Your best workstation posture - The ephgrave chair
“At the end of the day, there’s nothing worse than feeling like there’s a red hot poker sticking through the middle of my back”
A specialist in spinal pain and injuries, Sarah offers Workstation and Ergonomics reviews to ensure that working isn’t a pain in the neck. Sarah’s former colleague, Caroline Ephgrave, was a dancer with the Royal Ballet before becoming a physiotherapist - also carrying out workstation assessments.
Caroline was determined to help patients take better care of their posture, so that they avoided pain, were happier and were able to enjoy a healthy active life. So, she designed the ephgrave chair to solve the problem of slump sitting!
The ephgrave chair
The ephgrave chair addresses the issue found in conventional office chairs of the spine collapsing backwards above the lumbar support, unbalancing the body and compressing the lower back and neck. It has a unique moveable back cushion that can be positioned to fully support the balance point of each individual's spine, ensuring that the body is aligned.
Physio Sarah has been using an ephgrave chair at the Lansdowne Club for the past few months and she is already seeing and feeling the many benefits. Caroline caught up with Sarah to find out how she was getting on with the chair.
Sarah’s assessment of the ephgrave chair
Caroline: What benefits have you personally felt from using the ephgrave chair?
Sarah: “A lot!”
“When you have experienced back pain for as long as I have, and I've tried every chair under the sun, the main difference for me is finally I feel comfortable at work and in my home office.
“I just got so tight in my upper back when I was working at a computer. During the day I just couldn't get into a chair that would allow me the freedom to move my arms when I'm working on patients. No other chairs gave me the freedom to do that and still support my lower back.
“So, for me it's been about being supportive, giving me the freedom to move and work with patients, and ensuring that my body is not screaming at the end of the day because it's got so tight!”
Benefits for patients
Caroline: Why would you recommend this to your clients for their use? What are the benefits you hope they will gain from using the ephgrave chair?
Sarah: “I think the ephgrave chair works in many different ways and has many benefits.
“It holds you, and it lifts you! Your shoulders feel more relaxed and you're not so tired.
“Also, it helps your hip flexors at the front, which get really really tight in a classic chair. If they're not pulling all day long and we want to go and play sports later on - it's going to allow much more freedom of movement.”
“If you lie, sit and stand well, and move your body often, you will be taking care of your posture”
Caroline: Can you explain what you mean by the feeling of being ‘lifted’ when you're sitting?
Sarah: “Absolutely. It feels like it's lifting the weight of my upper body out of my lower back. When my upper body is lifted out in a better position my head and neck automatically follows that and it takes you out of the classic kind of slump position that we tend to all do in a normal chair.
“It lifts you - and it actually holds you into that position. If we come out of this poking neck position, we reduce our chance of headaches, tension in our shoulders, and just general fatigue.”
Benefits outside the office and for sports
Caroline: Sitting in a good position is important because it can have widespread impacts even on your sporting activities. What's your take on that?
Sarah: “I think that's really true. Lots of people I work with sit for eight to ten hours a day.
“Even in my job I'm sitting quite a lot because I'm a foot and ankle specialist so I'm sitting forward. Finishing at the end of the day and then you're like, right I'm gonna go for a run! Then, you have to spend a lot of your time counter balancing all that eight to ten hours of sitting. So we spend ages trying to do dynamic warm-ups in order to open up our body to come out of these slumped positions.
“But, if you've been sitting really well all day long, then, when you want to go for a run, you’re much more efficient! You're going to be less predisposed to injuries because you're not running on really tight structures. And actually, you're going to run better, you're probably going to run faster and you're going to run for longer because you're not so fatigued.”
Find out more about the ephgrave chair here - ephgravechair.com. Or, come and try our chair at the Lansdowne Club! You can also watch the full interview between Sarah and Caroline on our YouTube channel here - https://youtu.be/caWoDXmupUg
