I went looking for an office chair recently. Off I went to a store with a large selection, and sit-tested several of them. Some were bad, some just OK, but none "just right." I was about to settle for one of the OK ones when I spotted a very odd-looking chair off to the side. As I took a seat in it, it kind of whispered to me "just right." And it was.
The odd-looking chair turned out to have an odd-sounding name, too - HAG Capisco Saddle Chair. I had not experienced the combination of support and comfort the excentric appearing chair offered. Mostly, if chairs were comfortable, they didn't offer much support. Or if the offered support, they could be more comfortable.
The main thing I've found so agreeable about this chair is the way it gets me over my sit bones, making my whole skeleton available to support me in sitting and in movement. Always good to let your bones earn their keep, according to chair expert Galen Cranz in a 2004 interview:
You never want flesh to carry the load, bones should. Deep padding doesn't allow your fluids to enter and exit your cells properly and you have a build-up of waste material, which is fatiguing. Moreover, I believe one of the reasons we have so much cellulite in this country is because our flesh takes on this load-bearing function that it's not designed for.
This is great for doing office work, but really helps when using it in my Feldenkrais practice.There, it's vitally important to offer support to a client, and that's not easy if the practitioner isn't supported in the first place. The Capisco helps. (And I understand HAG also offers the saddle treatment in a stool, but I've not experienced it.)
Along those lines, I find the Capisco greatly aides the transition from sitting to standing, so important for lessening strain on the frame as you repeat this motion so many times. This is especially good for tall people, who often find themselves feeling like they are sitting in kindergarden chairs. (Try it sometime.) Cranz again:
But, posturally speaking, we need environments that support change and movement. A good chair allows you to sit in the perch position, which is a stance halfway between sitting and standing — a "sit-stand" where the pelvis rolls forward, the lumbar curve is preserved and the legs are in an oblique angle in relation to the spine. This position promotes circulation.
The Capisco is not pretty, and it's not cheap. But according to Cranz, it's not the only better-sitting alternative:
There are several ways to do it. People can use their kitchen counter or island so they can be in the sit-stand position to eat, do bills or work. For something inexpensive, you can buy a plain wooden stool that puts you in the perch position. One chair called the "Capisco" has a saddle seat with a space cut out for the thighs so that they can drop away. Rockers and lounge chairs, like the one you're on, are also good. When you sit in a regular chair, you round your back into this big, C-shaped hump. Lose your lumbar curve [the arch between the tailbone and middle-back] and you get slipped disks.
I'm glad that I decided to try the ugly duckling of the chair store's showroom. It's turned out to be a real swan.
tags technorati : chair chairs hag feldenkrais