Tag Archive - Varier Move

Why A Standing Desk User Needs A Standing Support

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Renowned Australian physiotherapist Jenny Pynt wrote an interesting article recently on the Varier Furniture Blog entitled “Standing desks need a standing support.” With all the recent interest in standing to work these days she discusses some of the pitfalls of simply standing all day and how it can be bad for you.

Why prolonged standing is bad
If you simply decide to stand all day instead of sitting you may quickly find that you are replacing one set of problems with another. Standing for long periods is often associated with back and lower limb pain. This is a result of the build up of the load placed on the same muscles for prolonged periods.

Not only that excessive standing affects blood circulation and causes pooling of blood in the lower legs. The outcome of this is swollen legs.

The problem with just standing is the lack of support leaving your body with far too much to do.

Why you need support when standing
When you’ve been standing for a long time it’s usually a great relief to be able to sit down as it takes the pressure of those over stressed limbs. It’s not that standing to work is a bad thing it’s just that your body needs some support and variation of movement.

Leading seat designer Peter Opsvik has spent over 35 years designing innovative seating. In the early 1980s he came up with the concept of the Balans Supporter as a result of observing people standing at work. He realized that what was needed was something people could use as a perch to support themselves while standing. It allowed the user to adopt many different positions and so gain both movement and support.

Unfortunately the Supporter was never released as a commercial product which is a shame because in many respects it would have been a great accessory for standing workers.

Luckily there is a solution to this problem that is readily available.

How a Move stool makes the perfect support

Varier’s Move stool is a cleverly designed seat that acts both as a chair and a perch. It has a huge range of height adjustment making it suitable for sitting and perching.

Perching is an alternative way of working where you are neither sitting nor standing. Instead you are supporting your body in a very healthy open posture. It’s similar to using a tall bar stool without the drink of course!

One of the things that make it unique is its convex dish shaped curved base. It’s designed to used at an angle rather than upright. This makes it perfect for perching at a standing desk. The triangular shaped seat forms a natural resting place for your buttocks making it very stable in use.

And when you need to move to reach something on your desk the curved base rolls along as you move. It remains very stable and the great thing is it encourages movement providing stimulation of the spinal and abdominal muscles. So the problem of muscle inactivity is taken care of as you work.

Another key difference between the Move and a conventional office chair is your legs and feet remain in contact with the floor.

With a chair at extended height your lower legs and feet are left hanging in the air. This places pressure on the thighs and restricts the blood vessels resulting in swelling and decreased blood supply.

The reason the Move succeeds when working at a standing desk is that it encourages movement. Even so some unsupported standing is beneficial.

When standing is a good idea
As already pointed out excessive standing is a bad idea. However standing unsupported for short periods is good because it relieves pressure building up on your trunk. Additionally if you make small movements when standing this helps to keep your body healthy.

Putting it all together
Let’s quickly summarize the key points we’ve covered here:

  • Prolonged standing places undue stress on your body
  • Supported standing allows relief for overstressed muscles and limbs
  • A Move stool is great for working at a raised work surface
  • Some unsupported standing is good as it relieves pressure on the trunk

Resources
Want more background on the Standing Support? Go to the Resources page. You can find links to Jenny Pynt’s full article on the need for support when using a standing desk, more detail on the Varier Move stool, Peter Opsvik’s book “Rethinking Sitting” and other interesting links.

                         

How Well Will A Standard Office Chair Perform With A Sit Stand Desk?

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Imagine going into a bar for a beer and after you’ve been served your drink you decide to sit at the bar on one of the stools. But there’s a problem. You can’t see over the bar because the stools don’t adjust because they’re designed for normal table use.

Well things aren’t quite as inflexible with standard task chairs and moving top desk use, nonetheless they aren’t ideal.

Is an ordinary office chair suitable for sit stand working?
It would be a mistake to think that a standard office chair is completely suitable for use with a sit stand desk. It will certainly be fine for use while you’re sitting at either a similar height to a fixed desk or maybe a slightly elevated position.

However much beyond these levels it’s likely that a conventional office chair will start to show its limitations. This is due to the fact that most office seat gas lifts have a restricted height adjustability range. This is not surprising as they are designed for use with fixed height desktops, typically around 30 inches. When you come to working at higher levels a more specialized seat is required.

When do specialist chairs work better?
Chairs specifically intended for height adjustable desk use are designed to have a far greater flexibility in height positioning. Consequently where a typical office chair adjusts between say 16 and 20 inches, specialist seats cover a much wider overall height range commonly anywhere between 19 and 30 inches or more. This increased range makes them much more adaptable.

As well as handling height variation far better they also have a different approach in the design of the actual seat pad. With standard seating the seat is usually made to support the whole area of the users bottom and upper thighs. So seat pads are generally quite large.

However, when sitting at a more elevated angle the relationship between body and seat changes and we actually sit in a different posture requiring a more flexible approach.

How do you sit differently when sit stand working?
One of the most popular ways of sit stand working is setting the desk and chair up to a semi standing position. Here the user is really perching on the seat and using it more as a rest rather than a full on seat.

The reason this happens is because in a half standing posture your weight is transferred more naturally through your thighs, legs and feet. Your bottom just needs somewhere to rest on rather than the need for full support of the buttocks and thighs.

Just imagine sitting on the edge of your car’s front wing, you would really be using it as a rest rather than a seat.

Because you body is in an open posture when perching and your weight is being passed healthily it’s possible to work like this for extended periods and sit stand users love the flexibility and comfort it brings.

Seats designed for working this way look different to conventional chairs. Take HÅG’s Capisco chair, the seat on its most popular model is smaller and more like a saddle. With Varier’s Move chair the seat again is different, it’s triangular and smaller in overall area.

Both are excellent for working at higher levels and even when used at conventional seat heights remain comfortable. Of course when you choose to work standing up your chair temporarily becomes redundant, regardless of what you use. Where does all this leave you current chair?

Does this mean I need to replace my existing office chair?
As we’ve already seen the lack of height adjustability with normal office chairs does make them inflexible for many situations in sit stand working.

However, it may be possible to make a quick and cost effective change to you present chair to give it the added flexibility you need for working at higher levels. Depending on the model you have it may be feasible to change the chair’s existing gas lift for one that has a higher adjustment range.

Often chair manufacturers offer the option of alternative gas lifts specifically intended for either taller users or higher than normal work surfaces. So, in the first instance check with your supplier and see what can be done. If it’s not possible to adapt you chair, replacing it may be the only alternative. You could try it first and see if you can live with it for a while.

Here are the key points we’ve covered:

  • Standard office chairs usually don’t adjust high enough for sit stand desk use
  • Specialist chairs have a far wider range of height flexibility
  • Specialist chairs have shaped seats designed for semi-standing use
  • You may be able to fit a new gas lift to your present chair for a wider height range

So just like those short bar stools, normal office chairs often don’t work well for sit stand working. To get true flexibility you need a seat designed for the job. Here’s where you can find more about HÅG’s Capisco and Varier’s Move chair as well as some other sit stand seating ideas all offering great flexibility for this way of working.

                    

Why You Should Combine Standing With Sitting At Your Work

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Our bodies love variation of posture. When you go to bed at night although you may go to sleep in a certain position it’s highly unlikely you stay in the same spot all night.
Just as your body doesn’t like being in the same posture too long when you’re awake it’s the same when you sleep. You turn in your sleep when you body senses it needs a change.

How sitting limits your movement
When you spend your working day sitting it’s very easy to find that you aren’t getting nearly enough movement. One of the main reasons for this is that many office chairs simply don’t encourage movement. They are more like a dining room chair on wheels. While the base allows you to move in and out from your desk the rest of you body can often be held rigidly.

And so as the day goes on your body gradually stiffens up and starts aching due to lack of movement. The other reason it happens is because when you start to concentrate on something you simply don’t notice how you are sitting.
Commonly when people concentrate they tend to fix their focus on their screen and often end up in an almost trance like fixed posture. This is not a healthy way of working.

Why sitting is bad for your health
Humans simply weren’t designed for prolonged sitting and it’s only in the last 100 years or so this unhealthy way of living has become the norm. As everything becomes more automated, work that involved movement is less and less common.

Machines now do what we used to do and the result is we just sit and control them. This lack of activity means we don’t burn off excess calories and tend to pile on weight in all the wrong places.

Additionally, lack of movement means our muscles don’t get the use they need. And those that do tend to get placed under a lot of stress and strain because they often get stuck in unhealthy positions for far too long. What’s needed is more movement and getting out of your chair is a good start.

How sit stand working can help increase mobility
The simple act of standing at your work provides those tired muscles with the variation they crave. Doing so starts the blood pumping through the body again and nourishes and relieves aching limbs. By getting out of your chair during the day you start to help you body’s mobility.

However, with a fixed height desk although standing up helps it means you have to break your work pattern. This is where a sit stand desk can be really beneficial because it means you can change your posture and continue working.

Although a height adjustable desk might seem like a bit of a gimmick, the benefits of this way of working are very real. A study by Cornell University showed that 64.7% of participants who tried working at an electrically height adjustable work surface definitely preferred it to sitting at a fixed height work surface.

Why a mix of sitting and standing makes sense
When you work at a sit stand desk you will find you change the position you work in as your body feels the need to. One of the ways your system lets you know it time to move is through pain. Pain should never be ignored. Quite simply take it as a signal it’s time for change.

How perching can increase working comfort
Perching at a height adjustable desk is actually a very comfortable posture to work in. Here, the body is placed in a semi standing stance requiring a specialist seat like the Varier Move chair for support. You use the seat as a rest and rather than sitting full on it, instead you rest your bottom on its front edge.

This keeps the body in a healthy open angle allowing much better circulation than when you’re fully seated. Also your body weight is better distributed with your weight being transferred through the thighs, legs and feet. This helps fix one of the main drawbacks of sitting which concentrates your weight on the buttocks and lower back.

You will still find the need to change working posture throughout the day. As a result a mix of sitting, perching and standing makes for a far healthier way of working than sitting all day.

Let’s summarize the key points we’ve covered in this article:

  • It’s very easy to spend too long sitting in the same position
  • Movement is vital for a healthy body, alternating between sitting and standing is good for your health
  • Let you body tell you when to move, don’t ignore pain
  • Perching at a sit stand desk is a great way to vary your work posture

So, just as you move in your sleep when your body needs a change, remember keeping your body on the move at work keeps you healthier.

Here’s where you can find more about sit stand desks for this more balanced way of working.

     

Why A Varier Move™ Chair Makes A Great Seat For Sit Stand Work. Posture Perchfect Sitting

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Varier Move

Move™ Chair At Sit Stand Desk

If you’ve ever observed the way people sit on high stools in cafes and bars you’ll likely have noticed some sit in them slightly differently.

They choose to perch on the edge of the seat and remain much more upright than when sitting normally.

And there’s a good reason for this because this more open perching posture is actually very comfortable and can be held for extended periods without discomfort.

It’s this principal which makes the Move™ chair such a joy to work in at a sit stand desk.

In this article we’re going to be taking a look at the Move™ chair by Varier under the following three headings:

  1. What is the Varier Move™ chair?
  2. Why is it different to other office chairs?
  3. Why does it work so well for sit stand working?

So, let’s jump right in.

What is the Varier Move™ chair?
Although it’s called a chair, it may be more accurate to describe it as a stool as it certainly resembles a stool in looks. The key to the Move™ is its base, which is formed from high quality convex shaped timber. Although you might expect it to fall over when it’s not in use, it’s actually quite stable. This is because the base is essentially flat over most of its area and it’s only the outer edges which are dished.

The rest of the chair is a little more conventional as it has a gas lift to allow the user to adjust the height. However as we shall see later even this is a little unconventional compared to normal office chair pneumatic height adjusters.

Attached to the top of the gas strut is its seat and like the rest of the Move™ this challenges convention too. For a start it has a triangular seat pad. But that’s not all. each corner of the seat is slightly raised. And there’s good reason for this shaping, as we’ll see later it all helps its functionality.

All in all, it’s very different to everyday seats.

Why is it different to other office chairs?
As can be seen in the image of the Move™ it doesn’t look anything like a normal office chair and that’s because it isn’t. Nonetheless in use it is extremely flexible and allows the user a great range of movement. This isn’t immediately apparent. However as soon as you sit in one it all starts to make sense.

Move chair by Varier

Move™ In Semi Standing Position

For a start there are no arms, instead your work surface becomes the place to rest your arms. The cleverly shaped seat pad makes for a very stable way of sitting. In fact although you’re sitting, it’s probably more accurate to say you are perching on the seat.

Typically, in an office chair you are sitting completely on top of the seat, it’s different in the Move™. Here you use the curved edge of the base to lean the seat towards your work area. Instead of sitting you are really perching on the seat at an angle of about 60° and those upturned corners keep you firmly in place.

Yes, I know you might think it would all be very wobbly, in reality it a very stable seat in use.

And there’s no need to worry about those missing casters. Because when you want to move you just need to slip your hands under the seat and shuffle to where you want to be. The curve in the base makes movement surprisingly easy when you need to change position.

The other secret to the Move™ is the huge height adjustment range of it gas lift. They come in low, medium and high options and the range of adjustment of each is typically double that of a standard office chair height adjuster.

For normal desk use the low strut will be fine, however it’s when used with a height adjustable desk that Varier’s Move™ starts to power ahead.

Why does it work so well for sit stand working?
One of the big benefits of sit and stand working is the new range of working postures it opens up to users. Obviously when you’re working in a fully standing position the need for any kind of chair becomes unnecessary.

And it’s fair to say there are people who are happy to spend their entire working day standing to work. Nonetheless, for most a little more variation in work position is called for.

This is where the Move™ is unique. Due to the huge height adjustment range this chair offers, users can work with it in 2 ways.

First, you can of course sit in it at a similar height to a normal desk. However, it allows a very comfortable alternative way of working where you are semi standing.

Here, you aren’t fully sitting. Instead you are perched on the stool in a half erect posture. So rather than sitting you are actually leaning on the seat. Working in this way, it’s possible to remain comfortable far longer than you can when sitting normally.

This is because your whole body is in a much more open posture. This helps improve blood flow and let’s your body distribute your weight down through your legs and feet. Doing this relieves the pressure that conventional seating places on your lower back and buttocks. It becomes possible to work comfortably like this for long periods.

Let’s quickly summarize what we’ve covered in this article:

  1. The Move™ chair is a stool like alternative to a chair
  2. You perch rather than sit on the Move™, creating less pressure on your bottom and lower back than other alternatives.
  3. The Move™ height adjustment range makes it the perfect choice for sit stand working

So, next time you’re in a bar or café try perching on those high stools and notice the added comfort this way of sitting provides.

Here’s where you can read a full review of the Varier Move™ chair. You can also find an interesting post at AlternativeSeating.org on using the Move™ with sit stand desks.