[access-uk] kneeling stool - a bit long
- From: "David W Wood" <g3yxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:37:52 -0000
Hi David and all:
Sorry for the delayed response on this one, but picked up the original in
the small hours of 02/01 when waiting for a taxi to Gatwick for a much
needed 2-week holiday.
Firstly, if you have been using your flat-pack chair in the interim, you
should not have done yourself irreversible damage.
The main reply is difficult as the question of office ergonomics is a thorny
one, amplified by numerous court cases, including one questionable judgment,
and the so-called 6-pack of EU Workplace Directives of, I think, 1992, and
to say little about marketing of products which was proliferated by the
introduction of the 6-pack and well-publicised court cases.
A common marketing tool for the office furniture salesmen was that if an
employee is expected to sit at his/her workstation for an extended period of
time, then he/she needed bespoke furniture - particularly an office chair.
This arose from the vdu directive in the 6-pack.
This was not necessarily the case, as each individual has his/her own needs.
For example, someone without sight does not necessarily need a chair and
desk of relative proportional height equal to that of someone with 20-20
vision, nor someone who uses the full incremental range of corrected vision
between those two extremes.
In the office environment, it is essential that the needs of the individual
are taken into account, rather than a generic approach. For example,
someone on this list may be using a 3.5 dioptre lens, but it certainly
wouldn't do anything for me or you!
I ought, at this point, to mention that I advise the third largest office
furniture supplier in the u.k., who also have a sister company who designs
the whole working environment, and on this basis has to make some generic
assumptions for larger work-forces, but the individual's physical
presentation and personal preferences are taken into account for that
individual's immediate working environment.
They were probably one of the first to import, from Scandinavia (in the very
early 80s), the type of chair which gave rise to this thread, the so-called
'kneeling chair' from a company called Balance. This is a misnomer, as the
lower angled section is not for kneeling on, but as a point of reference to
identify a deteriorating posture into the forward, or flexed, position, with
the chin projected forward - this being the most commonly adopted negative
posture when sitting.
Warning: should this lower panel be used in the long term as a kneeling
stool, serious damage can be imposed on the knee joints, in particular to
the Cruciate Ligaments.
The aim of the forward/downward sloping section is to cause the trunk to be
in a balanced posture. That is, with the line of gravity of the body
cutting the normal forward and backward curves of the spine (kyphoses and
lordoses) at points which naturally imposes stability onto the trunk.
Numerous research programs have been undertaken on this subject, and far too
many indifferent papers written on what is right or wrong. Most are
focussed on the pressure distribution within the intervertebral disk - and
far too few on the forces imposed on the musculoskeletal structure by the
individual's own muscles used to maintain equilibrium. This latter
scenario, in my opinion, gives rise to far more non-specific back ache or
pain, than disk-originated signs and symptoms.
I am sure that, by now, you are beginning to realise that there is no easy
answer to your question!
In simple terms:
* do not kneel onto the lower panel.
* Sit on the upper section in an erect position.
Here, I make an assumption, that the reason for the gift is comment or
complaint about sore neck and shoulders following a prolonged period at the
pc.
This is probably that the keyboard is too far forward from the normal
sitting position.
The answer, in simple terms, can be derived as follows:
* Sit in an upright posture (determined jointly by yourself and an
observer).
* From this position, let your arms hang vertically by gravitational force,
in which position the lumbar spine (low back) should be concave, and the
arms hang parallel with the line of gravity of the body.
* Whilst keeping your upper arm vertical, bend the elbows to 90 degrees,
thus the forearms being parallel with the ground.
In this position, the hands should be on the home row of the keyboard, and
the shoulders vertically above the hips.
I would put a considerable amount of money on more than 90 per cent of the
subscribers to this list not working in this position!
A common reason for this is that the chair has arms which preclude the chair
from going forward sufficiently far underneath the desk to enable the user
to adopt this basic posture.
Other reasons are that the vdu is too far away from the seat, the keyboard
too high (particularly if placed on top of a Braille display), .
In short, so long as your chair is used correctly, it shouldn't give rise to
any problems.
Sorry Mr Moderator about the length of the reply, but I thought that these
few basic facts and pointers may help many subscribers.
This reply is formed from extracts of copyrighted material used by me in
presentations from 1983 to date.
hth
David W Wood
GUILDFORD PHYSIOTHERAPY AND SPORTS CLINIC
MATTHEWS HOUSE
85 EPSOM ROAD
GUILDFORD
SURREY GU1 3PA
T: 01483 575876 (APPOINTMENTS)
302691 (ALL OTHER INQUIRIES/FAX)
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