Can ergonomic chairs help alleviate lower back pain?

[pivoxa15]

Anybody can recommend chairs designed for lower back pain suffers?

Some pics would be good and why they are useful.

 

[hypatia]

http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/SSA/Product/0,,a10-c440-p8,00.html

This is my favorit chair, the Aeron chair I made them buy me at work. Everything about the chair is comfortable. Everything they say in the ad is true.

 

[marcusl]

Do you have LBP or are you interested in designing chairs?

 

[Moonbear]

I like those mesh chairs too. The most important is to have an adjustable lumbar support, which many of the mesh chairs have, but few regular chairs do.

 

[turbo]

I got a high-backed Sealy office chair at Staples, with adjustable armrests and tilting back with adjustable lumbar support. Very comfortable.

 

[Evo]

We have those Herman Miller mesh chairs at work and I must say they are rather uncomfortable. It's so bad that I find myself perching off the front edge and it's killing my back, legs, neck and shoulders. I had wonderful chairs at my previous jobs, I guess I am just spoiled. It's the weird bump (rise) just before the seat edge that oddly raises your legs mid thigh then drops down that makes no sense and pulls the muscles in my back, so I end up sitting on the edge of the seat, which is very uncomfortable because of that bump. There seems to be no way to make the bump go away.

I have very long legs in proportion to my height and a short torso. I need a different type of chair.

 

[Moonbear]

My biggest problem isn't with the chairs, but with the desks. They're all sized for grown men, and not for us petite women. If I adjust the chair so I can comfortably sit with my feet on the floor, the desk is too high for comfortably writing, and the keyboard tray also too high for typing or mousing. If I adjust the chair up so I can comfortably reach the desk, my feet don't really touch the floor and my legs get uncomfortable (and leads to sore backs too). I need someone to chop the legs off my desk! Actually, if they'd just carpet the floor, give me a few pillows, let me lean against the walls, and work off a lap desk, I'd be a happy camper.

 

[Evo]

My biggest problem isn't with the chairs, but with the desks. They're all sized for grown men, and not for us petite women. If I adjust the chair so I can comfortably sit with my feet on the floor, the desk is too high for comfortably writing, and the keyboard tray also too high for typing or mousing. If I adjust the chair up so I can comfortably reach the desk, my feet don't really touch the floor and my legs get uncomfortable (and leads to sore backs too). I need someone to chop the legs off my desk! Actually, if they'd just carpet the floor, give me a few pillows, let me lean against the walls, and work off a lap desk, I'd be a happy camper.

Same here. I had them install a keyboard tray below the desk, but it's still too high. The guy across from me is 6'6" and has the opposite problem.

 

[Moonbear]

Same here. I had them install a keyboard tray below the desk, but it's still too high. The guy across from me is 6'6" and has the opposite problem.

I once had a keyboard tray that could be adjusted for height, which was great for getting the keyboard where I needed it when I was typing. The problem arose when I pushed it back under the desk to store it away, and realized all the adjustment knobs then stuck out BELOW it, so that I would inevitably bang my knees or snag my pantyhose on the knobs.

Maybe we need to get the engineers here onto this project...an adjustable keyboard tray that is NOT in the way after you put it back under the desk.

 

[hypatia]

The seat on my chair is not a mesh...more like a memory foam. It took me a while to get all the adjustments right, now it fits like a glove.
My desk was so out of the 60's, that I got rid of it right away. I use a mid-size confrence table, which is great, sometime I half to lay out a lot of photos and paper work.

 

[Evo]

The seat on my chair is not a mesh...more like a memory foam. It took me a while to get all the adjustments right, now it fits like a glove.
My desk was so out of the 60's, that I got rid of it right away. I use a mid-size confrence table, which is great, sometime I half to lay out a lot of photos and paper work.

Sounds like you have a much nicer chair. I should insist on a Barca lounger.

 

[JasonRox]

Oh boy, I wouldn't want back pain that early in my life!

I bought the crappiest chair which ended breaking and I can sit on it for very long. It's just so uncomfortable. Speaking of uncomfortable, you should see my bed. I went from a luxurious mattress to a futon (the cheapest I can find) and it's rock solid. It's basically like sleeping on a blanket on a carpet floor. I would definitely not jump onto my bed.

I heard that sleeping on a hard surface is good for the back? Is that even true?

 

[pivoxa15]

I heard that sleeping on a hard surface is good for the back? Is that even true?

Yes, from someone who have slept on both of them with back pain.

 

[pivoxa15]

Do you have LBP or are you interested in designing chairs?

former.

 

[Evo]

Yes, from someone who have slept on both of them with back pain.

But sleeping on something like a futon can cause back pain if you don't already have it.

 

[Moonbear]

There's a difference between a FIRM bed, and a hard, LUMPY futon. A little "give" is needed to make a bed comfortable, but should be firm enough to offer support too.

 

[pivoxa15]

There's a difference between a FIRM bed, and a hard, LUMPY futon. A little "give" is needed to make a bed comfortable, but should be firm enough to offer support too.

True, I didn't read Jason's question carefully enough. Sleeping on the floor sounds painful. The comparison I had is sleeping on a thin mattress versus on a bed with 'springs' the standard beds in shops. The former is more comfortable.

 

[pivoxa15]

For the chair I was thinkink of a kneeling chair. Has anyone tried it?

 

[marcusl]

Yes, I have used a kneeling chair. It feels great for the back but not so great on knees, at least old ones like mine. When I was having LBP following a car accident, I alternated during my work day since sitting all day in regular chair was stressful. I spent maybe quarter to third of time in the kneeling chair.

There is another product that I can't recommend highly enough if you get LBP in your car. Modern car seats are a common problem for back sufferers because they are designed for "anti-dive" during a hard stop or front collision. They keep you from sliding off by rotating pelvis and putting your butt below your thigh. It's never a problem until an accident or blown disc gives you LBP.

If you suffer in car seats, check out McCarty's "Sacro-Ease". It's about $150, not cheap but works better than anything else on the market. Some back specialty stores will let you try it out for a day.

 

[turbo]

I used a kneeling chair for a bit to force myself to balance muscles in the abs and lower back. My problem with that was that I had been a distance runner and competitive downhill skier for years and followed that up with many years of working in pulp and paper mills on concrete floors. My knees essentially wore out - had arthroscopic surgery on both and ended up with arthritis. I could stand maybe 30-60 minutes of that chair at a time.

 

[Beeza]

I have a bulging L5 disk and find the orthopedic chairs very uncomfortable. I like my 80$ chair from staples and it never bothers my back. I've had it so long I've even got an arse groove in it. However, I would love to buy one of those big expensive managers chairs for 400$ from staples, but I think I might spend most of my time sleeping then instead of studying.