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January 12th, 2007

Office chair advice

bad posture

I have back pain. I am going to take a multi-pronged and many-faceted approach by getting a new office chair and also seeing whether I can think of any other ways to improve matters.

At the moment I sit on a wooden chair all day as it hurts my back less than the more conventional office chair that we have. The office chair now lives in the second bedroom. A lot of things live in the second bedroom.

I have done some looking in the Viking and Staples catalogues and have decided that an ‘operators chair’ is what I need. There is something called a ‘typists chair’ which does not look advanced enough. Then there is something called an ‘executive chair’ which sounds very important and executive and looks very comfortable but actually cannot be adjusted in many of the directions one might want to adjust things.

The problem comes when one wants to buy one. I went to Staples and tried sitting in a few of the chairs but they all seemed either too basic or too expensive and there were no sales people there to advise on the ins and outs of the ups and downs etc. I am also confused by some of the jargon. Some chairs offer ‘lumbar support’ as a feature. Is an unsupported lumbar my problem? Probably, but I don’t know. There are some that can be adjusted in any direction, but do I really need the seat to be able to go forwards and backwards as well as up and down? I don’t know. The other problem with Staples is that they do not advise on which chairs are suitable for ‘intensive use’, which is something the Viking catalogue does do. But the problem with Viking is that you cannot try before you buy which I think is probably important.

If anyone can advise I would be grateful. I do not mind spending some money on a good chair, but I do not want to waste money on features that are not essential to the wellbeing of my lumbar. What do you sit on all day anyway? Feel free to send make and model numbers, photographs, tales of chairs of yesteryear… Anything really.

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31 Responses to “Office chair advice”


  1. Rob says:

    Chairs are important. The wrong chair can cause all sorts of problems, with serious long-term consequences.

    Please – everyone – don’t just buy a chair because it’s cheap. And if you work with a conputer in an office, make sure that your company has assessed your needs and that your chair meets those needs.

    And yes, lumbar support is important.

    Rob (the ergonomist).

    January 12th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
  2. ash says:

    I found a straight-backed (high back going up to neck) wooden dining chair most comfortable when I injured my back over Christmas.

    January 12th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
  3. John says:

    I’d definitely not buy a chair unless I’d had a chance to try it out. When I went self-employed, seven years ago, I splashed out £100 on an office chair and never regretted the expense. It was from Staples, and had every adjustment I could find (seat up and down, seat tilt, back up and down, back in and out, arms up and down, arms in and out). The main problem with buying from a catalogue is that, if it’s not suitable, the return postage would be huge!

    (Lumbar support refers to the support of the lumbar vertebrae in your spine, which are the lower ones that curve in just above your bum.)

    The other thing (as you pointed out in your cartoon) is that, no matter how good your chair is, it won’t help you if you don’t sit in it properly :-)

    pax et bonum

    January 12th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
  4. Steve says:

    I have back pain and have started going to see a chiropractor, which has made a big difference. While not cheap, it has helped with (a) putting my spine back the way it should be and (b) giving me advice on posture so that I can sit in a variety of chairs without things hurting too much. If you buy a really great chair but sit badly in it you still get pain (though of course if you have great posture and a rubbish chair it doesn’t help).

    January 12th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
  5. Paul says:

    If you have back pain a proper “back chair” might be a good, although not cheap, choice. They don’t have a back at all, but have the seat at an angle and knee rests. They encourage – actually more or less force – you to sit with your back it it’s correct position.

    You could also enrol in a Pilates class, not to sit on but to strengthen your support muscles.

    I hope you find a good chair, and have no further pain – particularly if it impedes cartooning.

    January 12th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
  6. Paul G says:

    As yet another back patient I strongly recommend the kneeling-type back chair – I’ve used one for 10 years now while working at home (the cheapest I could find – Argos: it needs re-covering after this much use, and I did break it by sitting on the wrong bit, the wrong way round a few years back, but it mended quite easily.)

    When sitting on a normal chair lumbar support is vital. The Back Friend device is quite good for temporarily improving otherwise bad chairs when you have no choice

    Paul

    January 12th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
  7. Chris Pettifer says:

    I worked somewhere once that had the best office chairs I’ve ever used. I believe they were Herman Miller Aeron Chairs. Aside from being really comfortable they allow you to set them up so you sit in the correct posture and provide the right amount of support in the right places (also adjustable). The drawback is that they are supremely expensive. I think the company paid somewhere in the region of £600 per chair at the time for at least 100, perhaps even 200 of them.

    If you were to consider such a chair you definitely need to try it out first!!

    Chris

    January 12th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
  8. Chris Pettifer says:

    I meant to mention that they were good for people of all shapes and sizes too. Small people liked them. Average sized people liked them. Tall people, like me at 6 foot 6, liked them. I’m sure the people in between those sizes and who were other shapes found they liked them too.

    January 12th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
  9. Jamie Hollis says:

    Herman Miller’s Aeron chair is amazing. It’s expensive, but worth every penny and cheaper than some. It’s manufactured in three different sizes to fit your height and has some other customizations that you decide on prior to purchasing. You won’t regret it.

    January 12th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
  10. Chris Clark says:

    One of my clients have desks that go up and down so they can sit or stand to work. This is an expensive option but will pay dividends. Perhaps the Burghers of Wokingham might contribute :-)

    January 12th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
  11. Graham Doel says:

    Go swimming! It’s cheap, and supposed to do your back the world of good.

    January 12th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
  12. rosamundi says:

    I had one of those chairs that the two Pauls refer to – very comfortable, and very good. Sadly, mine broke after 10 years of fairly intensive use, and I have not yet replaced it, althoguh I will do soon.

    January 12th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
  13. bimble says:

    As an add-on about the kneeling chairs, if you, lets say, fall off a bike and scrape your knee, you won’t be able to use them till the scab is gone.

    As someone who fell off their bike just after Christmas I still can’t kneel down because it hurts, and if I do the scab breaks openand it starts bleeding again. Not a problem with a proper chair (like the one I’m using).

    January 12th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
  14. Ann says:

    Ab crunches are the best for a bad back — and don’t sit in your chair all day!!!

    January 12th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
  15. James says:

    I use a ‘kneeling chair’, like Paul G. I bought mine from Staples website but had used that sort of chair before (now stolen by one of my daughters for her use!). They are £50 at the moment…
    http://www.staples.co.uk/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?CatIds=,&webid=4m367&affixedcode=WW

    I find them very comfortable and have avoided back pain for quite a while because of it (attributable to the chair, I think). I’d recommend a go

    January 12th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
  16. Miffy says:

    Reading this with interest as stduent daghter is having the same problems – spending long hours crouched over a laptop. I’ve found the McKenzie lumbar roll invaluable for my own back troubles – together with a program of exercises from the physio. The roll attaches to your chair with a length of elastic to support your lower back. There’s also a flatter version that’s more suitable to take round with you if you know you’re going to be somewhere with unsuitable seating (most places!). Ms Miffy has gone back to uni with one of these and I’ll send her your link for chair info.

    Good luck!

    January 12th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
  17. maggi says:

    download a few things about ergonomics and your workstation, and study carefully. Then book an appointment with an osteopath and talk to her/him about your chair problem as well as your back BEFORE you buy the chair. And make a habit of 5 minutes shaking and stretching and jumping after every 20 minutes seated. You cannot afford to do less, your livelihood as well as your health depends on it. good luck!

    January 12th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
  18. Sue says:

    I had back problems at this time last year. The thing that fixed it for me as I was spending rather a lot of time glued to my powerbook was a device called an icurve (yes you were way too close to the truth in your emerging church bloggers cartoon:-)
    Its a little bit of plastic that you raise a laptop off the desk with so that you are staring at the screen at the right height. It is worth raising your screen height if you are peering down into it, and if
    you are using a laptop to either get one of those clever devices or
    just prop it up on a pile of large theology books which has much the same effect.

    January 12th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
  19. Carolyn Campbell says:

    I’m currently sitting on a big purple inflatable ‘Swiss Ball’. The idea being that you constantly have to make little adjustments to maintain your balance and that this both strengthens your core postural muscles and means you don’t stiffen up from sitting still. It’s suprisingly comfortable and bouncing is fun! much cheaper than an Aeron too.

    January 13th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
  20. Ann says:

    And then there is the cartoon at Mad Priest

    January 13th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
  21. Dave K says:

    The Herman Miller Aeron is a *very* good chair. Used in many recording studios, edit suites and audio post production houses.

    Actually, the Herman Miller factory is about a mile up the road from me. Just give me the nod Dave and I’ll have a look around to see if any have fallen “off the back of a lorry” [wink]

    January 13th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
  22. Arti says:

    I tried the kneeling chair and didn’t really get on with it – I think becasue I’m quite small and it didn’t adjust enough so the distance from seat to knee pad was quite long. I’d definitely recommend a backfriend though http://www.medesign.co.uk/products/home/home.html

    I love mine. I have the double padded version in the car and it makes long distances in an old K reg VW, much more bearable.

    January 13th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
  23. Miffy says:

    Before I forget – I’d recommend you get hold of a copy of ‘Treat Your Own Back’ by Robin McKenzie. If nothing else, the sight of you doing the twice daily exercises will give your other half no end of a laugh!

    January 14th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
  24. Dave says:

    Thanks everyone for your back advice. Lots of really useful nuggests of information that I will be looking into and/or acting upon.

    January 14th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
  25. Richard L says:

    Don’t go cheap – it’s not worth it.

    I also have a lot of lower back pain, use computers a lot, and ended up buying an office chair from Staples. It was just over £100, but it has a great lumbar support, and can be adjusted in many directions – even some of the positions in your cartoon are possible!

    In this day and age of well-being, make sure you attend to your “inner back” as well. It might be possible to get one with a built in shiatsu machine, and a device to create a positive magnetic karma field around you, and maybe some built-in loudspeakers that whisper positive messages to you while you work ;)

    R

    January 17th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
  26. Paula says:

    You need a picture of someone with their feet up on their desk. That is how I work at my computer. Very bad I know but I find it comfortable.

    January 20th, 2007 at 2:49 am
  27. Naomi says:

    Kneeling chairs are the future. I can no longer use one because my joint & muscle pain has spread, but when it was mainly my back, this was a great solution.

    January 21st, 2007 at 3:16 pm
  28. commenter says:

    i like that picture of that guy leaning over caving into the screen lmao.

    February 2nd, 2007 at 4:17 pm
  29. Chris says:

    I know this is March and you were looking in Jan., but if you haven’t purchased yet, consider the Zero Gravity Chair from the Relax the Back Store. It’s leather and expensive, but take it from somone who’s had two laminectomy/discetomy’s and with continued deterioration of the l4/l5 and S1 discs (if you have problems, you know these terms), this is the way to go. This chair lets you swivel into an astronauts position, thus basically letting you lie down while you work. From Staples, you can then purchase the keyboard tray with side mouse tray that comes over the chair much like the dinner tray does over the hospital bed.

    If you spend all day in your chair, this is the best way to go. I’ve tried ergonomic chairs at work and while some work better than others, none compare to my Zero Gravity at home.

    March 20th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
  30. Ali Hubbard says:

    I have suffered from bad back’s over the years from gardening and computer work even though I am an ergonomist! as well as getting the right chair it is important to take frequent breaks – move around and have a stretch. I can also recommend pilates to strengthen the core muscles and prevent the dreaded slouch.

    Love the cartoon – any chance I could use it to break up the monotony of teaching ergonomics?

    Cheers

    Ali

    July 9th, 2007 at 9:56 am
  31. Ros says:

    You can try and find the most expensive models, either used or unused, in classified ads pages, such as this:

    http://www.gumtree.com/london/87/13619987.html

    Good luck

    September 27th, 2007 at 4:47 pm