A little knowledge goes a long way, and if you want to know if zero gravity chairs work, it’s important to understand the history of the chair and what it was designed to do.
Even though it seems like a relatively recent addition to the world of relaxation, the zero gravity chair can actually trace its roots back to the camping and recreational furniture scene of the late nineteen fifties and early nineteen sixties.
If it wasn’t for the reclining camping chair, the zero gravity chair wouldn’t even exist. And if it wasn’t for Lafuma Mobilier, the French furniture company whose pioneering work in the field made everything possible, there wouldn’t even be a reclining chair.
Well, there might be, but it certainly wouldn’t have appeared in nineteen sixty-two, which coincidentally was the year that Lafuma designed and manufactured the Relux Translude, the first reclining camping chair.
In fact, if it wasn’t for Lafuma, the zero gravity chair wouldn’t have appeared for another decade or so and in all likelihood would have missed the unique period in time that it was part of and ended up getting its name from.
It would probably have been named by some overly stressed advertising agency executive instead and as a result of that, would have ended up fading into the annals of history forgotten by everyone except for the sort of rabid camping historians who restore and still use caravans from the nineteen-thirties.
The zero gravity chair took its name from the position that the body assumes during weightlessness and the position of the launch couches that NASA strapped their astronauts into during the first decade of its space program.
The chair allows the person sitting, and reclining in it to relax in a position where their heart and feet are level with each other. Essentially, the person sitting in a zero gravity chair is lying down, except they’re not really lying down because they’re sitting in a chair.
It seems confusing, we know, but it isn’t. Zero gravity chairs are when you cut through all the nitty-gritty and the science, just recliners that allow you to go all the way back.
But do they work?
Well, as the full reclined position of a zero-gravity allows you to feel like you’re weightless without actually having to fly parabolic curves or leave the atmosphere of the Earth and enter into a low-grade orbit in which you’d effectively become weightless, then yes they work.
You might still be enslaved by gravity while you’re sitting in one, but you’ll feel like you’re weightless, which means that a zero gravity chair does exactly what it says it will. It’ll make you feel like you’re floating in a zero gravity environment.
Are there any benefits to using, and sitting in a zero gravity chair? That’s a great question, and we’re glad you asked. Yes, there are multiple benefits to using a zero gravity chair.
The position that you’ll assume in one allows your lungs to function at one hundred percent capacity, it minimizes the stress and strain on your heart, improves the recuperation times for aching muscles, and emphasizes the natural curvature of your spine.
So, not only does a zero gravity chair work, but it actually helps you to relax, helps to soothe your tired muscles and joints, and lets the cares and worries of everyday life fade away.
Do Zero Gravity Chairs Recline All The Way Back?
Zero gravity chairs are designed to allow you to recline to find the most comfortable position to sit in, by using your body weight as the fulcrum that lets them tilt to your chosen and preferential angle and once you’ve found it, you can lock it in place.
In the six decades since the first proto-model zero gravity chair was manufactured and happy campers and delighted loungers started using it, it's come a long way.
If some of the more luxurious, pocketbook shattering chairs that have flooded the modern market were placed side by side with the original Lufuma model chair, apart from a slight design resemblance, most of us wouldn’t be able to tell that they were even vaguely related.
Can they recline all the way back? Almost every modern zero gravity chair is engineered to go from ninety to zero degrees and accommodate every possible position that a person could wish to sit in between those two angles.
In other words, a zero gravity chair can go from upright, to fully reclined simply by pushing back on the chair and allowing it to carry you to your favorite reclining and relaxing position. So can zero gravity chairs really go all the way back? Yes, they can.
Is A Zero Gravity Chair Good For Your Back?
Asking whether or not a zero gravity chair is good for your back is akin to asking if Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon.
The answer is resounding and emphatic yes, zero gravity chairs are incredibly good for your back, can help with posture problems, and can help to alleviate the symptoms of any chronic spinal issues.
As well as helping to energize your core by effectively and easily increasing the efficiency of your circulatory system and relieving the tension that increases the pressure on your spine by helping your muscles to relax, a zero gravity chair can also reduce the pressure on certain problem areas of your spine, which in turn reduces neck and shoulder pain and can prevent any back problems that you might already be plagued by from getting worse.
How does a zero gravity chair do all that? Well, it’s all thanks to the position that the chair places whoever it is sitting in it, in. The zero gravity position that the chair uses when fully reclined ensures that your spine is fully, safely, and properly supported in a completely neutral position.
And the neutral position is the healthiest possible posture for your back, as it is the spine’s default and strongest position. Is a zero gravity chair good for your back?
Absolutely, and if you’re looking for a way to relax without being bothered by back pain, a zero gravity chair is the ideal way to achieve that goal.