Good health is being stressed everywhere we look. Fast food chains are offering slightly healthier alternatives, bill boards are encouraging exercising, and employers are offering fitness incentives. The drive to be healthier has rarely been so strong and the wide world of chairs has not been left out of this new trend. More and more studies have revealed that sitting for long periods of time can be just as bad for your body as long periods of manual labor. Our bodies were meant to move, but since many of us sit all day the ergonomic chair has been developed to save us from the worst of the sitting side effects.

Sitting all day long in a poorly designed chair can cause many ill effects. First, there is the back pain. Many older chairs were not designed to offer proper lumbar (lower back) support. So, while your mid back and shoulders may have something to lean up against, your lumbar region is left ignored. Poor lumbar support can cause backaches, which can lead to headaches, which creates unhappy workers.

Second, most chairs don’t support good blood circulation in the legs. Poor leg circulation is caused when the seat of the chair does not fit your legs and cuts into them in the wrong places. When sitting in a chair, the back of your knees should be just a few inches away from the seat of the chair. If the back of your knees are touching the chair or are several inches away from the chair then readjustment is needed.

Third, most older chairs have ill positioned arm rests or no arm rests at all. Proper support for your arms will lessen you chances of getting arm, wrist and hand injuries. Also proper arm, support will help improve your overall posture when you are sitting.