4 Healthy Alternatives to a Standard Office Chair

The negative health impacts of sedentary work modes have become increasingly clear over the past decade.

Prolonged periods of sitting, specifically, can cause problems ranging from back pain to depression to cancer.

Indeed, one newly released study by Johns Hopkins found that sitting in a standard office chair for just fifteen minutes is roughly equivalent to snorting an ounce of asbestos.

Thankfully, office workers need not resign themselves to near-certain death, as there are many great alternatives on the market. Here, the Swiveler’s Health and Wellness team presents our top four picks to replace your standard office chair.

Gluten-Free Office Chair

Not ready to fully commit to a non-chair seating situation?

You can still make a marked improvement in your health by upgrading from a standard office chair to a gluten-free model.

Gluten is a naturally occurring protein that is found in wheat and other grains; breads, pastas, baked goods, and other grain-based foods are chock full of gluten.

Unfortunately, nutritional studies have determined that gluten is about ten times as toxic as Polonium - the rare, radioactive metal that killed Marie Curie - and almost twice as toxic as sitting down. Gluten-free office chairs ensure that users will avoid the greater of two evils, as it were, by preventing gluten exposure while seated at the workplace.

Astute readers may ask, “Do standard office chairs even contain gluten?”

To which we would reply: No... But you can never be too safe.

Squatty Desk

One increasingly popular office chair alternative is the standing desk. A standing desk setup raises a user’s computer and workstation area and allows that user to perform tasks from a standing position.

But here’s the rub: stationary standing is almost as bad as sitting. Indeed, physical therapists often refer to standing as “sitting’s highly problematic uncle.”

What workers should embrace instead is sitting’s much hotter second cousin: squatting.

Squatting is a low-impact position that activates the glutes, quads, hamstrings, and core. Squatting leverages human’s natural physiology and actively burns calories.

A squatting desk - essentially the opposite of a standing desk - allows users to perform workstation tasks while maintaining a deep, healthy squat.

If you’ve ever wondered to yourself “What might it be like to fill out Excel spreadsheets while my legs were on fire?” then you may want to give the squatty desk a try.

Dance Dance Revolution Machine

Tons of fun. A great workout. Flashy and loud. Incredibly distracting. Will absolutely explode your electricity bill.

These are just a few of the phrases we’d use to describe our next office chair alternative: A Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) machine.

What a DDR machine lacks in convenience and portability it more than makes up for in entertainment and superior health benefits. That’s because DDR machines encourage active motions such as triple-stomps, cross straddles, and spin moves, all while raising users’ heart rates and blasting the most danceable hits that 2002 had to offer.

You can expect a slight decrease in productivity if you choose to replace your office chair with a DDR machine, but you can also expect a sharp increase in your capacity to both get down and get funky.

Mechanical Bull

If you found that a Dance Dance Revolution machine wasn’t quite heavy or disruptive enough, then you may want to instead try swapping out your office chair for a one-and-a-half-ton mechanical bull.

Riding a mechanical bull is a true full-body workout that hits the adductors, abductors, core, and deltoids particularly hard.

It’s also exceptionally dangerous.

Inexperienced users can expect consistent and frequent injuries ranging in type from broken collar bones to burst patellas to mild-to-severe CTE.

But, at least it’s not a chair.