Back before humans invented chairs we humans stood a lot. Now, almost 100 years later, we tend to sit. However, some people still stand. For those people there is the TerraMat.
The TerraMat is like a cat toy for you feet. It features a number of little bumps and ridges designed to let you stretch, exercise and massage your feet while you’re standing. It was created by two husband-and-wife teams, including an interior office designer, personal trainer and two engineers.
One of the inventors, Gerald Zingraf, suffered “a burst leg vein and failed valves that were caused from him standing still on a flat surface at his standing desk for 7+ hours a day.”
“That incident inspired the TerraMat to help keep people moving while they stand to avoid spinal compression, muscle fatigue and other standing-related issues,” he said. “With my mechanical engineering background and our co-founder’s knowledge of muscle imbalances and postural dysfunctions as a personal trainer, we put our heads together and after dozens of hours of design and testing we came up with the TerraMat.”
The team raised $105,000 and did a $108,000 Kickstarter. They also make a simple standing desk.
“We aren’t a ‘one-trick-pony’ desk company, but focus on all aspects of what’s required to stay healthy at your 9-5 which influences how we approach creating and launching new products,” said co-founder Camille Arneberg. The mat features 10 “power poses” that let you stretch, massage and feel better while standing.
So if you’ve been sitting for a long time and feel like standing, the TerraMat may just be the trick. If only our ancestors in the early 1900s — just before the invention of the first chair — had had such a wonderful thing.
