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Chairs that Won't Wreck Your Back?
texatut asks: "I'm sure many of you are familiar with this secenario. You spend 10-12 hours a day in a crappy chair, and your back pays the price. I know there are chairs there that cost in excess of $1000 that alleviate the problem, but that's a lot of money to pay for a chair. I wanted to ask you all to give recommendations and opinions on chairs that are in a slightly lower price range, say, below $600. My back thanks you in advance."
Dude,
Get off your butt and go to a store and try sitting in some different chairs!
There are hundreds of chair designs out there and I've sat in a variety of crappy chairs. If you want a good one, you are going to pay for it. The reason office chairs cost so much is because they are built to last a long time. We've got chairs that are over 20 years old from Steel Case. Generally, I am not pleased with the newer chairs and actually prefer the old ones. But they don't work for fat people because you can't sit down if you can't get your ass past the arm rests. Heck some fat folks ordered these chairs with arm rests the slide to the sides to accommodate their fat assess.
Want to save money? Look for used office furniture shops, you could get a great chair for a whole lot less then what they cost new.
at work we have desks that are adjustable in height. if i find myself uncomfortable at some point in the day, i'll just lift the desk (we have spring-loaded and motorized versions, both almost effortless to operate) and work standing for a while.
does wonders.
Your back will hurt a lot for the first 2 weeks as the muscles develop strength, persevere and take a break when it becomes too much. After a little while like this your back will be strong and posture good.
The important thing with a swiss ball is the height of it, when you sit on it your knees should be slightly below your ass.
Make sure you get a good strong ball, the cheap ones simply do NOT work.
I have a mediball pro 65cm which is good for my height (186cm), and haven't had any complaints in the couple of years that I've been using it.
Or don't.
I find them to be scratchy and horrible. Nothing special as far as ergonomics go. Remember, Herman Miller also gave us the cubicle. Way to go.
At home, I've got a ~$100 chair picked up from the local office products store. Checked out all of them until I found one I liked.
At work, I've got some ergonomic wonder, but my company is also just large enough to freak out if they think we'll have grounds for an RSI lawsuit, so they'll readily accomodate us if we start complaining.
The best advice here is to take semi-regular breaks. Regular exercize probably wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, either.
-transiit