture without me having to think about it. It’s actually quite hard to sit badly in this… Fit makes a lot of difference to comfort. Imagine you had to walk eight hours in shoes that only came in Small or Large when you, say, happen to have shoe size 6 and a half. Ouch.

Also, I feel really mobile on the chair, meaning I can move around naturally, but am always supported and guided into a good posture. I feel like I am actively “driving” the chair through the day, in control of it so to say. I adjust it all the time now depending on what I’m doing on the computer. I don’t even have to look any more, everything I want to change I can reach while sitting. More rocking for sketching, so I can lean back and forth scrutinizing, less rocking for delicate detail stuff, backrest further up for drawing, further back for watching tests, put the tilt brake on in any position, take the tilt break off and so on.

I spend more hours a day sitting in my chair than lying in my bed. That amounts to about 60% of my waking life, and I don’t regret investing in that part of my life being a relaxed and enjoyable time.

Have to also thank my brilliant bosses for paying for most of it even though I work from home. But I think it was a good investment for them too, because I have already noticed that I can concentrate a lot better and get a lot more done in a day than before.

Thanks guys,

Happy as a clam,

Jules Bartl,

Animator at 12foot6  www.12foot6.com

Thanks Jules for taking the time to email us, we’re glad you like your Rh Logic 400 chair.

There are two classes, the pregnancy pilates class is on at 2.30pm on Tuesdays and a pilates class dedicated to new mums is on Thursdays at 10.30am. The Dragonfly Studio has a bright and beautiful new studio near the Clocktower in the city centre and a very experienced teacher covering all associated issues.

Anyone who’s interested is welcome to call the clinic on 01273 311 711 to book in.  Dragonfly Studio are based at 1 Queen Square, Brighton, BN1 3Fd.

Over in our articles section we’ve got a brand new guide to planning, designing and implementing a reception desk. It’s a detailed guide that will take you through the key stages of organising your reception desk project with us. So if you’re considering getting a new reception installed for the first time, or there were hiccups last time, check out the guide and see an outline of what we’ve come to expect from our side and yours in a reception desk project.

The 5 Critical Steps to a Successful Reception Desk Project

iPods, iPhones and most recently iPads, as well as Blackberries, Kindles, and any other tablet, smartphone or e-reader are must have gadgets that we so often wrap ourselves around, whether we are sitting with a device in our laps, or standing on the train, head horizontal over the screen. And it’s not our fault, modern gadgets don’t invite themselves to being held up at eye level, rather we adapt to an easier position to let our arms rest. But keeping our arms rested comes at a cost to our necks. Instead of tired arms we have kinked, painful necks.

So what can you, or any of us do, to relieve this pain? You can try breaking decades of habit by lifting everything to your head, or you can work these great exercises into your daily routine, and if you’re an acute sufferer then we’d recommend professional assistance from things like the Alexander Technique, which can help release trapped muscles, a big contributor to neck pain.

Why not give them a try!

Ergonomics is the laws of our working conditions

ergon (work)‏

nomos (law)‏

Or the adaptation of work conditions to human needs.

We’re quickly moving from Homo erectus to Homo sedens. Our day to day lives consist of too much sitting and too little exercise. Backache is one of the country’s biggest health issues, with 80% of the population claiming to suffer from it. Static sitting is one explanation.

Life is movement, man is made to move movement not only stimulates the metabolism but it also strengthens bones, muscles, cartilage and nerve cells. You could say “Use it, or lose it”.

Understanding the anatomy and function of the vertebral column, our spines, can help you to understand why movement, bending, stretching are all good complements to good posture in order to have a healthy spine and prevent backache.

Our spine consist of vertebrae and intervertebral discs. This structure protects our nervous system, which controls our body and helps report our sense of touch to the brain. The intevertebral discs contain no blood vessels and receive their nutrients purely via diffusion. In order to ensure the discs remain healthy and functioning properly to support our weight and protect our nervous system they must have pressure applied and released regularly. Staying still is not an option for a healthy spine.

If we stay still we suffer from muscular fatigue and muscular pain. So it is best to alternate between relaxation and tension

Your ergonomic chair is not simply there to make you comfortable. When the chair’s functions are used in the right way they are beneficial to health. Healthy sitting must be learnt.

The natural double-S shape of the vertebral column. The pelvis tilted slightly forward, the chest held upright, the neck section of the intervertebral column stretched. But most importantly remember to keep moving, do not allow any part of your spine and neck to remain static for too long, and avoid positioning your body in such a way that it applies excessive pressure on one section of your body. Leaning back isn’t prohibited!

Stay tuned for a guide to exercises you can perform at your workstation to keep your body healthy and pain free, courtesy of Girsberger.

The home office

I love the green wall in this home office (but I’ve got to admit a weakness for olive green).  However the ergnonmics could be easily tweaked.  The laptop is the main culprit, if you changed the set up for a laptop stand, separate keyboard and mouse and you’ve got a set up that helps prevent RSI and ensures that the screen is at the right height.

The chair is fine for very limited use, but if you are working from home you do really need to look at an upholostered seat and back, and also a chair which is more adjustable with better lumbar support.

For a similar white desk, the Core range by Senator can be supplied in white with an elegant leg detail which is suitable for a home office environment.

I love the storage on the wall, Ikea do a similar storage unit for storing toys, but it would work equally well for home offices.  The industrial Mikko Floor lamp by BHS, is a similar floor standing lamp which will provide adequate lighting for the home office.

The Apprentice this year has had us, and millions across the nation, gripped for weeks now. But it was the business plan devised by this years winner Tom Pellereau that really caught or eye. An ergonomic chair!

Sir Alan was of course his usual ‘loveable’ self and ripped into the plan mercilessly, but since Tom won you can’t help but wonder if Sir Alan has actually seen something in his plan. Despite saying he’d rather give up and emigrate if he were told that he had to provide assessments for all his employees, we think that the the power of the show and the new awareness it will have just given for ergonomic products as well DSE assessments would be a hard thing for Sir Alan to pass up on. There’s no gimmick or fad to rely on, many people work with postural problems without knowledge of the government legislation that is there to help them and of course that ergonomic chairs really do work.

Image courtesy of Daily Mail

We’ve already discussed the benefits of ergonomic products at work in this post on the costs of absenteeism and also the effects of bad posture in this post so if the Apprentice has brought you here why not give them a read.

Standing Desks Are Good For You

This is the crux of why people even bother with standing desk setups. We humans weren’t designed to sit around all day, and a standing posture is the task our bodies have evolved to assume. Standing keeps the back in its natural curve, to the same extent of one our lovely ergonomic office chairs. And to us posture is paramount, you need to look after your spine and standing is one of the best ways to go about it.

Sitting of course isn’t bad for you, but you do burn less calories whilst sitting than when you are standing. To be more specific you’ll burn about 1 calorie per minute when sitting, but 3 per minute when standing. Now think of that in terms of your average day at work, eight hours, nine, or more? If you were to work sitting down for eight hours you’d be burning around 480 calories, if you stood up for the duration of that time we ‘re now talking around 1440 calories being burned.

The benefits should be obvious; burning an extra 1000 calories during your working day without stepping foot into a gym or anywhere near a scrap of Lycra will have almost immediate effects.

Setting Up Your Standing Desk Correctly

In order to reap the most of your standing desks bounties you have to ensure everything is laid out perfectly. Just like we recommend with sitting workstations: aim to have your eyeline meeting the top of your monitor. Then keep your arms at right angles with the surface of your desk. After this we’re into the unknown territory of standing desk specific advice.

• Wear comfortable footwear; something you can stay in for hours at a time like trainers, not shoes
• Use a footrest; it may seem counter intuitive when standing but having something to rest one leg on and shift your weight around can keep you a lot more comfortable
• Keep your chair handy; there will be times when you need a rest or simply can’t stand all day

What Do I Need?

Creating a standing desk set up does require a little more thought than just deciding to stand at work one day. First of all you need your desk to be considerably taller. Some desks can be adjusted to reach the height required, and there are even fantastic electric height adjustable desks that make switching between a sitting and a standing desk even easier.

Then there are a few extra options to consider. A lot of standing desks have issues with computer cabling, not just keeping them tidy across the new extra distance they have to travel but also issues because the cables won’t stretch far enough. A common solution is to have the computer slung under the desk in a special mount, which many desking ranges already accommodate as an optional extra.

Footrests, or foot bars. Standing can get tiring very quickly but simply being able to shift your weight from leg to leg with the help of a footrest.

You may even want to consider a relief chair or stool. Of particular note we’ve just taken stock of an ideal stool here at Posture People, the Sway.

The stool is extremely versatile and is easy to use. With a simple mechanism on the stem to change the height between 665mm-915mm. Sway will fit in many different scenarios, from a stylish bar stool, to a great meeting room chair. Sway almost forces you to maintain a good posture and keeps your back and leg muscles active, making it impossible to slump on.

One particular scenario that Sway is perfect for is the standing desk setup that is becoming increasingly popular. Standing desks are great because you can’t possibly recline or adopt a harmful posture and you’re keeping active, but often they can be tiring. Adding Sway to such a setup means you have support, but still can’t revert into a bad posture like you can in even the best office chairs.

Sway also comes in at a flyweight 3kg and has a small frame making it great to store too.

Sway comes with a black base and stem and a fabric covered round seat that can be coloured in your choice of black, grey, green or mandarin.