A conventional chair cannot support healthy sitting for active work. In a conventional task chair your center of gravity is behind your sit bones (ischial tuberosities) with your pelvis rolled back. If you work while reclining, this is OK. But if you need to work in an upright or forward position, especially if you work with your hands, your lumbar spinal curve will flatten. This leads to stressful muscular activity and increases pressures in the spinal disks, impairs circulation, compresses the internal organs, and loads the hip joint cartiledge.
A saddle seat satisfies the requirements for active sitting better than a conventional ergonomic chair. When sitting on a saddle chair, the spine is almost in the same position as when standing. The pelvis rotates upright and positions the body’s center of gravity over the ischial tuberosities (these are our seat bones). This position is natural and easy to maintain.
Sitting on a saddle chair expands the thoracic (chest) and abdominal regions to allow full function of the lungs and abdominal organs. In the upright position supported by a saddle seat, the diaphragm is not pushed up into the vital organs as in a conventional seat. Muscle tone, blood and lymphatic circulation is enhanced,
A saddle chair’s high, straddle posture supports and stabilizes the body, freeing the hands and feet for work and movement. It is easy to move about in your workspace to reach equipment, or to reach a foot switch. This stable, straddle posture also improves hand accuracy and power, and improves sitting balance.
One “rides” the saddle seat just as one rides on horseback. It is the ideal sitting posture. The hip joints rest in a relaxed open position and the spine is in perfect balance. The hip joints are in abduction and external rotation which reduces hip joint stress, as the ball of the hip joint now rests comfortably within its socket in the pelvis. This straddle position with knees apart is also thought to have preventive value against future hip disease (according to Prof. Dr. G. Schumoe, Orthopedic University Hospital, Bonn, Germany).
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