Slashdot Mirror
Do Ergonomic Chairs Really Work?
cliffski wonders: "I've gone from a job as a commuting programmer working on his own code as a hobby, to a full time work-from-home one-man business. As I spend a good hour or two a day gaming as well as a full day's coding, I'm now sitting at the same desk for an awfully long time. Should I invest in one of those trendy ergonomic chairs that force you to sit with a straight back posture? Has anyone used one for a length of time, and does it really help prevent back pain? I've taken up archery, probably the best sport to encourage you to adopt good posture; are there any other tips Slashdot readers have for avoiding 'programmer slouch'?"
I have a Steelcase Leap. It's pretty much your classic office chair, except it has good lumbar support, and is designed to allow you to move around and adopt slightly different postures.
I found that with many ergonomic chairs, it didn't matter how perfect the back shape was--sitting in any kind of fixed position for long enough would give me back ache. With the Leap, the back is designed to flex.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
This is the theory behind those programs to remind you to take short breaks every hour. It's also a good excuse to ask your employer for a laptop computer so you can amble over to the couch, the coffeeshop, the park, or wherever you feel like working. Stay moving, stay alive.
It sounds plausible, and I've heard the same thing from at least two other chiropractors I've met. (I've never developed a cubicle injury, at least not yet--I was seeing a chiropractor for physical therapy, long story.)
And now, a PSA from David Lynch.
Get some private Pilates lessons. (If you need to find an instructor, there are good resources at The Pilates Method Alliance.)
It helped my back pain when nothing else did, post a car accident.
Pilates Studios are also usually 10-1 female, and they're often young attractive dancer types, so it's fun for that reason as well.
Years of leg-heavy sports and weight lifting had made my knees very strong. So when I found myself having posture trouble when working on my computer too much, I switched to one of these kneeling chairs and never had any problems with knee pain.
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That lasted about a year. The position you're put in with a kneeling chair shifts a lot of the weight your back would normally bear onto your hips. One day I found that my hips hurt when I walked; it was obviously getting much worse when I was kneeling in the chair so I stopped doing that. It was too late to reverse the damage by then. It's been 18 months since, and I still haven't completely recovered use of my hips.
If your posture is bad, and your back is bothering you, you can play with chairs all day; all you'll do is shift where you're putting the pressure at to some other part which will then buckle eventually. You need exercise that targets that specific weak area to correct this. Archery is better than nothing, I guess, but I wouldn't expect that just focusing on posture alone would give great results. You need to force your muscles to bear weight beyond their normal range to get them to grow, and my recollection of archery mechanics recalls it only really works the upper back muscles.
Since my case was bad by the time I had the resources to address it, the only thing I found that worked was combining ideas from my doctor, a physical therapist, and a personal trainer until I had a back workout routine that really made me feel where the back muscles that bear weight were at. Once you achive that, you can practice flexing them and train them properly to support more of your weight. I can now sit up perfectly straight just by tightening that part of my back and all sorts of problems have gone away. I find myself arching my back over the top of crappy chairs when I have to sit in them, not even using the back of the chair if it's not the right shape.
Check out the fun list of exercises at http://www.thetrainingstationinc.com/back-exercis
It's the lower-back section that mirrors what I ended up doing. My doctor recommended against Hyper-Extensions as being too stressful, and my hip issues made Deadlifts difficult. The Lower Back Machine exercise has worked wonders for me (in my gym as the Icarian "Low Back Extension" machine), and I'm hoping to introduce the Good Morning exercise in the near future.
Also, both my doctor and therapist gave me a little green cartoon booklet of back exercises to do at home with ones own body weight; will reply to myself in this thread when I find it again with details.
True: "Exercise will make your back pain go away."
Specifically, strengthening your stomach muscles by doing sit-ups or crunches helps your back muscles relax. Often where you feel the pain is not the position of the actual problem.