SOOTHING VIBES, the offerings of a jazz trio, fill the Round Room at downtown Toronto’s posh Carlu event centre.
Dressed head to toe in statement black, wait staff weave expertly through the crowd, dispensing martinis, wine and an array of tasty hors d’oeuvres. The light is low — a comfy cocoon for the assembled — but for the bright blue, shifting shafts of radiance dancing on the waves of jazz.
Certainly, there’s no shortage of style at the event, the official launch of a breathable, non-rigid-frame ergonomic chair. But when it comes to office chairs, it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing. And that swing is whatever features prevent a beauty from becoming a beast.
Terry Cassaday, president of ergoCentric Seating Systems, maker of the chair, along with other manufacturers and ergonomists, would be quick to agree that style is a poor second to safe design.
“The aesthetics of the chair really shouldn’t have anything to do with what chair you pick,” suggests certified professional ergonomist Kirsti MacAulay, president of Options Inc. in Guelph, Ontario.
Purchasers are often drawn to large, leather chairs because of their stately appearance, but Marnie Downey, a certified professional ergonomist and president of ERGO Inc. in Barrie, Ontario, recommends that buyer beware. “The seat pans are usually large and the armrests are often fixed to a certain height and are too wide apart,” Downey says.
Large, albeit stylish, armrests prevent users from sitting close enough to desks, Cassaday adds, requiring that users “stretch their arms out in order to key or reach the desk surface.”
What matters most, MacAulay contends, is that a chair fits the user. This will be determined, in part, by the dimensions of its main features: seat pan and backrest.
Standard chair dimensions vary by manufacturer and specific product line. For instance, a large seat pan may be 22 inches wide by 19 inches deep; a standard version, 20 by 19 inches; and a small model, 18.5 by 17 inches.
The other side of the fit equation is adjustability range, which allows the user to tailor a chair to personal characteristics. (MacAulay says a positive design development has been that chairs now often come with a greater number of standard adjustable ergonomic features.)
For the typical nine-to-five office environment, a chair with the common adjustments (such as seat pan tilt, seat height, backrest height and angle, armrest height and lumbar support) can be found that will work for about 95 per cent of the work force, MacAulay suggests.
Those are good numbers, but chair buyers must understand that something different may be required every now and then. Users who are very small or very large will require individual attention, says Kees Breeuwsma, vice-president of seating for Teknion, a Torontobased office furniture design and manufacturing firm.
A little education
Linda Miller, a certified professional ergonomist in Edmonton and president of EWI Works, says equipment purchasers sometimes end up with stylish (but ergonomically ugly) chairs because they were touted as ergonomically sound. “A lot of purchasers are, almost, confused in the process,” Miller suggests.
Numerous avenues are available for a quick study, including safety organizations and professional ergonomists, to get a handle on what a chair can and should do. But a little hands-on is also in order.
Before committing to purchase, Downey recommends that users try out the chair for at least a full day, though a week is preferable.
MacAulay adds it is “critical” that companies buying chairs in bulk adopt a participative approach by including employees in equipment testing and selection. “You want to make sure that the end-user has buy-in into what you’re going to go with.”
Relaying information — no matter how seemingly insignificant — to the person overseeing chair testing is essential to identify the best chair for the specific user. Is the seat pan’s front edge digging into the back of the quadriceps? Are arms sitting awkwardly on the armrests?
A fully loaded chair is useless if the person doesn’t know how to adjust it, says Breeuwsma. A worker might as well sit on an orange crate if adjustments are not understood and used, he quips.
MacAulay, armed with responses from about 500 workers at one company, says a “staggering” number could perform only limited adjustments, such as seat height.
It’s not for lack of information. Manufacturers typically give detailed instructions, offer personal instruction, and may provide links to interactive tutorials on the Net.
Workplace culture plays a role, Downey says. “If the culture is very safety-driven and safety-orientated, we find that people will take the knowledge and try to apply it.”
One way to get workers to care about chair adjustments is to inform them of possible health consequences of ill-fitting seats. “The [employer] needs to take the initiative to train and explain,” Breeuwsma emphasizes.
As part of the company’s health and safety program, MacAulay says that a representative should check in with employees periodically — for instance, two months after beginning to use the chairs — to determine if adjustments are being correctly used and employees are maintaining good posture.
When a company examines its lighting, fire alarms, and so forth, Downey suggests it also check its ergonomic chairs.
It’s good to remember that aches and pains can surface for the chair user because of a number of “don’ts”:
• A person who leans forward with the back off the backrest may do so because the seat pan is sloped too far forward, Downey says, resulting in stress on the lower back. There will always be compression of the vertebrae despite the thighs-to-torso angle when seated, but pressure on the spine will increase the closer a user gets to 90 degrees (or less).
• Pressure tends to flatten the lumbar curve, Cassaday says, which in the short term (say, a week) may cause muscle spasms. Over years, this compression can produce herniated discs. “People have to use fatigue in the back muscles as a warning and not assume that, since the discomfort goes away when they get up, they are not doing any harm,” he says.
• A seat pan that is too deep or a backrest that is farther back than needed can put pressure on the back of the knees, Miller cautions. She recommends a clearance of two to three inches between the knee and the chair’s front edge.
• If a user finds that he or she is shrugging the shoulders while sitting, the arm rests are too high. Arms should rest comfortably, without needing to slouch or lift the shoulders.
Perhaps one of the biggest “don’ts” is the tendency to remain seated for hours on end. Miller suggests getting up every hour and walking for a few minutes to boost blood circulation.
When sitting, the two major veins behind each thigh are compressed, inhibiting blood flow and causing the veins to swell and become inflamed, says information from ergoCentric. Static loading occurs when, because of inadequate blood flow to the muscles, lactic acid builds up and causes pain and muscle spasm. “Eventually, the muscles fatigue,” the information goes on to say.
Body language
The body doesn’t suffer discomfort without protest — at least not forever. Usually, there are tell-tale signs or feelings that indicate injury may be a possibility. Downey notes that swelling in the feet or numbness in the legs suggests blood circulation needs to be improved; neck discomfort may follow increased tension related to limited movement and lowered circulation; and herniated discs may compress nearby nerves to cause pain in the arms, forearms, hands and fingers.
It’s difficult to set a timeframe by which, without remedial measures, an injury may occur, particularly since this will vary from person to person and from job to job, says Downey. “However, static postures at any site, combined with awkward postures, will increase the individual’s injury potential,” she notes.
“Our bodies were not built to sit,” Breeuwsma says when asked if some discomfort should be expected from those who sit for much, if not all, of the day. “Sitting is a necessary evil.”
Many revolutionary changes in ergonomic features are already with us, Breeuwsma says. The difference now, to a great extent, “is through the use of materials and the looks of products.”
