Think about it. The average workday is eight hours long, and you probably spend about six and a half hours of it sitting down in a cheap office chair that’s not doing your back any favors. If the average employee goes to work for about 2,000 hours every year, then that means you’re sitting down for about 1,620 hours of the year. It doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, but when you’re forced to hunch, slouch, or sit in an otherwise unnatural position, those cheap office chairs are doing small increments of damage that eventually build up.

Here are a few shocking health problems that can arise from sitting for so long with poor posture.

Hunchback.

If those cheap office chairs make you you sit hunched over all day long, you’re going to get back pain because you’re overextending those muscles. When the muscles become overextended, they become extraordinarily tense and painful. What’s more, the chest muscles also tighten, which leads to an excessively curved back in the top parts of the spinal region. So yes, those cheap office chairs can make you begin to look like Quasimodo.

Gastrointestinal Problems.

Poor postures impedes gastrointestinal processes known as peristaltic functions, which push food through the intestines. This means that your digestive system may not function effectively. These kinds of problems are more likely to occur if those cheap office chairs force you to tilt your head forward.

Headaches.

Not only can tilting your head forward cause you to develop gastrointestinal problems, it can also invite headaches. People clench their jaw when they crane their neck forward. This action tightens the facial muscles, leading to both jaw pain and headaches. Clenching the jaw can also wear down the temporomandibular joint over time.

The most obvious way to prevent employees from developing such shocking health problems is to invest in the best ergonomic office chairs for back pain. Such quality office chairs have features like lumbar support, which allows the spine to curve naturally, spreading an employee’s body weight evenly across their musculoskeletal system.

If you have any questions about the medical problems that cheap office chairs can cause, feel free to ask in the comments.