Alternative office chairs: a scientific approach to Seating
Are you working 8 to 10 hours a day? Does your work requires maximum hours of sitting on a chair? Have you ever suffered from back-ache, shoulder and neck pain? Then it is high time to start thinking about 'alternative office chair' that are scientifically designed to make your seating more comfortable. This article is all about such alternative chairs and how they differ from the traditional type of office chairs.
Introduction
An office is a place where we spend many hours working while sitting on a chair. Long hours of sitting may have adverse effect on our health. Plastic chairs are usually the most uncomfortable type of chairs especially when one has to sit for longer periods of time over it in the office; though self cooling seat cushions may help a bit rather than using simple cushion covers with exquisite designs but it would not help in properly supporting your back. To reduce this inconvenience and make our sitting more comfortable, a new idea of 'alternative sitting chairs' is recently coined in where various positions of our lower body is taken into account so that singular position of the leg may be avoided. Alternative chairs are also known as ergonomic chairs; they are specifically designed to make our sitting more comfortable and is very much user-oriented.
A chair should support the body in such a way that it minimizes the awkward postures and provides comfort with proper support to the back; however sitting positions need to be changed often for proper blood circulation. No chair can provide perfect support and posture, so it is utmost required to change postures and get up from the chair often during the working hours.
Alternative seating chairs are designed to suit the individual preferences of the user. There are no well defined guidelines or design standards for alternate seating chairs, so they are usually bought on personal preferences; for example, a user with lower back pain may opt for an alternate seating chair which is designed to enable him to sit with the hips at an angle that is believed to reduce the pressure on his lower back.
Common types of alternative chairs :
There are many types of alternative chairs available in the market, each one of them scientifically designed to provide good body posture and comfortable working seat. Common type of alternative chairs includes:
Kneeling chair is a specially designed chair to sit in a position with the thighs tilted to an angle of about 60 to 70 degrees from vertical as opposed to 90 degrees when you are sitting in a normal office chair. It usually has a padded knee support and the seat is angled at 30 degrees. By sitting in such a position, some of your body's weight is supported by the shins; this position effectively re-distributes the overall body weight. 
Advantages of using Kneeling chair :
The intended purpose and the advantage of using a kneeling chair is to minimize the lower back strain by re-distributing and directing our weight to the knees as well as on the buttocks; this keeps our spinal cord in proper alignment.Disadvantages of using Kneeling chair
Saddle type of seat is generally known as 'sit stand stools'. It may or may not be with a back rest. Such stools/chairs emulate the riding position of a rider on a horseback. In such a position a person can alternatively shift his position from sitting to standing and vice-verse. This helps him to keep on changing his posture continuously.Advantages of using Saddle chair:
Disadvantages of Saddle chair:
The erect sitting position when your back is at 90 degrees to the horizontal is considered to be the best sitting position but this posture cannot be maintained for longer periods of time and usually leads to fatigue, discomfort and poor posture. We tend to stoop forward after a while. Studies have shown that it is actually not the 90 degrees but 60 degrees to the horizontal which is the best 'near to natural' sitting position of the spine. A solution to this problem is forward sloping chairs, also called a "balancing chair". Such a seat that tilts forward encourages the natural posture of our body. This seating position provides flexibility to joints, greater mobility and relieves pressure on the back, lungs and stomach. A forward sloping chair usually redirect the body's line of gravity over the sit bones. This shift in the line of gravity will discourage the flattening of lumbar spine. Further, it will lead to the proper breathing mechanism. ng as well as decreasing the amount of work that the body must do in order to sit upright, thereby reducing the risk of pain and fatigue.Advantages of Forward sloping chair:
Disadvantages of Forward Sloping chair
Other alternative chairs include Stand up stool, Balance ball chair, and Active Dynamic stools. All these different type of chairs and stools are based on scientific research. Every individual have different needs, and thus they need to inquire and inspect fully before buying a suitable chair.