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| Chair – a very important tool … Sitting long hours in the office on a bad chair can result in serious backbone, circulatory and nervous system disorder. As early as in 1700, Bernardinus Ramazzini, called the “father of industrial medicine”, mentioned some muscular and skeletal diseases as the effects of performed work. Since his “Discourse on craftsmen’s diseases” the medicine has made an enormous leap forward, yet it is still being outrun by modern technologies and work organisation methods. We are bound to spend increasingly more time in a sitting position. However, such position is not most comfortable to your backbone. Actually, it is completely opposite. According to the studies carried out in 1970ies, the pressure in the disc (intervertebral disc in the lumbar part of the backbone) is considerably higher while sitting, than that while remaining in standing position. It is so, because the upright position is an effect of the biological evolution, which lasted several million years, in which the backbone was gradually “getting used to” maintain an upright position of the human body. Meanwhile, the sitting way of life, is an effect of cultural development, which has lasted not long enough to allow any evolution in the backbone structure. The shape and softness of the seat and the backrest are critical for the feeling of comfort when having a short seat on the chair, but even the best solution will prove insufficient after sitting for a few hours. The office chair is hence expected to offer more flexibility in adjusting its parameters to the user’s posture – it is the weigh and height. It is not only the height of the seat which matters, there is also the depth and inclination, as well as the height and inclination of the backrest. That is the common minimum achieved even in the simplest constructions. More beneficial for our health is so called dynamic seat, the idea of which has gained enormous popularity among orthopaedists, ergonomists, designers and manufacturers of furniture. The modern office chairs and armchairs are so designed to provoke continuous change of the user’s sitting position, and – at the same time – to ensure that the backrest follows the body movement, providing permanent support for the backbone. Thanks to the above, the pressure exerted on the intervertebral discs changes occasionally (is not constant), and some force is absorbed by the backrest. Professional Laboratory In PROFIm we have our own professional laboratory in which every new model of chair is tested in several stages, before it is released from our factory. Chairs in the PROFIm’s laboratory undergo the following tests within period of one month:
Chairs which inspire fear Chairs and armchairs are now typically associated with comfort, functionality and user safety. However, there are also chairs that may send a shiver down your spine. The comfort and safety of contemporary chair users are the priority for today’s designers. Considerations of functionality played a very important part for constructors as far back as over 100 years ago. This is precisely how the dental chair and electric chair came into existence. Which was first? Looking at the early models of dental chairs, dating as far back as 1832, it is hard to resist the impression that their appearance is closer to that of an instrument of torture or a prop taken from a horror film, not a device intended to help people keep healthy. Straight, equipped with a high backrest and a footrest… it resembles the electric chair! What is interesting, the association is perfectly justified. Or perhaps it is exactly the opposite? The history of a certain chair The development of the electric chair is credited to no other than Thomas Alva Edison. Obviously, the idea behind the invention was noble. Most probably, as it is now difficult to establish precisely "what the author had in mind", his aim was to show people that electricity can be dangerous. The first person to be executed via Edison’s electric chair was William Kemmler, convicted of killing his wife with an axe, in 1890. Already at that time the use of the electric chair was promoted as a more humanitarian alternative to execution by hanging. Dentist’s revenge What does the electric chair have to do with the dental chair? The electric chair invented by Edison was constructed by a certain dentist whose name is lost to the mists of time. He may well have been inspired by his own chair in which he daily treated his patients who sometimes bit him on his fingers. Chair fit for a giant The world’s biggest chair was not created for the world’s tallest person but for marketing purposes. This form of advertising was selected by one of German furniture stores located in Eschborn, near Frankfurt am Main. The chair that makes you feel like Gulliver in the land of giants is truly imposing in size. It is over 25 metres tall and the seat is placed at a height of nearly 13 metres. An interesting thing is that this advertising gadget turned out to be the biggest chair in the world and, as such, it was entered in the Guinness World Records. Surely more than one person seeing the chair opens their eyes wide with astonishment. Incidentally, Kim Goldman, an American from Chicago, is a record-holder in eye popping. He is able to pop eyes out of their sockets for 11 cm. Given this exceptional ability, one might wonder what he would see in the distance, while sitting on the giant chair... Between your front and back Each and every person, no matter how torn apart they may sometimes feel, is a whole. Well, at least in the physical sense. If you have a toothache, you are not keen on reading a book. You are not going to jog with a broad smile on your face, either. The idea of wholeness carries some mysteries, too. Sometimes the only symptom of food poisoning is headache. However, there are also less extraordinary causal relationships. If you are obese, your joints are likely to hurt when you walk. But let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. Given the main topic of this website, it must have something to do with sitting. It has, indeed. By now you already know that as you sit, your backbone must bear significant loads, resulting in a forceful prolonged pressure on the lumbar segments. You should also know that you must move while sitting (this is called dynamic sitting) and do occasional exercises (to relieve your spine). This is precisely the point where we return to the core of the matter and the topic of “human wholeness”. If you want to steer clear of back pain, you should exercise your belly. Yes, your tummy, including (or perhaps especially) the beer belly which you have meticulously developed over time. Your poor back, strained from sitting for so long, must be properly supported by muscles on both sides of your body. It carries your weight at all times. It must do so, regardless of lack of will or capability. Even though it may not be easy to change your job, you may always try – depending on your will power - to do some exercises: forward bends, popular sit-ups, side bends. You can certainly bring yourself to do some of those -for the sake of your own unity. SUPPORT YOUR SPINE! |
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