Background to the Invention

The story of how this unique piece of ergonomic, computer furniture came into being is somewhat unusual and was chiefly motivated by a desire to relieve my temporary but excruciating lower back pain.

The idea first occurred to me during a ten day meditation course I attended in the final year of my Masters course in Psychology as part of my research into the subject of 'meditation and health'.

I remember it was the third day of the course and I was in agony through trying to sit up straight on cushions on the floor. Being in my 50's at the time my limbs were not supple enough to take up the traditional yoga posture and the kneeling position did not help much either. In desperation, to try and relieve my lower back pain, I tried out a strange-looking stool with crescent-shaped feet.

This is a sketch showing what it looked like:
(Later I made the interesting discovery that this stool was actually a copy of the camp stool used by the Maasai tribesmen of Africa.)

To my amazement this little stool virtually eliminated my back pain within a few minutes. There remained, however, the problem of sore knees from kneeling on the hard wooden floor. So I then came up with the idea of making a stool with a moving seat and combining this with a soft shin pad (or knee rest) which was also free to move.

Within a few months I had successfully made a number of simple stools and sold them when one of my customers asked me - since she was finding her stool so comfortable - if I could possibly make an ergonomic chair for use at her computer applying the same principle, namely a kneeling chair with a backrest. So the EquipoisE Balance Seat was conceived.

Although I spent a great deal of time designing and constructing prototypes and badgered my long-suffering friends to trial them, I also engaged in several years of research studying anatomy, physiology, neurology and physiological psychology as I tried to discover just why the seat worked so well. And - do you know - - I am still searching!
By the way, apologies to my son Bill - I still haven't come up with the motor and wheels to allow them to be used in go-kart races.:)

In addition to these notes on the background to the invention, more comprehensive results of my research are contained in the Benefits section. There are also a number of enthusiastic, confirming comments and tests by various professionals, universities and government organisations among the Reports below