Chairs, Posture and the Alexander Technique

As a teacher of the Alexander Technique(1), I am frequently asked about chairs by my students, and about which designs are best. Some have been given very expensive, ergonomically-designed chairs at work and wonder if they are actually any better than ordinary ones. Others complain about their car seats, or about the curved plastic chairs often found in waiting rooms and in many airport lounges.

t is certainly true that some chairs are a lot more comfortable than others, and that some chairs make it easier to have a healthier upright posture. But even if you could find the perfect chair, you could hardly carry it around with you all day long. Sooner or later, you would be confronted with a choice between standing or sitting in a less than desirable chair.

From an Alexander Technique perspective, looking for the perfect chair is an exercise in futility. It is our body that sits in a chair, and if we want to improve our comfort and health, our primary attention must be directed at improving our own functioning - that is, what we do with our own body when we sit.

Its a sort of bad news, good news situation: The bad news is that we cant blame our aches and pains on our furniture. As the cartoon character Pogo once remarked, We have met the enemy and they is us! The good news is that we have it within our power to change the way we sit and, in fact, we can learn how to sit well in virtually any situation that presents itself to us.

The Alexander Technique is a very powerful method of learning to do just that. It teaches you ways to direct your body so that you can have an easy upright posture in virtually any sitting situation you find yourself in.

But what about those expensive ergonomically-designed chairs? Wont they insure good seating posture at least during the time youre using them?

Im afraid the answer is no. Its entirely possible to slouch, or distort your body in other ways while using these chairs. An ergonomist colleague of mine tells me that offices around the country are littered with unused very expensive chairs (and other furniture items) because they didnt seem to help.

In fact, some ergonomic designs are positively harmful. When I lived in England, training to become an Alexander Technique teacher, I often had occasion to use the British Rail system. I soon noticed three distinct types of seats: older, very basic, seats with padded flat bottoms and backs; somewhat newer seats (from the 1950s and 60s) that had a forward bend in the seat backs; and some quite new seats that combined an exaggerated bend with a forward-protruding head rest.

I noticed that the newer chairs made it very difficult for the average rider to sit without having his or her head pushed so far forward that a slouch was almost inevitable. Of course, as I said earlier, with training its possible to sit well in pretty much any chair, but these new seats were among the most challenging Ive ever encountered. The older chairs were far better because their neutral design didnt force unnatural body contortions.

I learned that these new seats were, in fact, designed by ergonomists and that the way they went about their design was to match the chair to posture of the average rider. But the average rider has pretty poor sitting posture to begin with so these chairs were simply reinforcing that prevailing pattern.

So, what advice can I give regarding chairs? First, dont look to a chair as the primary solution to poor posture - remember its your posture and so its you that has to learn how to change it. But if you have a choice, I recommend very simple, basic designs - fairly flat, reasonably firm bottoms and backs that do not force your torso into any particular shape.

In addition, theres a lot to be said for having your knees at a lower height that your hips. This tends to encourage the natural double C curvature of your spine that provides easy upright support for your body. The simplest way to do this is to use a stool whose base is higher than the typical chair when you can. My students are often skeptical when I recommend this (Theres no backrest!) but most of those who try it for a few days report feeling far more comfortable once they get used to the added height.

1. The Alexander Technique is a century-old method of learning how to release harmful tension from your body. The Complete Guide to the Alexander Technique is a comprehensive information source.

The Ergonomics.org website at http://www.ergonomics.org explores the relationship between the science of ergonomics and the benefits of Alexander Technique training.

Robert Rickover is an Alexander Technique teacher living in Lincoln, Nebraska. He also teaches regularly in Toronto, Canada. He is the author of Fitness Without Stress - A Guide to the Alexander Technique and is the creator of The Complete Guide to the Alexander Technique website at http://www.alexandertechnique.com

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