Humans Were Not Created to Sit
Galen Cranz
The head of Norwegian furniture company has confessed that he felt guilty about making his living from producing chairs after he learned about the health problems they create:
“Being a chair manufacturer, it was a very unpleasant experience when I realized that humans were not created to sit: humans were created to walk, stand, jog, run, hunt, fish, and to be in motion; when they wanted to rest, they lay down on the ground.” He bravely soldiers on, summarizing the health problems (in addition to low back pain) that are associated with traditional sitting posture: “The ninety-degree sitting angle at the hip joint exerts press ion on the diaphragm and all the natural functions of the internal organs in and around the stomach area are restricted. The lower the chair, the worse it is. This again means that by restricting the natural functions of the internal organs the blood circulation is reduced, which in turn causes a decreased oxygen supply to the head. This results in a person becoming tired more quickly.”
Excerpt from:
The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body and Design, W.W. Norton, 1998