Ergonomic Posture Chairs

Posture communicates.

Posture is the coordination and positioning of our body parts like our head, arms and feet against the forces of gravity. When part of the body is moved, our posture changes with it. Typically our Posture while sitting, standing or while laying down creates a body language.  Our body language which is nonverbal can reflect our health condition, or our mental condition or attitude.

Whether at work or rest, a good posture  the state of muscular and skeletal balance that protects the supporting structures of the body against injury or progressive deformity. Faulty posture, however, increases stress on certain parts of the body or the joints which cause imbalance. Increased stress on the joints can be compensated for by strong muscles. But overtime the muscle is wearing out, and body imbalace leads to effects muscles low back pain other problems. It also leads to damages and changes to the surrounding tissues.

Posture involves the chain-link concept of body mechanics. Our body is an amazing network of system that work together. Our body works as a whole mechanics in which problems anywhere along the body chain can lead to problems above or below that point. .  Examples:

• Headaches, eyestrain, and neck and upper back pain can be caused by the head being too far forward or rearward, a lot of time involved sitting in front of computer.  Because computer is such an integrate part of of our modern life, safety concern for computer ergonomics and guidelines for an ergonomic computer desk are important to our overal posture wellness.
• Low back or knee pain can arise from pelvic joint disorders that are caused by traditional office task chair that lack of ergonomics posture supports.

Causes of poor posture:

The causes of faulty posture can be divided into two categories: positional and structural.

Positional causes of poor posture include:

• over reliance on off-balanced support from a non-ergonomic task chair
• poor postural habit—the person does not maintain a correct posture
• psychological factors, self-esteem issues 
• general degenerative processes
• weakness or damage in the bady part
• overweight
• loss of proprioception—the ability to perceive the position of your body
• muscle fatigue low back pain leading to muscle guarding and avoidance postures
• muscle imbalance, spasm, or contracture
• joint hypermobility or hypomobility
• respiratory conditions

Structural causes are permanent deformities the individual is born with.

Except for some leg length inequalities can be corrected conservatively, structural causes are basically permanent anatomical deformities that may not amenable to correction by conservative treatments.

Physiology of posture:

Posture control involves static reflex activities:

Static reflexes involve sustained contraction of the musculature.

Dynamic short-term reflexes involve transient movements.

Largely effected through extrapyramidal motor pathways, both types of reflex are integrated at various levels in the central nervous system (CNS) from the spinal cord to the cerebral cortex. Postural reflex patterns from reflexes, such as the stretch and flexion (withdrawal) reflex pathways, result in a coordination of many joint movements and combinations of muscle actions: These involve the contraction of prime movers, synergists, and stabilizers, along with the necessary relaxation of antagonists. These muscles are regulated for contraction intensity, speed, duration, and sequential changes in activity.

Resulting from the incessant shifting of weight (postural sway), the integrative pattern of posture is predominantly automatic and unconscious.

Posture is constantly mediated by the visual, labyrinthine, neck-righting reflexes, and by the interplay of joint reflexes. Postural corrections are continuously mediated by spinal reflexes. Posture to some extent can be corrected just as it was learned in the first place while the control of posture is primarily controlled by various reflex mechanisms. There is also extensive input from the higher centers of the nervous system.  Exercise to improve posture is a way to train and to conservatively correct bad posture.

Correcting postural faults:

Before they can be effectively corrected, postural faults must be accurately analyzed and examined.

 Examination should include the following:

1.  flexibility tests and joint mobility tests
2.  observation of the patient as they sit and move about
3.  muscle length and strength tests
4.  spinal alignment
5.  if appropriate: measurement or estimation of the deviation from ideally erect postures using plumb lines, inclinometry, and posture guides —done in three or all four views

Much of the specific therapy in posture correction relies directly on muscle tightness and weakness found during examination. Therefore, the importance of muscle testing to postural analysis cannot be over-emphasized.

Corrective ergonomics posture therapies:

Heat; massage (including alternative therapeutic chair with heat and massage) ; stretching; strengthening exercises; supportive measures to treat ligaments, bones, and nerves; and cold therapy technics are six main modalities to be employed in the conventional treatment of faulty body mechanics.  Nevertheless, postural faults: shortened agonist muscles must be stretched before the antagonist muscles can be optimally exercised to increase their strength, or vice versa. Depending on the condition, manipulation may also be required to release an accompanying fixation. Therefore, manipulation should be added to the list of posture correction therapies.

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