ince technology has grasped our modern world and most of us have to work sitting on a chair all day; having back problems has become an issue in everyone’s life. If you’re facing the same problem, consider sitting on a barstool to maintain a good posture.
Are bar-stools good for posture?
Bar stools are incredibly good for posture since it allows you to sit in an upright position, keeping your knees at a 90-degree angle, placing your feet on the floor, which equally distributes your body weight by aligning your knees, hips, and lower body part.
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Bar stools, however, make you sit uprightly with your hands at a certain height on the table. Such a sitting position not only relaxes your shoulder and back but also removes any wear on the knee joints.
Why are bar stools good for posture?
Reduces muscle strain and back pain:
Sitting on a bar stool keeps your back and hips in an upright position along with your shoulders relaxed pushed back. It removes muscle and shoulder strain. This sitting position transfers all of your body weight on the stool.
Removing any wear and tear on the joints and ligaments:
A bar stool places your knees at a right angle allowing you to remove wear on your knee joints and muscles. It keeps your knees and hips parallel to the ground, equally distributing your body weight.
Maintains the balance of your body:
Sitting on a stool not only evenly distributes your body weight but also removes tension from your arms.
If your table is of the right height, that is, 10 inches taller than your chair, you can place your forearms on the table, which removes strain from the back arms; ultimately maintains your body’s overall balance.
Aligning your body correctly:
A bar stool correctly aligns your body with your shoulders, back, and hips in an upright position without causing any muscle strain.
Sitting in this position also improves your spinal health. Sitting correctly on the bar stool may seem hard at first, but with the correct positioning of your body, you’ll have a good posture in no time.
Are bar-stools ergonomic?
Bar stools can be ergonomic and provide you with a more comfortable sitting position supporting your back and arms. Ergonomic bar stools are designed with leather and padded torso, high backrests, armrests, and footrests.
If you work or play games on a computer for a long period, you would want a more comfortable chair to relax your body and a good posture. Well, an ergonomic bar stool is very suitable for that purpose.
No matter if you’re working in the kitchen or a bar, an ergonomic bar stool will always save your day relieving you from all the back and shoulder issues. You can also adjust its height to around 8-12 inches, according to your preferences.
However, if you don’t want a bar stool with armrests, no worries! Ergonomic bar stools come with a variety of designs with or without armrests, wheels, flexible backrests, and so on.
Is a bar stool more ergonomic than counter stools?
You can choose bar stools and counter stools according to your preferences. Today’s stools come with various new and adjustable features making each of them considerably ergonomic.
Both the bar stool and counter stools may have armrests, footrests, and swivel features. So you have to choose the stool perfect for your dining, kitchen, restaurant, or bar area.
However, one significant difference between bar stools and counter stools is the height.
Bar stools are slightly taller than counter stools typically with a sitting height of 28”-30” and 24”-26” respectively. And the table heights would be 40”-42” for bar stools and 35”-36” for counter stools.
Be it a bar or counter stool, you can have a comfortable sitting position keeping a height difference of 10” between the stool and the counter or bar. Thus, you’ll have enough space to place your knees and can even sit with your legs crossed.
Are stools better than chairs for posture?
Stools are, however, better than chairs for posture. Coming with footrests and being taller than traditional chairs, stools allow you to sit in an upright position, which is beneficial for your back and spine health.
The kneeling chairs have been recognized by medical experts as bad for posture since they feature knees facing forward, and cause strain on the spinal disks. Furthermore, stationary chairs are rigid and stick to one place contributing greatly to back pain and spinal shrinkage.
On the contrary, barstools are height adjustable and come with armrests, footrests, and back seats. Such stool designing keeps your shoulders, back, and feet in posture. Also, you get to rest your feet on the footrests making a 90-degree angle.
All in all, bar stools are flexible, and you can adjust their height according to your counter in the kitchen, bar, or restaurants keeping a height difference of around 10 inches.
There is a reason why artists and architects use barstools while working. It keeps your body in an upright position, thus, you can focus on your work.
How can I make my bar stool more ergonomic?
Increase the height bar stool:
You can increase the height of your existing bar stool to make it more ergonomic for your bar or workstation.
Grab extended stool legs from a nearby shop and assemble them under the base of your stool legs. You can get either a lock system or freestyle legs which will fall off if you lift the stool.
Install armrests:
If your bar stool already doesn’t have any armrests, no worries. You can install them anytime on it to relax your elbows in an L-shaped position.
Make sure they’re not so high. You have to put them in such a way that you can type on your keyboard and place your hands on the counter effortlessly.
Plant footrests:
Bar stools tend to be much higher in height than the usual chairs causing fatigue in your legs. Hence arrives the footrests to save your day! You can add a wooden stick or steel matching with your stool to relax your feet, making your bar stool more ergonomic.
Place a pillow to support your back:
You can grab a pillow or any soft material and fold it to put it behind your back. Sitting in this position will help you relax your back from time to time, reducing back strain and tension.
How to have a better sitting posture?
Tip 1- Sit uprightly at the end of your bar stool. Stretch your shoulders and neck in a relaxing position. Lean your pelvis and shoulders forward to give your spine curves a good shape.
Tip 2- Now rest your back against the stool, putting your hips accentuating on the bends of it.
Tip 3- If your counter or desk is oddly higher than your sitting position, adjust your stool, moving it up and down. The ideal gap is to have 10 inches between your stool and the table.
Tip 4- Place your feet on the floor flatly ahead of your knees. Do not cross your ankles. Your knees should be at 90 degrees angle with your hips parallel to the ground.
Tip 5- If you’re going through back pain, you can place a small pillow or soft towel to support your back, helping you to gain a good posture.
How do I make my bar stool more stable?
You may often feel uncomfortable and unstable while sitting on a bar stool with no backrests or footrests. Not to mention the odd height of a bar stool can appear quite challenging to sit on for a long time.
In such cases, you can add a footrest to rest your legs. You can screw in the wooden bar between the front and back legs of your stool.
Next, you can make your bar stool more stable with additional wooden bars acting as armrests to support your hands. These are very efficient to reduce tension from your hands, and you’ll feel stabler than ever.
You can also add a pillow behind your back to help you sit in a good posture for a prolonged time.
Is it better to sit up straight or lean back?
Recent research has found that leaning back against your chair is better for your back and spine than sitting up straight. Sitting upright can cause unnecessary tension in your pelvis and shoulder.
Moreover, you can have misplaced spinal disks, along with other back problems sitting at a 90-degree angle throughout the day. Hence, the best sitting position is you slightly recline at an angle of 120 degrees to 135 degrees against the back of your chair.
Is it bad to sit on a stool all day?
Even though most of our modern days’ work includes sitting in front of your computer all day; this practice badly affects our bodies. For instance, you may develop cardiovascular disease, diabetes, sore muscles, chronic body pain, and even cancer.
Furthermore, you will also gain a lot of weight resulting in obesity if you don’t perform physical exercise. As a consequence of poor blood circulation due to sitting all day, your brain will face a lack of blood and oxygen leading to brain damage.
Not to mention the mental fatigue, including depression and anxiety due to a prolonged sitting period. However, the scariest of them all are breast, colon, and lung cancer; quite similar to what smoking does to your body.
All things considered, bar stools can be very beneficial in gaining the right posture, but you have to maintain the time limits and take breaks with some exercises.