Are You Sitting Comfortably?

I've had a whole host of back problems for the last 5 years. My lower back pain was a combination of the chair I was using, and my bed. I had an £80 chair and didn't think for one minute it could be problem, but when I started sitting on a second chair I bought for £15, things got a lot better as it didn't have that gap in the lumbar zone.

I went to Toronto for the launch of the X800 and after a few nights in the hotel bed, my back pain went away. One night at home and the pain was back - so I decided to check what was going on. The base of the bed in the house I was renting was made of thin steel rods, which had all bent in. When I lifted the mattress, I could just see an indentation of my body! I bent all the bars back and then put a sheet of hard board over the top. I recently had an MRI on my back, I do have a partial rupture in a disc in my lower back, but all these changes definitely made a difference (getting a doctor to take back pain seriously at when you're under 20 is very difficult...)

I've also had a lot of problems with my upper back, mainly trapped nerves and general aching. At one point, I couldn't get out of bed, so paramedics had to climb out of the window and carry me to hospital - that was a fun Monday. After an MRI they suggested I had slight degeneration in 3 discs in the middle of my back, but not enough to be causing the trapped nerves. So I was left trying to work out what was going on.

I started analysing my posture on my desk and realised that I often end up with my shoulders hunched forwards. I find this happens when your arms are too close together. If you space your arms further apart, it naturally pushes your shoulders back into a neutral position. I also found when I was walking I had the same problem, so I concentrated on keeping my shoulders in a "normal" position (although I can tell you, at first it didn't feel it).

Another thing that really helped, that I'm surprised wasn't mentioned, is the use of a posture chair:

http://www.backinaction.co.uk/kneeling

I have something similar to this and I use it for a few hours each day - sometimes the whole day if i feel like it. At first, it hurts to use it, as you use your core muscles to keep yourself upright. But after a while, you get used to it, and your back is strengthened because of it! It's like free physio :) I think I paid about £25 for mine - well worth it.

Unfortunately many of the suggestions can be difficult to follow. For example you recommended an armed chair, yet many armed chairs have fairly long and high arms which will prevent you getting close enough to the desktop to use the mouse and keyboard with your arms in the correct position.

Similaly, buying a short enough keyboard to have it directly in front of you means you've severly limited your choice of keyboards, off hand I can only think of one full-depth one and a handful of slim laptop-style ones.

It's still worth doing, but it can be difficult to get the whole checklist.

The thing about chairs is that you need to try before you buy. I was going to get a high back chair when I visited the back2 shop and after trying several out, I found a cheaper model with a mid back, actually suited me much better. Going to a specialist shop meant you pay more (considerably more than the ones you get from On-line office supplies) but if you have a back problem, it may be worth it.

I also have an exercise ball to sit on occasionally and a "dimple" style seat cushion (like a balance disc from exerfise/sport store)which leaves dimple indents in your bottom but helps posture- get these at sports stores as they are much cheaper than at the back posture furniture shops.

Having said all that, the aeron chair is still very inviting.