Why is sitting in a chair for long periods bad for your back? In prime condition, the human body functions as a well-oiled machine, with the heart as the engine that keeps the infrastructure of muscles and bones moving properly. But when we don't take proper care of it, parts of that machine can slip up and break down with painful results. In addition, certain areas of our bodies that must endure a lot of wear and tear are more susceptible to injury than others. As a major load-bearer, our backs are particularly vulnerable regions. Back pain affects eight out of 10 people, whether it's acute or chronic [source: National Institutes of Health]. The back is such a common trouble spot because we put a ton of stress on it whether we're lounging on our couch in front of the television or playing tackle football. Whatever activity we're engaged in, our spine is the central support for our upper bodies and holds us upright. Its network of interlocking vertebrae also encases our spinal cord, which serves as the main drag on the central nervous system's superhighway.
The spine is made up of 24 interlocking vertebrae, which are divided into three types: cervical, thoracic and lumbar. Fibrous tissues called ligaments connect those bones in our spine. To prevent our vertebrae from crunching against each other, spinal discs provide a cushion between them. Muscles then attach the spine to our skeleton, giving us upper body movement and flexibility. When we have to lift heavy objects or do much twisting and turning, these movements put stress on our backs. Ligaments can overstretch or tear, leading to back sprains. Overworked back muscles can cause a strain, and compressed spinal discs can also wear down. But when we're sitting completely still, our backs may suffer as well. The lower back must prop up the weight of the top half of the body, and the position we sit in can make it harder for the back to do its job. Even if we aren't moving around, our backs are actively working. So how can you sit in a way that sits well with your back?Help me not hate my new Aeron chair
October 16, 2012 Subscribe Due to long-standing back/shoulder/neck pain, I received an Aeron chair at work a couple of months ago. It has helped in one way (namely, the armrests can be adjusted lower than any other chair I've had, which has helped my shoulders) but otherwise has completely aggravated my lower and mid-back pain. Help me figure out a hack so that I can actually sit at my desk for longer than 10 minutes at a time without going nuts. I know I'm supposed to love this chair, but I don't (except for the aforementioned super-low armrest feature to accommodate my long arms). I think the problem is a combination of the damn mesh seat (no support for my bony ass) and lack of back support/cushioning (I have the model with the PostureFit -- or, as I like to call it, LackOfPostureFit). No matter how I adjust the height, tilt, tension, etc., my back inevitably winds up feeling extremely tight, and is occasionally in spasm by the time I leave for the day. I have a small lumbar support cushion attached to the chair right now, which helps a little... but one of my problems (according to my physical therapist) is that I actually tend to overarch my lower back, so too much cushioning in that area exacerbates that.
I have tried a wedge seat cushion, but it absolutely doesn't work for the seat of this chair (it fits fine on my desk chair at home). Does anyone have any experience with the Stratta cushion for Aeron chairs? At that price, I want to make sure it's likely to help before I cough up the money (or try to convince work to pay for it). A few other points: I do have an ergonomic keyboard and a keyboard tray that are about as good as I'm going to get, so that's probably not an area that can be further improved at this point. There's not anyone at work who's an ergonomic expert to help me; the facilities guy who delivered the chair was helpful in terms of showing me how to adjust the seat, but beyond that is not really his area of expertise. (Are there freelance ergonomic consultants who you can hire for an hour to come in and evaluate this sort of thing?) I would love an entirely different chair (my eye is on the Steelcase Leap), but I have strong doubts that work will cough up for one.
(Does anyone have experience buying a chair like this from an unauthorized dealer? I see them here at about 50% of the retail price, and at this point I'm half-tempted to buy one myself and bring it in to my office, though part of me doesn't think I should have to do this on my dime.)I'm not a big complainer, having long subscribed to the stiff upper lip, grin-and-bear-it attitude of my WASP-y maternal ancestors. But even those hearty folks have their moments when all of their glacial compose crumbles in the face of an imposing foe. My enemy came for me where I work. It took the form of a particularly aggressive plastic desk chair, one that contrived, it seemed, to completely ruin my life. I'd cry, "My back!" And I'm not alone. The world, it seems, is full of largely awful desk chairs: the wrong height, the wrong pitch, the wrong arms and seat. The wrong everything, really. Why do people make them? I have suspicions of Big Furniture and its discomfort plots, out there to cripple our young professionals so they can never stage an uprising, but so far my conspiracy theory has been low on subscribers.
It was time to call in reinforcements.I consulted an expert. “Sitting is not a problem. Sitting still is a problem," said Jonathan Puleio, the lead ergonomics consultant of Humanscale, whose Freedom chair currently resides in the offices of Apple CEO Tim Cook. "We want to promote movement and postural variation.” As it turns out, according to Puleio, the standard desk height is 29.5 inches, which is optimal for a six foot four male; those of us with physiques that don’t quite match up have to adjust. And as most offices come with built in desks, those adjustments have to come from the seat first. The most important things to look for, Puleio asserted, are often hard to pinpoint: task chairs that automatically adjust to the user’s body weight, for instance, don’t get a lot of credit for it because they require little to no manual input. “But the right chair is everything,” Puleio added. “It will promote movement, reduce discomfort, and yield better long-term health.” Perhaps, I began to think, the right seat will in fact enable my inner power player: After all, posture has long held serious effects on things like confidence, presentation, and even work-related success.
I assumed a power stance, much to the enjoyment of my colleagues, and set off on my search.It turns out that the world is full of good chairs: Not all are attractive, and not all are particularly welcome in an office setting—here’s looking at you, inversion chairs—but my best perch came in the most untraditional of forms: Humanscale's ballo design. Sure, it sort of looks like a toadstool, and sure, it’s only recommended for short-term sitting, but I have to tell you: I feel active, even if I’m only sitting there slightly bobbing at my desk like a contented duck. Rather than lean back, I sit up straight (your abdominals have to work to stabilize you, added fitness bonus!), and am subconsciously encouraged to get up and move around. And in a clever twist, the hardened core means it doesn’t roll away when you stand up, like an exercise ball will. As for the real review, everyone who initially made fun of me at the office now wants one of his or her own. Clearly my future as a game-changing professional is just over the horizon.