Avita

If you are in the market for an ergonomic office chair for your workplace, you have probably been inundated with advertisements proclaiming that simple exercise balls will solve all of your back pain issues. Whilst some people will scoff at the claims and immediately head for the chair section of their local furniture supplier, others will stop and consider balls as a viable alternative. The real question is whether exercise balls can be considered ergonomic or not.

Many experts from around the world have accepted that exercise balls can be okay for short periods of time, but are adamant that they are not suitable for prolonged office sitting.

And here’s why:

· Sitting on a ball provides no torso support and leads to constant torso movement (which does aid in maintaining muscle tone). However, because muscles shorten during contraction, lots of compression is being placed on the intervertebral discs. Sitting also causes the pelvis to be rotated forwards, which flattens the lumbar lordosis and further compresses the discs.

· In the morning, your spine is elongated because you have been lying down asleep for 8 hours. This means that the space between your intervertebral discs is larger and that the spine is more unstable. Lifting and excessive spinal movement in the first few hours after waking is not recommended, as it puts too much pressure on your spine. Exercise balls and similar objects should not be used.

In fact, when rehabilitation advisors (who use exercise balls for therapeutic purposes) are asked to support the use of balls in place of ergonomic office chairs, they will generally decline for these reasons:

· A person can slump just as easily on an exercise ball as they can whilst seated in a chair;

· The use of a ball to strengthen abdominal and other torso muscles is best done under the guidance and direct supervision of a medical professional (employers should only allow the use of a ball with written directions or prescriptions from said professional);

· Exercise balls are not ergonomic devices because they do not offer user operated adjustments;

· The balls introduce a safety hazard into the office – they have a tendency to roll out from underneath a person when they sit or stand, and they pose the risk of a person losing their balance and falling off; and

· The people who are most enthusiastic about the use of exercise balls in place of chairs are those whose job it is to sell or promote them (not the user who will end up sitting on one for 8 or more hours a day).


For all the good that exercise balls may do in your local gym or rehabilitation centre, you really should think twice before replacing your ergonomic office chair with one. Whilst they do offer certain advantages and have been known to alleviate back pain when used for a prescribed period of time in a supervised environment, they actually present more risks than benefits when used in the workplace. Please do not become that person!