Finding Our Seat – Christopher Cox

  Posted by: manpreet.boora      2nd October 2017

Britons sit for almost nine hours of their day, but for most it is no reflection of a life of leisure; we spend between 65 per cent to 75 per cent of our working day seated, with half of that time in long and unhealthy periods of prolonged sitting.[i] The negative effects on health are well known but startling all the same: they include a more than twice likelihood to develop type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease than people who sit the least, as well as a 13 per cent to 17 per cent risk of the incidence of cancer and mortality.

We can see the effect that all that our couch bonding and snuggling in easy chairs has had in the hunched, slouching generations of today who are afflicted by a slew of chronic musculoskeletal complaints, along with the army of massage therapists, chiropractors and physiotherapists enlisted to get them back into shape.

As dental health professionals, we know all too well the high cost of poor ergonomic design, both to our physical health in neck, back and assorted aches and pains, and from stress as we try to overcome the challenges of our patient in an unsuitable and rigid dental chair[ii]. Many of those health issues, particularly ischemia and premature disc degeneration, are connected to how we have been taught to sit, with thighs parallel to the floor and hips at a 90-degree angle, which is probably a legacy of the flat, nonadjustable seats of early dental chair designs.

It is not very forgiving as we bend forward to treat our patients, with research supporting positioning the hips higher than the knees for an increased hip angle with lower associated low-back muscle activity and disc pressure. Chairs are recommended with a tilting seat to maintain the curve of the lower back, decreasing pressure on discs, allowing closer positioning to the patient and reducing lower back pain.[iii]

In a leading dental journal, it was pointed out that dental professionals must make educated decisions on their choices of seating – the very important reason for their health is that they could spend upwards of 60,000 hours or more than 1,800 days seated! Guidelines for ensuring the chair suited the dental professionals included trying out a stool or chair before purchasing it, and making sure the choice of seating was adjusted according to the professional’s body stature. [iv]

With more than 50 years of experience, A-dec ticks all the boxes in providing solutions for your practice. There is something for everyone in its high-quality, ergonomically designed range of dental chairs that will have you sitting comfortably.

For more information about A-dec Dental UK Ltd, visit

www.a-dec.co.uk or call on 0800 233 285

[i] Office workers and health: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/jun/01/office-workers-on-feet-standing-fours-hours-day-study-health

[ii] Dental professionals and back pain http://www.oralhealthgroup.com/features/neck-pain-a-scientific-look-at-the-dentists-neck/

[iii] Dental chairs and pain: ttp://www.dentaleconomics.com/articles/print/volume-99/issue-1/columns/preventing-pain-in-dentistry/does-your-operator-stool-trigger-low-back-pain.html

[iv] http://dentistrytoday.com/ergonomics/1116–sp-858836667

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