Benefits of sitting on the stability ball

Combining fitness with work, results in a balanced lifestyle for people who have little time to go to the gym. Many staff has jobs that require them to sit at a desk all day. The more time they spend at work, the less energy, time and motivation they have to make it to the gym. Using a stability ball as a chair at work improves coordination, core strength, and makes people more alert throughout their day. How is this possible? Well the ball requires active/dynamic sitting (which is different than ergonomic sitting ). Active sitting requires continuously maintaining your balance while engaging several muscles throughout your body. In other words, you are using balance and your core strength (primarily abdominals and spine stabilizer muscles) to keep you in the correct position.

The exercise ball is a dynamic tool that can provide many health benefits when used as a chair. Envision your basic office chair as a cast, or a brace: it keeps your body static, so your core muscles – which are the basis for your posture - become weakened. Moreover, this static sitting position does not allow you to maintain a good relationship with gravity, so that your body “sinks” over time, causing you to slouch and sit in awkward positions to relieve the pressure on your spine. Using the ball as a chair leads to improved posture, core strength and body awareness. The dynamic motions created by sitting on a ball helps relieve the pressure of gravity, and the freedom of movement afforded by sitting on a ball allows your spine to find its optimal posture. You'll make minute adjustments to your position while you sit on the ball, and these help improve circulation, which helps keep inter-vertebral discs healthy. Moreover, the instability of the ball and the lack of a backrest encourage the use of stabilizer muscles in the core. Increased core strength translates into better posture.

It is very important to make sure that the ball is the correct height for the individual. It does not help if you get the right size ball and it’s not pumped properly or it’s an inferior ball which does not keep size and shape. Performa Ball offers a service to companies and gyms that everything about the ball is in order. Using an inferior quality ball is a big hazard

It’s important to build yourself up while using the ball as a chair. Start by sitting on the ball for 10 minutes hourly. It’s important to get up and walk around every hour for a couple of minutes. Make sure you are eye level with the top of your PC screen when you are sitting down.

 Please contact Performa Ball before you start using the ball as a chair to make sure that what you are doing is beneficial and not harmful.

I phoned up this company as I heard they were using the stability balls for their office. The secretary told me that her assistant sat on the ball and it burst. She cracked her skull open. The company will never use the ball again. I asked where they got the balls from and she said one of the retail stores. I am appealing to everyone that they should rather spend a bit more than have potential crisis like this.