The purpose of ergonomic office chairs is to help the people who use them reduce the cumulative effects of sitting down for prolonged periods on the body, particularly on the back, shoulders and neck. Sitting for more than twenty minutes at a time is actually more harmful to the body than standing up because it makes the pressure of supporting the entire body distributed unevenly on the spine. It eventually leads to varying degrees of pain along the spinal area, to lessened flexibility of the body, among other problems.
