Many of us spend the majority of our professional lives sitting, which makes the office chair an all-important piece of furniture. Lately mine hasn't been cutting it, so as an experiment, I swapped my chair with an exercise ball. Here's what's been great about it, what's been less than perfect, and what you might want to consider if you're interested in switching to an exercise ball as your office chair. I don't have one of those $500+ Herman Miller ergonomic chairs, but do have a lumbar support roll for my desk chair, which is sized small enough for my frame so I fit comfortably in it and everything is measured for ergonomic workstation perfection (as best as I could manage, at least). But, maybe it's my increased awareness of the health hazards of sitting all day or just the years catching up with me, but this regular chair isn't working so great. Lately I've been catching myself standing up to type in bouts of nervous energy or, worse, slouching. My neck and shoulders perpetually ache.
Frankly, my butt hurts. My alternatives were to adopt a standing desk or a treadputer or try a more ergonomically-designed Aeron or similar chair (like a good pair of shoes and a quality mattress, it's the everyday things that are worth investing in). Being both a yoga lover and a cheapskate, I decided to first try out this exercise ball chair for $75. Besides being much cheaper than buying a new desk or a more expensive chair, the exercise ball chair promised to allow me to work in some abdominal exercise throughout the day and possibly improve my years-of-working-slumped-at-a-desk posture. This is what Isokinetics, the makers of the chair I bought, say about it:Your body, when positioned on top of an exercise ball, is constantly making small adjustments, often imperceptible, to remain balanced and thus is constantly exercising a large group of muscles in doing so. By strengthening your body's core muscle group you help improve your posture, have better balance and guard against back injuries.
The medical community, however, is at best inconclusive about the health benefits or disadvantages of using an exercise ball as an office chair. I found two case studies of patients with low back pain whose conditions improved after consistently using the gym ball, but, on the other hand, The New York Times reports that claims of exercise balls improving posture are also lacking in evidence (and disadvantages regarding spinal shrinkage may offset the increased muscle activity). The folks at Ergonomics Today are flat-out against ball chairs as office chairs, primarily for safety reasons (the potential for air collapse and the instability, partially due to the ball rolling away—something the ball base in my particular chair does away with).Jeremy Vigneault, a physical therapist at the Nayden Rehabilitation Clinic at the University of Connecticut, told me that "there is really nothing overly good nor bad per say about the exercise ball chair," noting that this type of setup doesn't offer any lumbar (lower back) support and it does take practice to maintain a good sitting posture on it.
He pointed out that most chairs, of any kind, try to exploit posture and back health as their key selling points, when really the perfect chair doesn't exist—it's more about practicing "good posture." Chad Garvey, a physical therapist, manual therapist, and patient advocate, also said there's not much evidence for these fitness balls reducing lower back pain and just advised me not to fall, as that's the main concern that's been reported with this type of chair.I was just glad no one told me sitting on an exercise ball chair was going to kill me. If you have back pain or another health condition or if you're the least bit concerned, definitely check with your doctor before attempting this kind of setup. If you decide to proceed, as I did, here's what you'll likely experience:The first time you sit on an exercise ball at your desk, your back will probably shoot up so straight you'll feel like a marionette. If you're like me, this will be a foreign, even delightful experience (oh, that's what it's like?).
Twenty minutes later, if you're like me, your butt will hurt and you will switch back to your regular chair which will feel mushy by comparison. After a couple more days of this, you may find yourself sitting on the exercise ball chair for much longer periods of time. (A week later, I spend the majority of my day on the exercise ball chair, but still take lots of breaks and occasionally switch back to the old chair.) After a little over a week of using the chair, it's impossible to tell if it's helping to increase my core strength, as I hope it will, but I do feel like I walk and sit much taller than I used to and can sit for longer periods of time. If it's only that I'm more aware of my posture, that's fine—in my book, the ball is doing its job. Plus, I now have another outlet for some creative nervous energy, am sneaking in some extra (albeit minuscule, in terms of calorie-burning) exercise, and my butt doesn't hurt anymore—what more could I ask for?If you've tried using an exercise ball instead of an office chair or have any opinions on these alternative chairs, share your thoughts with us in the comments.
You can follow or contact Melanie Pinola, the author of this post, on Twitter.The wrong chair = real health problems. (Total read time: 8 minutes) In this post I’ll cover how I identified the best high-end chairs in the world, which I ultimately chose, and the tangible results that followed. In January of 2005, I found myself on a veranda in Panama after the usual afternoon rain, dreaming of the upcoming year and reflecting on lessons learned since leaving the US. Maria Elena, the matriarch of the Panamanian family that had adopted me, sipped her iced tea and pointed at my bruised feet: “Tim, let me share some advice I was once given. Buy the most comfortable bed and pair of shoes you can afford. If you’re not in one, you’ll be in the other.” I followed her advice upon returning to CA and the results were sudden: Plantar Fasciitis disappeared, as did shoulder impingement after switching from coil-spring to foam-layered mattresses. But what about chairs?
On January 4th, 2009, I tweeted out the following: “Is the Aeron chair worth it? http://tr.im/2uxd Do you have any fave chairs for extended sitting and writing?” Even though I’m financially comfortable now, I didn’t grow up spending a lot of money, which I’m thankful for. To this day, I’ve never paid for first-class airfare for myself. Not that it isn’t worth it — I just can’t do it. Similarly, I had trouble believing a chair could possibly be worth $850-$1,200, but my back pain led me to pose the question to the omniscient Interweb. More than 95% of Aeron users replied with “yes, absolutely”, but it wasn’t the only chair with a cult-like following. Four of the five are manufactured by Herman Miller (HM) and Humanscale (HS). Prices are from Amazon, as are the star reviews, but discounts of $200-400 can be negotiated with dealers. Both eBay and Craiglist offer similar discounts. In descending order of popularity: 1. Aeron (Fully loaded) (HM) – $879 (1 review; average review: 5 stars)
Used at NASA mission control and tech start-ups worldwide.2. Mirra (fully loaded) (HM) – $829 (14 reviews; average review: 4.5 stars) Note: the Herman Miller sales representatives I spoke with preferred the Mirra seat feel for shorter legs vs. the Aeron. Easier to adjust: Mirra is about 9 revolutions from loosest to tightest settings; 3. SwingChair – $495 Recommended by a strong contingent of writers, including one of my favorite visual storytellers, Kathy Sierra. I like the design concept, but I would suggest other forms of “core exercise”. 4. Liberty (HS) – $899 (6 reviews; average review: 3.5 stars) 5. Freedom Task Chair with Headrest (HS) – $999.99 (1 review, average: 4 stars) Used at the FBI and by other governmental agencies with three-letter acronyms. 6. Embody – $1,800 list price (negotiated with dealer: $1,200-1,300): Basis of chair design – sitting is bad; Even in locked position, it still has some backward flex at the top position.
No forward tilt option. For personal testing, I also added a Swiss-ball chair (Isokinetics Balance Ball Chair – $75) to the mix, as seen below: Surprisingly, the Isokinetics chair is more comfortable than most fixed chairs I tested, though there is some minor… ahem… testicular compression that isn’t nearly as pleasant as it sounds. If you don’t have jewels to worry about, this chair could well be an ideal cost-effective choice. The chair I most wanted to test was the Mirra, which seems to have the best combination of price point (bought used or via eBay) and multiple 5-star reviews. Not to mention it’s also the name of one of the best BMXers of all time. In the end, I bought a used C-size (technically a bit too large for me) Aeron for $450 on Craigslist. I’m impatient and didn’t want to wait over the weekend to schedule sittings for other Herman Miller chairs with a certified dealer. Once I have some conclusive comparable data, I want closure.I’m 5′ 8″ and 170 lbs., but the C works with no problem.
1) The lumbar support is — by far — the primary determinant of comfort or pain. I’ve lowered this adjustment and found that maintaining the natural S-curve through pressure on the lower back is what prevents pain most consistently. Comfortable sitting time is now 7-8 hours vs. less than 2 hours, with no ill after-effects. Sliding lumbar support on the Aeron. 2) Seat height (and secondarily, depth) will determine the rest. If the flats of your feet don’t make complete contact with the floor, you will move your hips forward and slouch, eliminating the S-curve in the lower lumbar. If your seat is too low and your knees are above your hips, you will shorten the habitual range your hip flexors (negative neural adaptation) and end up with severe lower-back pain. Aim to keep your hamstrings parallel to the floor, and if the seat is too long for your femur (thigh bone) — as is mildly the case with my C-size Aeron — just separate your knees a bit. If you’re not wearing a tight skirt, I’ve found a basketball of space between the knees to provide the best lateral stabilization, which reduces torso fatigue.
Take off heels when sitting at a desk, lest you end up with hot calves and Quasimodo-like posture. Not good for mating. If you are wearing a tight skirt, I suggest taking up the Japanese tea ceremony and sitting on tatami side saddle. It’ll be more comfortable than crossing your legs all day.True, I’ve thought more about chairs in the last few weeks than anyone should, but I do it to save you the trouble. Benefit from my OCD so you can obsess on other things. 3) Using a 3′ long and 6″ diameter foam roller three times per day for 5 minutes can eliminate persistent middle-back pain from mediocre chair use; conversely, it can extend your comfortable sitting time by 30-40%. Knowledge workers often log more ass-in-seat time than sleep. Coders, in particular, are often subjected to a steady diet of Mountain Dew and hunching for 12+-hour marathons. I don’t put in these hours, but I found myself with severe mid-upper back pain from using a non-adjustable chair and craning over a desk that was too low, even for 30-60 minutes per day.
Two doctors suggested various therapies, but a quick experiment (placing a laptop on top of a dresser and writing while standing for two days) proved that posture was the problem. In less than a week following my switch to the Aeron, all upper middle-back (lower trapezius, rhomboid major) pain disappeared completely. The results: better output during work and writing, faster and deeper sleep, and a huge smack on the forehead. Why the hell didn’t I do this earlier? In my case, was it worth it at $450? Particularly looking at the value of time per hour and the lost income due to doctor visits, massage, etc., this is $450 I should have invested years ago. Odds and Ends: Twitter Giveaway WinnersThe travel bag and Fujitsu color travel scanner are gone. More giveaways coming here this week… Posted on: January 27, 2009. Please check out Tools of Titans, my new book, which shares the tactics, routines, and habits of billionaires, icons, and world-class performers.