Ergonomic rocking chairs

Rocking chairs are a popular fixture throughout the world. They are beautiful and soothing. Their rocking motion is calming, washing away stress and worries, and the fact that they tilt back to conform to your posture makes them highly ergonomic. Rocking chairs usually have shorter legs so that you can rock yourself easily, and combined with their support for your back means they are beneficial for your body. Doctors have been known to advise patients with back problems to use rocking chairs – U.S. President John F. Kennedy is a famous example. Besides being used for back problems, rocking chairs have also been used as a therapeutic tool for dementia, arthritis, and post-surgery recovery.

In light of all these advantages, it is not surprising that designers have made what are known as ergonomic rocking chairs. While the basic design of rocking chairs has always been good for the back, ergonomic rocking chairs bring in added features such as curved backs to provide lumbar support, curved seats to conform to the shape of thighs, and raised arms to stimulate deeper breathing. The chairs almost provide you a mixture of meditation and massage.

There are two kinds of ergonomic rocking chairs – mass-produced ones and custom designed ones. Mass-produced ergonomic rocking chairs are cheaper and more easily available, and still do a pretty good job of helping your body. Peter Opsvik’s ‘Gravity Balance’ is an amazing example – the rocking chair is ergonomic and promotes four postures from active sitting to relaxing.

But of course, the ultimate in ergonomic rocking chairs are the custom designed ones. The artisans that make these chairs start by measuring you – your height, weight, length of torso, length of thighs, calves, and arms, etc. Some, such as Robert Erickson, even go so far as to study the way you prefer to sit. From all this information, they construct the chair, customising every detail such as the height and depth of its seat, the shape of the back and its angle to the seat, the height of the chair’s arms, and the ‘mouth’ of the chair to suit your particular needs. Thus, you get the perfect chair that you will ever sit in. Such care and expertise are definitely worth the higher cost.