RESOLVE BACK PROBLEMS


 Recommended read for anyone with back problems...

 A chair for back pain relief is a necessity for lower back pain sufferers who sit for long periods of time. These specialized pain relief chairs are also listed as ergonomic chairs. They are highly adjustable chairs designed to minimize discomfort and back pain associated with long periods of sitting. Ergonomic chairs create the proper position for maximum spinal support and good posture. 

Do you have Back Pain? - Learn How to Sit

Sitting for extended periods of time increases the pressure in the lower back. This pressure can cause back problems or worsen existing pain conditions. Sitting back pain is a common complaint of people with lower back problems. 
  • It is important to change your sitting position regularly and take breaks every hour or so to stretch. 
  • Make sure to adjust your work station to be as comfortable as possible and avoid bending, reaching or straining more than necessary.

Styles of Chairs for Back Pain

Quality ergonomic chairs are designed with different goals towards pain relief. It is important to choose the correct chair for you. 
  • Some chairs offer lots of cushioning to make traditional sitting as comfortable as possible. - This makes the chair initially feel very comfortable, but in the long run the foam will collapse and the support will have disappeared.
  •  Other designs put you in a kneeling position to eliminate traditional seated posture altogether. However, now there is tremendous pressure on your knees (and humans were not meant to stand on our knees the whole day).
  • Still others are designed to put the pressure on your abdominal muscles rather than your back, building up those muscles in the process (This is a good way to stay fit while working and to have good core muscles). 
  • Finally, back pain relief beads or cushions can be used on any normal chair. We would rather reccomend a well designed chair with optimal lumber support offers more long term benefits.

 

Reduce the risk of Back Pain with the correct Ergonomic Office Chairs

Prevent Chronic Back Problems with Spine-Friendly Seating

What should one look for in an ergonomic office chair? Practical tips to select an office chair to relieve and prevent back pain.

Lack of proper ergonomic chairs often leads to chronic back pain, lower back pain, muscle fatigue and exhaustion. Therefore it’s essential that one invest in buying ergonomic chairs and stools suitable for their office or work function.

Ergonomics is the science of aligning man-made equipment and furniture with the body’s natural curves and functions. Ergonomic furniture includes chairs, PC workstations, keyboard, mouse, lighting and desking equipment.

Here are some tips on what to look for in ergonomic seating and how to select an ergonomic office chair that is just right!

Follow the Curve of the Spine - Become intimately aware of your body’s curves and how the spine curves naturally. Sit on a stool or a backless chair without slouching and scrutinize the spine’s curve. Identify what shape it curves in (usually a loose S-shape) with an inward indentation at the lower back. The ideal ergonomic office chair will follow the natural curve of the spine. Scan for office chair backs that follow this natural curve and thrust outward at the area that the lower back will make contact with.

Sit on as many chairs as possible to find one that supports the back, including the upper back, mid-back and lower back. While sitting, do not slouch, lean back, hunch forward, bend shoulders or sit abnormally straight. Just relax and feel the chair mould to the back. Modern MESH chairs are better at conforming to your spine shape than more rigid backrests.

The seating we recommend on our website complies with 

Ergonomic Guidelines for office furniture from BIFMA. and in line with the equivalent SABS specifications

DeMystifying all those chair adjustability options

Chair companies --- and ergonomists --- are often guilty of throwing terms around without fully explaining the exact assumptions about why a given adjustment or feature is going to be good for you. 

Here is an attempt to link the various chair features with the supposedly good things they will do for your body.

If you think you understand why chairs are designed the way they are, think again, and check your assumptions against what we've written here.   You may find one or two new points!


And don't concentrate too much on quantity or quality of features.  Many of the features described here allow a chair to adjust to a given posture or body size, but it is important to remember the importance of posture change. Adjustability features should allow, rather than inhibit, free posture change.


Feature

Reason

Seat height adjustability

This allows the user to adjust the chair so that his/her feet are on the floor, or the worksurface or keyboard is at an appropriate height, or preferably both.Pneumatic adjustability is easier to work than mechanical adjustability.
Seat depth adjustability

Achieved either by backrest in-out adjustability or a sliding seat pan, this changes the front-to-back depth of the seat. A shorter seat pan is necessary to allow small people to use the chair's backrest, while a deeper one feels more stable to taller individuals.
Backrest angle adjustability

This refers to changing the angle of the backrest relative to the angle of the seat. Although this often is done with an adjustment mechanism, it can also be achieved through the use of flexing materials or springs in the chair shell. 

Backrest angle adjustability allows the chair to support different degrees of recline, which in turn transfers some upper-body weight to the chair backrest and lightens the load on the lower back's intervertebral discs. Backrest angle adjustability also increases the angle between the torso and the thighs, which causes the lower back to curve inward. This inward curve, called "lordosis," results in less pressure on the discs than a flat spinal shape.
Chair recline or tilt

This changes the angle of the entire seat relative to the floor. As with backrest angle adjustability, a reclined chair transfers some upper-body weight to the backrest of the chair. 

There are two main tilt geometries. One is column tilt, in which the chair pivots at the top of the base post and lifts the knees slightly while the back descends. The other is knee tilt, in which the pivot point is forward of the post, nearer the knees. In a knee tilt chair, the knee lift is negligible, but the back (and head) descend more than in a column tilt chair.
Seat pan angle adjustability

This generally refers to changing the forward-back angle of the seat. It consists of a choice of fixed angle, rather than a free-floating recline (above). Often, this feature provides forward tilt, in which the thighs slope downward. The main purpose of forward tilt is to open the angle between the trunk and thighs, inducing lordosis and reducing disc pressure.

Armrests

These support the arms, reducing the work of the shoulders and possibly the upper arms. Armrests can, however, be used inappropriately by inhibiting free motion of the arms during activities such as typing.

Height-adjustable armrests

These help avoid the problems of too-high armrests, which result in elevated shoulders and pressure on the undersides of the elbows and forearms, and too-low armrests, which require the worker to slump or lean to one side to use them. Height-adjustable armrests also can keep armrests out of the way during typing or other activities requiring free motion.
Width-adjustable armrests

This kind of adjustability changes the distance between armrests. Armrests that are close to the body can help avoid splayed elbows, which in turn cause the wrists to bend to the side during activities such as keying. A maintenance-adjustable mechanism requires leaving room for the hips and therefore does not permit the close positions that at-will adjustment allows.
Padded armrests

These potentially avoid uncomfortable pressure on the undersides of the forearms and elbows.
Lumbar support

This is intended to prevent, to the extent possible, the flattening of the lumbar spine that occurs in most people when seated. Lumbar support is usually done through gentle curves in the backrest shape.
Backrest height adjustability

This refers to a change in height of the lumbar support area of the chair backrest, although this feature is often interpreted to mean a change in height of the entire backrest. This feature accommodates preferences by different workers regarding where and how the lumbar support curve contacts the back.
Lumbar depth adjustability

This affects the size and sometimes the firmness of the lumbar support curve in a chair's backrest. Like backrest height adjustability, it accommodates different preferences and body shapes.
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