Should You Use an Exercise Ball as an Office Chair?

Autonomous|Oct 15, 2021

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Sitting on these toning chairs promises to tone your core by simply looking at them, being inexpensive, colorful, and a joy to use. Given all this, shouldn't your desk chair be replaced with an exercise ball office chair? Despite our commitment to exercising at work and promoting healthy living, there is one particular trend we cannot support.

Fitness ball chairs (also called Swiss balls, yoga balls, or Pilates balls) are used for regular office use. Although the exercise ball office chair should be considered part of an exercise routine, they provide some core work. A dedicated core workout is entirely different from the all-day use of a yoga ball office chair.

Benefits and Drawbacks of Exercise Balls

As more companies and individuals adopt healthy workplace environments, employees are becoming more productive. Employees in most organizations provide employees with standing desks, fitness balls, gyms, and recreational areas. For individuals seeking to reduce sitting sickness, discomfort, and fatigue, fitness balls have been taking over in place of a workout ball office chair.

Pros of Exercise Ball Office Chairs

Enhanced posture

Slouching can occur on any surface, but an office chair is more likely to cause trouble than fitness balls. If you are using an exercise chair, proper posture is essential to maintaining balance. However, slouching on a posture ball office chair causes you to lose your base, increasing the likelihood of it slipping out when you lean forward.

Core strength

Fitness balls do little to help your upper body; on the contrary, they make you support your weight. The core muscles provide you with this support. Squatting upright on your fitness ball puts your abdominal muscles to work and promotes active sitting. When you sit for long periods, your legs become stronger.

Better balance

People today are not very coordinated or reflexive, largely due to sedentary lifestyles and require seated exercise. You can significantly improve your coordination by using a fitness ball if you have difficulty maintaining balance. By using a fitness ball, you will be more stable without exerting much effort. Sitting on a fitness ball will improve your stability despite your unawareness.

Burning calories

Fitness balls enable you to engage your core muscles better than sitting on an ordinary office chair, which otherwise would not be engaged without the fitness ball. Additionally, they increase your heart rate. An increased heart rate leads to increased calorie burning. The exercise ball can help you burn calories faster and shed a bit of fat much easier than an office chair.

Cons of Exercise Ball Office Chairs

It might not be compatible with your desk

You need a fitness ball that has a length that is appropriate to the length of your legs for maximum comfort. Occasionally, you may obtain a fitness ball only to discover it sits higher than your office chair. When working at a desk computer, a higher fitness ball will make it necessary for you to crane your neck more.

Discomfort in your back

You might find your back is sore after sitting on your fitness ball for a long time. However, if you continue to rub your back all the time, you may end up with a permanently painful condition.

May lead to exhaustion

If you've never used a fitness ball before, it's not easy to use. A little effort is required to get the most from it after you buy an ergonomic chair. A little effort might prevent you from getting injured. Adding strength to your core muscle is a welcome effort. However, it can have negative effects on your health overall. Exhaustion and fatigue are among their physical effects. Balancing on a ball may also cause distraction and loss of focus.

No back or arm support

As an office chair, a fitness ball offers no back or arm support, which is one of the greatest drawbacks to this type of chair. Think about how exhausting it can be to work without support on your arms and back throughout an 8-hour workday! The reason is that the stress it puts on your body will result in joint pain and affect the comfortability of using your computer.

Can You Alternate Your Office Chair With an Exercise Ball?

A ball can serve as a replacement for your regular office chair while you are performing core exercises at work. A ball has become an increasingly popular alternative, but is it really that effective? There are a number of reasons why sitting on a chair can be painful since it does not require much muscle activity.

Most people have bad posture when slouching or hunching when sitting on chairs.
Your core strength decreases when you sit in a chair, making your abs slack.

You will improve your posture and strengthen your abs by using an exercise ball. Your posture will not be automatically corrected because you stopped using your office chair and replaced it with an exercise ball!

This is because many people have never used ball office chairs instead of office chairs. It will also help grow your muscles if you contract your hips and legs while balancing on a ball.

You can sit on an exercise ball at your workplace and get many benefits from it, but you can also be inconvenienced by it. Fitness professionals have conducted a study on the effects of sitting on a ball on the lower back.

Over time, sitting on the ball office chairs can cause discomfort to the lower back. Getting your circulation going is best accomplished by standing up and walking around every once in a while. Why not substitute the chair for the ball or forget about the ball completely and use only the chair instead of simply discarding the chair and using only the ball?

For example, you can sit on the chair for several hours, then roll around with an exercise ball or a standing desk balance board. Make sure that your exercise ball office chair is appropriately inflated before using.

Any personal trainer is going to tell you the importance of having a strong core when exercising! When you're sitting on the floor, your legs should be parallel. Exercise balls that are too soft can make you uncomfortable and make it challenging to stay on them. Choose an exercise ball that is the right size for you as well.

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WRITTEN BYAutonomous

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