wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

My question is whether it is legal not to provide a chair for people working behind cash registers like Wal mart and target? I was under the impression that standing for long hours is bad for your back and especially so if you are pregnant.

I learned the health benefits of working on my feet behind a soda counter when I was twelve and I have worked on my feet ever since - in restaurants, in clubs and theaters, and now, for the last twenty years, in a classroom.

I work with kids, I work on my computer, I correct papers, and I often read standing up - for ten hours a day. At home, my stomach feels bad when I sitting, so I am up and down from the table getting things from the kitchen when I am eating with others. If I am alone, I eat moving around the kitchen- which is clean when I finish my meal.

Sitting, to me , is a sign that I should lie down and sleep, so that's what I do instead.

I do sit, but only over coffee with friends and family.

I am a very fit, near-sixty-year-old teacher who attributes my long career and good health (and sense of humor) to sticking out my chin and standing on my own two feet as often as possible.

I wrote about just this issue in my April 9 blog post: http://essentialsomatics.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/chairs-are-they-really-so-useful/

As a Hanna Somatic Educator, I've been teaching my clients for years that the less they sit, the better they'll feel. Lumbar supports actually cause the back muscles to engage unnecessarily, when the problem lies in the lack of awareness of how we reflexively tighten our back muscles in response to the stress of sitting for long hours. Our muscles LEARN to adapt to the need to sit, and our brains set our muscle length accordingly. Periodically standing, flexing, extending and side bending is crucial to reminding muscles that they can move.

Consider a straight back chair with arms and a flat seat.. Some Alexander Technique students (especially at the piano) are shown several different ways to use the chair's back to encourage a so called dynamic widening of your back. The widening occurs with a certain
simultaneous lengthing of the entire arm, especially the area between and around your shouder blades.
Over time,soften your neck and soften your belly more as you notice incremental feedback from the back of the chair even if the feed back is very light.Try not to add pressure to your own back that is now lightly meeting the chair's back. Later on send your whole torso a bit forward then back from your hip joints (where your legs end , ) as if you were planning to rise to standing. After you become familiar with this large forward torso movement, let your heals become weight bearing as you indeed rise up to standing. The moment of Alexander truth occurs when you clear your weight bearing bottom ( sit bones) off the chair. Notice a new sensation of lengthening of your entire vertebral column as you breathe out and launch up into what is sometimes called gravitational field. It takes a lot of practice to get it but well worth the effort.This "effort" attenuates as the months go by.

It's not the chair that's the culprit - it's how we mis-use ourselves when sitting. Check out http://ergonomics.org for more information.

Taking frequent breaks, using a good chair, not slouching may all be important. But the thing to do about this, besides quitting your job, is to take a few sessions in the Alexander Technique. It will teach you how to deal with whatever your situation is. I'm a certified AT teacher here in NYC, and I see and help people with this problem all day. There are Alexander Technique teachers all over the world. Here's a short video:
http://tinyurl.com/dlvual
Mark Josefsberg-Alexander Technique NYC

I'm also an Alexander Technique teacher and want to follow-up Gwynne Marshall's terrific on-air comments. How you use your body while working at your desk is vital to your back health. The Bloomberg reporter mentioned some great strategies - standing desk, perching on a high stool, finding ways to get up frequently from your chair - but you can also change how you use your chair! Not only is your spine S-shaped, but it also has a natural cushioning system built in (spinal disks, ligaments, and small postural muscles). Learning how to take advantage of this moveability in sitting is life-changing. Sitting can actually begin to feel "buoyant"...not just painful, heavy, and slumped.

www.rebeccatuffey.net

For further reading get “The Chair” by Galen Cranz. She’s a little extreme with some things but has some good ideas.

How about kneeling at your desk?

My desk is built in to the cubicle system, so the only adjustment I could make would be to get on my knees in front of my computer.

I may try it today, I wonder if my co-workers will think I've lost my mind...

I suggest the Alexander Technique. It isn't about the chair, but how you use the chair. Sitting turns the chair into your legs. When you sit, imagine that you are standing on the chair with the chair as your legs.

www.freeyourneck.com

I have a very stylish chair with mesh backing, this cant be good for the posture but it's cute...I do have an ergonomic keyboard and mouse however!

IN my studies on training in the Alexander Technique, I learned that you can't sit for longer than 30 minutes at a time without compressing.

Alexander Technique really helps teach how to sit better and what to pay attention to. Saved my life.

after watching Marina Abramović at MoMA who sits perfectly erect I changed the way i sit (using a ball now) and it has helped my back a lot.

I work in a bank both behind the teller line and behind a desk. There are days when I am standing nearly the full ten hours, sitting only when helping a client with a more complex issue than can be handled across the counter, and on my 30-minute lunch break. However, this standing/sitting mix is a welcome improvement over my past retail jobs, standing for 12 hours at a time, and actually not being allowed to sit for fear of being written up.

Has the guest heard of the field of human factors (engineering, operations research, anthropometry, design) ? Just wondering before ergonomics gets branded as marketing; factory workers, pilots, and people at control panels would beg to differ. Also, doesn’t matter how ergonomically correct a chair is when people just slump down like rag dolls when they sit.

I've replaced my office chair with an exercise ball and alternately sit and kneel on it to keep me doing moderate exercise throughout the day.

She's talked a couple of times about sitting above - that sounds ridiculously uncomfortable. I wish I could visualize better what she's talking about. Is there an illustration?

is it the same if you sit on the floor, or is it the actual chair?

Most of my work is computer related, so standing isn't an option (the cost of redesigning an office is prohibitive). I have a standard, adjustable office chair. I have recently started sitting in the chair with it at the highest position. It may not sound like much of a change, but I am a short person so with the chair set high, I am forced to sit forward so my feet can touch the floor. My back and legs now feel much better.

I'm a theater designer and when we're in production, I end up sitting in a theater seat for up to 15 hours a day. I get so tired from sitting and my legs routinely start to ache, not to mention theater seats aren't all that comfortable for that long. There's no real way around it, unfortunately.

There are a whole group of workers who have no choice but to sit all day. Example would be bus drivers. This may have some connection to the high instance of High blood pressure among bus drivers. Something to think about next time the mayor get on TV and calls MTA workers,"Thugs."

Fact: fast food seating intentionally has no lumbar support to make you uncomfortable so you’ll eat faster and make room for other customers.

So am I doing okay if I have to bend over my desk to be able to see the screen due to poor glasses?

I'm lucky enough to work at a company that has desks that go up and down electronically and it has absolutely saved my back and its myriad disc issues. I stand all day and it's fantastic. In a former company, though, that didn't have the luxury of the electronic desks, one employee kind of rigged his own standing situation. It can be done and if you have a bad back, it's really important.

I work in the field and spend about half the day in the car & half the day knocking on doors.

How does that effect my health?

What about using a balance ball instead of a chair? If we can't get our companies to pay for new, standing level desks, does a balance ball provide any benefits compared to chairs?

I sit on a ball chair and I love it. It's helped my posture both sitting and standing. Not everyone likes it, but I don't think I could ever go back to a standard chair.

try a conductor's Stand - not chair - for an inexpensive stand-up desk. Great for a laptop. I have a net-book and a legal pad on mine now..

$40 bucks on Amazon.

I've heard that sitting on an exercise ball instead of a chair is beneficial to your core. Does that ameliorate some of the pitfalls of sitting??

fyi, architects don't sit on stools at drafting tables anymore, we sit in office chairs staring at computer screens just like everyone else...

What about those of us who have foot problems? I could not possibly stand at work.

Sitting 8-10 hrs a day. Honestly, I wish I could move more to work. :)

I purchased a sit / stand desk about 10 years ago and it changed my life. It moves up and down at the touch of a button so that I can stand (70%), sit in my ergonomic chair (20%), and sit on my inflatable ball (10%). And I take at least a 30-minute walk two or three times each day.

Only standing isn't great either, as pointed out by JP from NJ. As someone who suffers lower back pain, I know that it's important to move and not remain in any static position for too long.

Brian, please ask your guest: If one wanted to combat the lethargy that follows lunch, how long should one stand before sitting back down?

What about the chairs where you are kind of kneeling?

What does the guest speaker think of replacing desk chairs with those inflated balls that are used for ab exercises at the gym?

ack! What am I to do? I am a graphic/web designer!
Is your guest saying I am going to evolve into jabba the hut??

Does your guest have any suggestions as to how we can convert our society to one that will economically support standing?

I use an old drafting table that has a motor to adjust its height. I work from home so it's no problem.

WWJD!? remember that strange scene in Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ, where Jesus the carpenter shows his mother the dining room table he has just invented, and he pantomimes sitting at it in a hypothetical chair and says something like "someday people will eat meals at a table like this." Mary was quite skeptical, but it looks like the Son of God was correct!

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote his opinions standing up. That's why he lived so long

The best situation I ever had was a workplace that had a desk that could be raised and lowered, so I could alternate sitting and standing.
Now that I work in a home-office (a low-budget one), I alternate between a pilates ball and a chair. I miss being able to stand for periods of time. Standing up to work feels great! It makes me feel more energetic and alert, and cuts down on neck/shoulder tension. I wouldn't want to do it all day, but it's a relief to be able to stand and work for, say, 15 minutes at a time.

Stand-up desks are very expensive - try an orchestra conductor's chair:

https://www.amazon.com/Stage-SM7311W-Conductor-Stand-Bookplate/dp/B000WE0E7S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=musical-instruments&qid=1273243506&sr=8-1

Office chair - improperly adjusted chair can cause problems with sciatica nerve and carpal tunnel syndrome while using office equipment.

Ergonomic Seating – improperly adjusted chair can cause same problems with sciatica nerve and carpal tunnel syndrome while using office equipment.

Standing – varicose veins (that can be physically painful) and stress on the lower back and knees.

On The Go – stress on the lower back and lower knees (back injury and knee injury are by far the most common adult injuries).

I Mix it Up – potential for all of the above all at the same time.

Other – floating in zero gravity would probably pose the least stress on the body but could potentially weaken bone structure and muscle mass.

Aging – dramatically increases the chances for all of the above problems.

Occupational Therapy – excellent field to get into due to no shortage of injuries mentioned above.