We desk workers are always being encouraged to exercise more. We’re told to do seated moves like shoulder shrugs, get up and walk around, do a few stretches, and practice good posture throughout the day. Office furniture pieces such as the adjustable height workstation that promotes more movement and changes in position are becoming increasingly popular. So, it’s not surprising that the trend of the ball chair is also making an appearance again. After all, it forces you to constantly adjust your position just to stay firmly seated. Isn’t that the perfect answer?

Not necessarily. While using an exercise ball that is housed in a chair frame might be OK for a while, using it all day every day could cause a different set of ergonomic problems. Duncan MacIntyre, everyone’s favorite chair advice blogger lays out the pros and cons in this great article. Check out the links at the end for opinions by ergonomics specialists on what can happen if you sit on a ball all day! Among other things, they point out that users can slump just as easily on a ball chair as on an office chair.

Steelcase made quite a splash with its introduction of mushroom and cotton seed hull packaging; but it’s far from the only office furniture company that is going green with organic products. Albany Office Furniture in the UK is making use of locally occurring natural resources for a different purpose. The company is using nettle stems and wool (two materials that are found in abundance on the chilly isles of Britain) to create textiles for office chairs.

Nettles are most famous for their sting. Fortunately, the chemicals that cause skin irritation are easily neutralized by cooking or soaking in water. Users of the nettle textile won’t have to worry about sitting on a pin cushion. The method by which the fiber is extracted from the stems and processed into fabric should take the sting out of these hardy plants. Albany Office Furniture is showcasing this new textile at the Green 4 Go exhibition where many small businesses will be meeting to discuss sustainable strategies.

Last week, we talked about the highly competitive sport of chair hockey. But if you want some real brutality, you should check out this video advertisement from Mad Man Mund’s in Florida. There are no holds barred when it comes to extreme chair racing. In fact, this event will remind you of the “Chairiot” race from Ben Hur. All you need to participate is an office chair, a paved hill, a suit and tie, and a lust for victory at all costs!

Knoll’s Generation office chairs have garnered quite a bit of notice this year in the business and technology sector. The seating was featured in both Wired Magazine and the Wall Street Journal. Unlike many office chairs that hold a user in a fairly fixed position, Generation is designed to support workers effortlessly as they bend, twist, and stretch. Formway Design, the firm that developed this chair for Knoll, reputedly spent a huge amount of time watching video of white collar workers to discover how they tend to move and shift around when seated. The result is a chair that moves with the sitter.

The back is made of a flex material wrapped on a figure 8 frame. The seat back can flex from side to side in response to a worker’s twisting shoulders. If you want to sit sideways on the chair and prop an arm along the back – that works too. The top edge of the seat back actually curls down under pressure to form an impromptu armrest. The regular armrests move automatically with you to accommodate a side sitting posture without getting in the way. The seat itself features Dynamic Suspension to counterbalance the sitter’s body weight when leaning backward or forward.

This isn’t the last you’ll be hearing about Knoll’s seating. At NeoCon, they introduced ReGeneration – the latest update on their original design.

Kimball Office joins the ranks of office furniture manufacturers who have debuted new office chair designs in the last 12 months. The Itsa is chock full of opportunities to let businesses pick just the right features for their workforce. For example, the chair height can be specified for small-to-average or average-to-tall users. This is about more than the column height. The front contour of the seat is square for tall users and rounded for shorter users to accommodate their shorter leg length.

Both seat styles come with a cushy waterfall edge do reduce pressure on the thighs. They also have a depression in the center of the upholstery to cradle the sitter. Height adjustable arms and knee tilt control are standard while the seat slider and synchro-tilt control are optional. Kimball Office is offering 5 basic fabric colors as part of their quick ship program (chairs ship within 5 days of order placement). Specialty textiles and leather can be provided with a longer lead time.