I didn't know — until it started to hurt
It was only after the pain arrived that our founder first looked back on how he had been sitting. He spent nearly twenty years designing screens, seated at a desk. While he studied a single line, a single cell on the monitor, the hours slipped by quickly — and in all that time, he never once checked how his own body was sitting. More than a decade into the work, the pain finally came to his shoulders and lower back. Only then did he understand: the pain hadn't appeared all at once. It had been building slowly, for a long time. Because accumulated strain doesn't hurt on any given day, the more flawed the habit, the more deeply it sets. Looking back, the feet were always the problem. Even seated in a well-chosen chair, his feet never found a place to settle. He'd cross and uncross his legs, hook one foot around the chair leg, and before long find himself sliding forward in the seat. While the chair supported his upper body, the place where his feet should rest stayed empty. That was true of his own feet — and looking around, it was no different for anyone else.
A chair supports the upper body; a footrest supports the lower.
An environment that doesn't fit your body
The problem lay not in the person, but in the two objects surrounding them: the chair and the desk. A chair was never designed to support the legs in the first place, and the standard 72cm desk is not a height that fits every body. One study found that 46.7% of users said their own desk didn't fit their body, and reported that the appropriate desk height varies by build — spanning roughly 60–79cm (ScienceDirect 2025). The BIFMA standard likewise places desk height in a range of about 68–76cm.
Caught between a chair that doesn't support them and a desk fixed at a single height, people cross their legs, hook their feet, and slide forward. This isn't a matter of willpower — it's the absence of structure.
The legs have nowhere to rest
Look around any office and you'll see many people repeating the same behaviors. They cross their legs, pull one leg up, perch on the edge of the seat. The movements differ, but the direction is the same: the feet and legs are searching for somewhere to rest.
No matter how good a chair is, it supports only the back and hips — below the knees, it leaves things empty. Touching is not the same as being supported. Even when the feet reach the floor, the legs have nowhere to lean, so they improvise their own anchor points — the opposite knee, the chair leg, the floor. There is an observation that this kind of lopsided posture can lead to asymmetry in the pelvis and trunk (PMC 2014). And when the feet stay still for long stretches, a common discomfort is the cold setting in from the toes (PMC 2015).
No new desk or chair required — simply done
If structure is the problem, the answer has to lie in structure too. Rather than trying to correct the person, ROUMO chose to change the environment — a structure in which the right behavior follows naturally, without anyone having to grit their teeth and hold the line.
The design begins with three requirements. First, create a surface where the feet and legs can rest in the space the chair leaves empty below. Second, make it easy to adjust with the toes — without using the hands or bending the back. Third, make it not a tool you have to resolve to use, but an object always there beneath your feet, met as naturally as a habit.
Turning a bad habit into a good one
For a behavior to happen, motivation, ability, and a trigger must come together (Fogg Behavior Model). Attempts to change posture fail because they lean on willpower alone. To change a behavior, you have to make it easy — and plant a cue in the environment that brings it to mind.
The LC99 places both of these beneath your feet. A single push of the toes is all it takes, so the threshold to act is low; and because it's always underfoot, your feet reach it without any resolve. This is a physical nudge. The same direction is supported by research showing that a change in the physical environment raised the proportion of time spent standing to work (MDPI 2025), and by a meta-analysis showing that ergonomic interventions are a reasonable approach to reducing discomfort at the desk (MDPI 2025).
Not fixed in place — inviting a range of postures
When the feet are supported on a firm surface, they share the load that once pressed on the front edge of the seat. Because the kinetic chain runs from the bottom up, stabilizing the support of the feet is the starting point of ROUMO's design. A tendency toward greater use of the backrest has also been observed when a footrest is in use (ScienceDirect 2021). This is not treatment — it is environmental support that helps the body find its own upright posture.
A two-tier structure is different from a flat footrest. A flat board ties the feet to one posture, while two tiers create the next posture, somewhere between focus and rest. Set the toes on the front tier to draw the body forward; move to the back tier to lean back and shift the posture. There is also research pointing to a change of posture every hour as a protective factor (BMC Public Health 2022).
Becoming a new standard
A new claim is proven by time. The two-tier structure ROUMO introduced in 2019 felt unfamiliar at first, but the approach — moving the toes between focus and rest to make changing posture feel natural — grew more convincing as the years passed. Today, as desk environments begin to address foot support and postural change together, ROUMO's reading of the problem points in the same direction as the market's shift.
Users' assessments point the same way. The rating left by the people who use it every day stands at 4.88 (Naver) — a sign that the LC99 is a product kept in steady use within everyday desk environments.
The 2nd-generation footrest ROUMO introduced in 2019
ROUMO's first two-tier footrest, the "Frontstool." The two-tier form has since become the industry standard. (Discontinued)
Solving it one piece at a time, alongside users
What makes a good footrest isn't flashy features — it's the quiet disappearance of the things that bothered you in daily use. We worked through, one by one, the frustrations anyone has felt at some point with a conventional footrest.
Stays put
Conventional footrests creep away when you press on them, retreating until they're out of reach. The LC99 grips the floor, holding its place even when you push with your foot.
No more drawn-in legs
When the width is narrow, you end up drawing both feet toward the center. At 512mm wide, it lets you rest both feet at shoulder width, just as they are.
Quiet
So there's no clatter of parts knocking together as you move your feet, it's built with a simple, rattle-free structure.
Adjustable by foot
No need to bend down and set it by hand. Shift the position with your toes, adjusting it just as you sit.
A height tuned to your body
With a height of 5–19cm and 9 holes each front and back (81 combinations), you can find the foot position that matches your height and leg length.
Light
Light enough to move easily with your foot. Not a piece of furniture rooted to one spot, but an object you use every day.
Durability
Because it bears your weight every day and gets pushed by the toes, it's made of sturdy material with a simple structure, built to last.
A color tuned to your space
Tan and black. The lighter tan settles easily into bright spaces while showing dust and marks less, and black blends into a darker setup.
Not a footrest — performance gear
Not a flat board that merely holds the soles, but a tool built for performance — two postures, focus and rest, that let you concentrate longer.
Temperature
There are two main things that break concentration. First, the musculoskeletal strain that accumulates over long hours of sitting. Second, the immediate discomfort that comes from changes in temperature, like cold feet. To address this, ROUMO designed an ergonomic structure together with wellness heating technology built around safety. It applies a structure that reduces the risk of low-temperature burns and fire, and creates a natural, warm environment that puts less strain on the body.
The ROUMO 2nd-generation footrest — since ROUMO introduced it in 2019, it has become a new standard for the industry, and its structure, finish, and usability have been recognized with Good Design Korea 2022, 2025.
Not correction — behavioral design
If you named ROUMO's approach in a single phrase, it would be "behavioral design." Rather than trying to change the person, we design the environment so that the right behavior follows naturally. The burden of change is carried by the product, not the person. The space that frees up is filled with time spent longer, and deeper, in focus.
The studies cited in this text are reference material meant to explain the background of the problem and the soundness of the design approach; they do not guarantee any particular effect.
Working longer, focusing deeper — these are the moments ROUMO was born from valuing. In an age of working alongside AI, we spend ever-longer hours at the desk, reading, thinking, and immersing ourselves. And we discover new possibilities we haven't yet imagined. So that this precious time isn't broken by small discomforts, ROUMO will be a steadfast supporter beneath your feet. In the moments you discover new possibilities, and along the journey toward a better future — ROUMO will always be with you.
Explore the ROUMO 2nd-generation footrest, the LC99The ROUMO LC99 is a desk-environment product that guides and supports good posture; it is not a medical device. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any condition, and how it feels may vary from person to person. Statistics source: 2025 desk-fit study. Verified specs: support height 5–19cm, width 512mm, 81 height and angle combinations.