Humans were not built for sitting hunched in front of a computer screen for hours. And that is something we are spending more and more time doing - when we are not sitting in a car or slumped in front of the telly. Back pain affects 60 per cent of adults and costs British industry an estimated £5 billion a year. If you are self-employed and using a computer at home, posture-related pain is a real threat - to your well-being and to your income. It could pay dividends to give your work station a revamp and invest in a good office chair. When it comes to choosing a chair the key word is adjustability. 'Ergonomics depend on the size of the operator,' says Tim Hutchful of the British Chiropractic Association. 'The chair needs to fit your body shape.' So look for a chair that is as adjustable as possible. Seat height and back recline are not enough. Look for a seat that tilts and slides backwards and forwards to take into account the length of your legs. Lumbar (lower back) support can cause more harm than good if it is in the wrong place for your body size, so a height-adjustable backrest is ideal.
You should be able to fix arm rests to support your forearms at desk height, too. If your budget will run to it, a chair with a free-float mechanism, allowing you to move around while seated, is a fine thing. Don't choose an 'executive' leather chair. With the seat slanted you could slip forwards. Advance Seating Designs makes fully adjustable Opera chairs to fit most body sizes. If it hasn't got one to fit you, it will make one. The Opera 20 range (from £373) has a free-float 'rocking' mechanism. Look out for discounted ex-display and end-of-line chairs. For an extra £22.50 it will deliver the chair, set it up and teach you how to drive it. The best office chair on a limited budget is from Ikea. The Verksam swivel chair adjusts and costs just £155. There are a lot of inexpensive things you can do to make your work station back-friendly. If you are working on a laptop at home, Hutchful recommends investing in an extra keyboard to plug in and propping it up on telephone directories.
Hand towels can be folded to create a seat wedge and a lumbar support such as the Rest-a-Back (£26.74) from BackChairs Direct can be fixed to your non-ergonomic chair back. 'Populations who squat rather than sitting on chairs don't suffer from back pain. I blame the Pharaohs for starting to sit on thrones,' says Michael Arding, designer of the 'pelvic posture' chair. 'Even in a chair with lumbar support the pelvis automatically rolls back causing a sharp bend in the lower part of the spine which leads to lower back pain.' Rather than lumbar support, the base of the backrest on the Task pelvic posture chair from Pledge (from £347) supports the iliac crests at the back of the pelvis, thus maintaining the spine's natural curve. Adrian Preston, managing director of Want Don't Want discovered the pelvic posture chair following severe lower back problems eight years ago. He swears by it. 'Now I feel as good at the end of the day as I did at the beginning,' he says. The main thing to remember is that our muscles and joints were not made for keeping still, so get up and move around at least every 20 minutes.
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