Forget the Walking Pad. Active Chairs Help Increase Daily Movement and Fix Chronic Back Pain for Desk Workers, Doctor Says
Jumping into a daily gym routine certainly helps in building a healthier lifestyle. But if you're not quite ready to dive into the deep end, small bursts of movement throughout the day have also been shown to improve fitness levels. For many of us, desk-bound workers grinding through the 9-to-5 life, movement is often limited. Research has found that people who sit the most can lose up to two years of life compared to those who sit less. They’re also more susceptible to harmful ailments like back pain, poor posture, and slowed metabolism.
"Active sitting has emerged as a solution that avoids the harms of passive sitting and introduces movement and increased BMR into one's sitting time," says Turner Osler, M.D., Emeritus Professor at [the] University of Vermont, CEO and Founder of QOR360. "The design of active chairs typically makes the seat slightly unstable, so sitting requires engagement of the core muscles to allow a balanced, upright posture."
You may have attempted to use walking pads or treadmills under your desk to increase daily steps, but not everyone is as skilled when it comes to multitasking. If that's the case for you, active sitting may be a better solution. Simply put, active chairs are unstable seats designed to encourage movement rather than restrict it, keeping your spine and core engaged throughout the day.
"Our office chairs are predicated on the idea that we require support in order to sit," Osler said in a past TEDx Talk. "But we aren't being supported. We're being confined and restrained."
Several companies offer such chairs, such as Osler's QOR360. Even if you don’t want to splurge on one (still recovering from the failed walking pad purchase, we get it), you can DIY your own using any unstable base, like a balance disc or wobble board. You might even consider busting out that old Swiss ball collecting dust in your garage.
Any of these options will give your spine a subtle but constant workout as you work.