Every work day, millions of people all over the world enter high-rise office buildings to spend eight hours or longer.
Staying sedentary at a desk for long stretches without a break stresses their bodies (eyes, wrists, arms, shoulders, lower back, and spine) in ways that hinder performance and lead to risk for long-term cumulative lifestyle diseases, such as obesity and diabetes.
Daylong, technology-induced inactivity has other consequences for building tenants and occupants, too, since productivity is increasingly measured by ideas, not just keystrokes.
Creating mobility within the workplace through health-positive design can be the starting point for avoiding inactivity, and facilities managers are a key component of this change. How can we encourage movement throughout the workday to keep tenants and occupants productive and healthy?
Furniture that Affords Movement
Step one is making sure office furniture allows the freedom to vary postures throughout the day; for many people, this begins in their chairs.
Most computer workstations account for three seated postures: reclining, upright, or forward-leaning. Some postural accommodation is a function of a chair’s basic design (backrests that support or recline in a way that backless stools or other alternatives don’t, etc.).
But proper fit also affords mobility. Even in a chair with casters, a seat height that’s too high results in the occupant’s inability to plant his or her feet solidly on the ground, compromising seated navigation and performance. A backrest that’s too wide can restrict outward shoulder rotation that is necessary for stretching and reaching throughout the day. Chairs are available in different sizes to make sure they correctly fit the people who’ll be sitting in them all day long.
Standing is another option that’s increasingly being addressed in workstation design. University of Cincinnati researchers recently measured significant decreases in shoulder, lower-back, and upper-back discomfort in subjects who used “sit-stand