A common issue many are faced with is poor posture as a result of modern-day lifestyles. Sitting at a computer desk all day is stressful to back and neck muscles. This contributes to poor posture and misaligns your sense of balance. Poor posture may create other problems such as back ache, fatigue, and even affect your cognitive function. Balance training assists your body in recalling the proper position and strengthens the core muscles that aid in maintaining this position, keeping your spine in correct alignment.
What is the Wobble Stool?
The Wobble Stool is an adjustable height bar stool featuring a plush, padded fabric seat that swivels 360° and a unique rounded base that lets you rock, tilt, and lean. Packing all these features into one stool makes it a pretty fun place to sit. You can rock back and forth, lean over and grab something, and swivel around to talk to your neighbor. The special seat makes it quick to sit on and easy to get up from—a convenient place for the busy person to have a rest.
Active sitting, also known as active seating or dynamic sitting, encourages people to remain in motion rather than staying in a rigid seated posture. Active seating options not only accommodate but promote the natural movements of the body and can help improve spinal positioning and muscle stimulation. In other words, active sitting is fidget-friendly and can also help improve concentration.
A lightweight stool that you can quickly switch out with an ordinary office chair is especially important when you first start using active seating—you might need some time to get used to it. When you buy ergonomic products like a wobbling stool, you might find that you need some adjustment time. A wobbling stool is designed to give your feet a break when you’ve been standing for a while. It’s not designed to be your favorite easy chair. You might not want to get rid of your old office chair right away, until you acclimate to standing while working and using active seating.
But if you’ve got health issues—particularly serious back issues like herniated discs, you should probably check with a healthcare provider to make sure that using an active seating option like a wobbling stool won’t make your condition worse.
What are Balance or Wobble Boards?
Most of the wobble boards you can choose from have the similar characteristic of a flat surface on top of a pivot that can move about in different directions at that point. To use a balance or wobble board, you need to stand on the board and keep your balance. This requires y a basic sense of balance by distributing your weight across the surface of the board. The design of most boards has the pivot fixed in place to the bottom of the board while some have moving pivots.
Proprioception
Proprioception which is the subconscious ability to sense body position and joint movement, is strengthened by performing exercises on a balance board. Numerous receptor nerves located in muscles, ligaments, tendons and joints that are able to sense changes in muscle tension, comprise the proprioceptive system. The brain responds to those changes by sending signals for the muscles to contract or relax appropriately. Without being consciously aware of it, you’re constantly correcting your body position through your proprioceptive system.
Standing on a balance board you are engage your core muscles. By challenging your body’s balance system, you work out these core muscles which can improve your overall body awareness.
Additional Benefits
Standing is better than sitting all day. You shift your weight from one side to another, and/or bend at your waist in different directions when standing for extended periods, in an effort to maintain comfort. Using a balance board makes it fun and challenging to remain standing. Constantly trying to remain vertical are a beneficial form of exercise that doesn’t require you to stop what you’re doing. You can stay at your desk and have some fun and exercise and maintain your work.
Healthy athletes sometimes use a balance board in their workouts so that they challenge and improve their balance system. This leads to increased coordination during competition. Balance boards have also been used by therapists working with developmentally disabled children who struggle with their cognitive and sensory skills.