Active sitting with backrest support: Is it feasible?

Area of Science:

• Ergonomics
• Biomechanics
• Human Factors Engineering

Background:

• Ergonomics science advocates for office chairs promoting active sitting to mitigate sedentary work issues.
• Existing dynamic office chairs often fail to fully meet active sitting recommendations.
• A novel chair was developed by inverting a known dynamic chair principle to address these limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare active sitting on a newly developed inverted dynamic office chair against two existing dynamic chairs.
• To evaluate upper body stability and spinal mobility during a simulated computer-based office task.
• To assess user comfort and perceived activity levels associated with the inverted chair design.

Main Methods:

• Experimental laboratory study involving 8 participants performing a simulated computer task.
• Analysis of upper body stability using Friedman ANOVA (p=.01).
• Participant questionnaires to rate comfort and activity after a half working day.

Main Results:

• The inverted chair facilitated a significant range of lateral spine flexion (11.5°).
• Participants exhibited the most stable upper body posture on the inverted chair (≤11 mm, ≤2°, p≤.01).
• Active sitting with backrest support was feasible on the new chair, but limited on existing models.

Conclusions:

• The inverted chair design appears to support active sitting with backrest support effectively during computer work.
• Further verification in a larger field study (24 participants) is recommended to confirm comfort and activity ratings.
• The findings suggest a potential improvement in ergonomic office seating solutions.