The information provided is only for reference purposes and should never be used as any form of medical advice or diagnosis. Before trying any new treatments or products to help manage your pain you should always consult your GP or a qualified medical practitioner.
Human beings are not physically well adapted for the rigours of modern life. One of the causes of back pain and discomfort we can suffer from is traced to the problem of sitting in a rigid position for eight to ten hours during the working day and not moving much. The body is designed to move, a static sitting position creates additional pressure on the spinal discs but by changing position regularly you can significantly reduce this pressure and keep your spine healthy.
Active Sitting is the term used to describe chairs and stools that allow movement while sitting. This concept is a topic in ergonomics and is quite well established. The idea behind Active Sitting is to allow and encourage your body to move while seated. This is in contrast to traditional chairs and stools where what is known as “Static Seating” applies. With traditional chairs and stools, the design does not enable the seat to move and adapt to your own body movements and so you will find that you are usually sitting in quite a rigid, “static”, position.
Movement while sitting can be of great benefit to your body and can, in some instances, make certain tasks less stressful on the body. There are various ways in which a chair or stool can be designed to encourage Active Sitting. Some chairs will allow the seat to tilt in various ways while others may have a backrest that adapts to your movement while sitting. Some of the modern chairs and stools that encourage active sitting will actually provide a variety of different methods to promote Active Sitting such as 360-degree adaptations.
There are a host of chairs primarily designed to encourage active sitting, with Swopper® being the leading company manufacturing stools that offer three-dimensional movements while sitting. Swopper® stools such as the Swopper® Classic, Swopper® Saddle and Swopper® Muvman are designed to allow and encourage you to constantly change posture while keeping your back in a neutral position. Swopper® have also developed the Swoppster® for children. This is a great stool to help your children develop and maintain correct posture while seated. The Swopper® design means that the stools will adapt to your movement and keep your back straight even, for example, when you are leaning forward to reach for something on your desk. Another benefit of the Swopper® stools is that it can help strengthen your abdominal, back and leg muscles, which in turn can help to prevent many forms of back pain. To view the full range of Swopper® Stools and Swopper Chairs at Back2 click here
