HOW TO USE THE KIBOUTI FOOTREST

The Kibouti footrest is a uniquely designed piece of furniture for home and office that helps improve sitting habits and reduce neck and lower back pain as well as stress. It was designed for people who suffer from acute lower and upper  back ache and needed something to help them cope. We also included SPECIAL FEATURES to help deal with stress and the ability to exercise, something we all have to do if we want to stay healthy, physically and mentally.

Lower back problems are caused by any number of ways. Remedying and avoiding the discomfort is achieved by rest, and with proper posture to ensure the discs in the lower spine are kept flat, not pinching when sitting.

How to protect our backs when sitting is not always intuitive. The Kibouti footrest can help with that. Here are a few simple recommendations to help you take full advantage of all the benefits this footrest provides.
 

1) PROPER POSTURE NECESSARY FOR GOOD BACK HEALTH

  Sitting up straight with our knees level to or slightly elevated above the pelvis is the best way to ensure the lower spine is straight. Also being able to move your legs and feet while sitting helps keep the muscles in the lower back pliable thus avoiding that uncomfortable stiffness when you stand up. 
  The Kibouti footrest helps with these requirements. It fits easily in the small space under your desk and leaves plenty of room for leg movement.

This footrest allows you to exercise while sitting at your desk. It lets you move your legs around to suit your comfort needs. You can raise either one knee or both knees. (See image below.) This feature helps keep your lower back in a straighter position thereby relieving pressure on the discs.
  
REMEMBER:
Keep your knees together, as much as possible, while sitting.

Moving your feet while you work helps keep the lower back muscles pliable.

Keeping your knees together helps keep your lower spine straight. Back to index

2) EXERCISE WHILE SITTING

With the footrests’ pronounced slope you can place your feet on it in different positions and naturally stretch your lower leg tendons and muscles. These are great exercises. Stretching these muscles can also help with walking.
The footrest can be easily turned around or flipped over using your feet. There is no need to bend down and reach under the desk.  

Leg muscle stretches.

a) With the slope facing you take a deep breath push your heel down and stretch the lower leg muscles, hold your breath for a five count and relax. Do it again.

b) Turn the footrest around take a deep breath and push your toes down and stretch the front leg muscles, hold your breath for a five count and relax. Do it again.

c) Notice the rounded corners on the footrest stands. These are there so you can easily rock the footrest back and forth while you are sitting. Again good exercise for your Achilles tendon, calf and shin muscles and general good health for your ankles.  

Back to index

3) STAND AND STRETCH

Another thing you can do when you need to stretch a little more of your body is stand beside your desk, pull out the footrest and put one foot up and lean forward perhaps even bend over a bit so all the muscles in your back get a good stretch, then change feet and do the same thing, stretch forward bend a little bit and try to touch your toes on the foot that is on the footrest. This gives those back muscles a good stretch. 
NOTE: Before you stand back up, pull in your stomach muscles and hold them in while you go into the upright position. You will be amazed at how good that feels and how refreshed that little bit of exercise will make you.

Massaging your feet and stress

It is well known that the soles of your feet have nerve endings that connect to many other parts of your body and that is why when you do get a foot massage it is sooo relaxing and refreshing.

4) STRESS RELIEF

When designing the Kibouti footrest we understood that STRESS is also a major factor affecting our mental health. Reflexology and Massage therapy use foot massage as a way to relieve stress and in expert hands cure many symptoms of stress such as head aches, back pain, neck and shoulder pain, plus many other symptoms so we included that opportunity into our design.

When you flip over our footrest you will see three unique features:
1) A large bar.
Useful as a brace, folcrum and subtle foot massage
2) A small bar.
Used as a foot grip for liftng and stretching as well as toe curls and stretches and foot massages
3) The two side struts that hold the footrest off the ground.
These are very important tools not only for your back (keep your knees together while sitting but also for grounding you when trying to concentrate your mental health and stress relief.

Back to index

5) FOOT MASSAGES HELP WITH PHYSICAL AND MENTAL WELL BEING

At any time during the day but especially if you are feeling a little tired or stressed, you can use any of the three tools to massage the soles of your feet.
Areas of your feet you might consider massaging with the Kibouti footrest are: a) the Solar Plexus, For nervous system. b) The middle of the big toe, for the brain, headaches. c) The whole inner side of the foot for lower middle and upper back relief. d) The point between ball of your foot and the big toe for neck pain. Remember to do both feet to stay in balance.

A quick search on the internet – ‘foot massage / reflexology’ will demonstrate where these points are and other benefits you can expect from these casual foot massages.

For your copy of this free reflexology chart go to
http://www.littleepiphany.com/massage/foot-massage-chart.htm

Thank you for considering the Kibouti footrest.
Should you decide to purchase it we know this well made product will last, like other office furniture, for many years. Our hope is that during those years when life is a little uncomfortable you will remember to use it and get just the right amount of comfort that you need.