Comments on: Finding the Perfect Office Chair: Aeron vs. Swiss Ball vs. the FBI’s Pick…

By: Maren

Maren — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:23:05 +0000

note added later:
in the cited German teachers forum there are TWO teachers comments whose back-pain worsened when sitting on a swopper …

By: Maren

Maren — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:11:38 +0000

@Herrmann: The situation is more complex.
Sitting o a chair without backrest is not advisable. The „Institut für Hygiene und Arbeitsphysiologie“ of the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zürich, Swizzerland, gives lots of precise recommendations in its article “Was ist ein ergonomischer Stuhl? / What is an ergonomical chair?” for healthy seating.
http://web.archive.org/web/20011130210249/www.iha.bepr.ethz.ch/pages/ergo/sitzen.htm
I am citing (german / translated) e.g.:
Die Rückenlehne als Entspannungshilfe! / The backrest as an aid for relaxing.
„….. Ein ergonomisch durchdachter Stuhl sollte Entspannungsmöglichkeiten nicht einschränken. Die entspannteste Sitzhaltung bietet die Möglichkeit, in einer aufrechten Haltung an eine Rückenlehne anzulehnen. Man soll deswegen nie auf eine Rückenlehne verzichten!”
Translation:
“… An ergonomical well designed chair should not restrict the possibilities to relax while sitting. The most relaxed sitting position is given if there is the possibility to be supported at a back rest in an upright sitting position. Therefore you should NEVER abstain from a backrest!”

The cited ETH Zürich article starts with:
“An chair should not restrict the wish of the body to move”, which means e.g., that you need a backrest which follows the movements of your body as good as possible. Therefore I think Anja wrote above that she was FIGHTING for one of the Schwipp office-chairs in her institute and lost pain sitting on it within a few days and Meike wrote in the teachers-forum, that she can only sit on a Schwipp when she has PAIN in her back caused by tensions of her muscles.

By: Sean Anthony

Sean Anthony — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:12:37 +0000

Tim – the University of Queensland did an interesting study looking at a variety of health-related parameters and found that sitting, as a whole, contributed quite negatively to health. I was fascinated by their findings and, as a result, have tried to incorporate standing into my office/work routine.

A quote from this article: “[c]hair time is an insidious hazard because people haven’t been told it’s a hazard.” Hamilton has studied the fat-absorbing mechanism of lipase and said that, “if you can perform a behavior while sitting or standing, I would choose standing.”

Check out the article here: http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Link-Between-Sitting-and-Poor-Health&id=3603437

By: Hermann

Hermann — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:32:12 +0000

@Maren: No, you got it wrong. The teacher does not have back problems, but problems with her muscles tightening up. No surprise, she has weak back muscles, which comes from using chairs with back rests. Back rests are unnecessary.

By: Maren

Maren — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:27:18 +0000

@Herrmann, who wrote:
“Swopper (formerly Aires) Muvman is based on the same principle of movement as schwipp.de, but in …….”
No, this two chairs can not be compared, as the Schwipp office chair A3S has got a back rest with an “active” lordose support, which is more or less unique. There is no back rest at the Swopper Muvman. The swopper muvman could thus only be compared to the Schwipp Runner, also without back rest.
Look at this link: http://www.lehrerforen.de/thread.php?threadid=17757&hilight=schwipp , and here you will find, that the back pain of a teacher got worse!!!! sitting on a swopper – whereas the Schwipp office chair with back rest is the only chair she can sit on when she suffers from her back pain – because of it perfect back rest system (two seperate joints, tandem arrangemant).