forii wrote: ↑11 Mar 2021, 06:41
So is it true that we can't use back chair? When I was posting this I thought someone will tell me that I still can use it, just to sit straight + put pillow between or something
You can use a chair with a back, but habits are so subconscious, that you don't notice your posture. A relaxed posture the day previous may accidentally be bad for your back the next day -- these things have a nasty habit of showing up later so you can't make co-relations. The only way you don't accidentally do something to your back you can't figure out, is essentially a backless chair.
After 1 week of using a stool (with a bottom pillow), I had no back pain. It's a good way you're not doing something accidentally that will create back pain 48 hours later... (and hard to co-relate / troubleshoot / track). Backs sometimes often complain about a sitting posture you can't remember you did 24-48 hours ago. It's much easier to troubleshoot your back posture on a backless chair, you can adjust your slouch and spine until it's more balanced, back as straight as if you're standing up, and then after a few days/weeks, it doesn't feel tiring even for a 40-hour workweek of completely backless-chair work. I've been doing 60 hour workweeks backlessly these days, though I am tempted to get a high end chair, I often prioritized on other expenses first -- it's a "go big or go home" expense, "spend properly or don't spend at all" expense.
For most people, the bottom line is that a backless chair is massively better for your back than a random chair. It's hard to find a very good ergonomic chair that will pamper your back properly in its proper posture. But sometimes it's just so nice to have a comfy chair. Be prepared to pay extra for something with a proper ergonomic fit. There is a reason why people pay (and sometimes still do)
~$1395 to ~$1895 for an Aeron-like chair with all the luxurious adjustments to perfectly custom-fit your back, so that you can rest your back without wrecking it. But you can find serviceable clones for a tenth to fifth of the price. If you do lots of labour work, your back will thank you for a true Aeron-league chair rather than a generic $39 Walmart or Amazon Reseller office chair.
Your pick-poison choice is a backless chair *or* a proper ergonomic chair *or* preferably both options
-- a cheap one-size-fits-all office chair can destroy some people's backs.
Backless chairs includes yoga balls, knee chairs, office chairs with its back removed, cushioned stools, etc.
But if your back gets tired after a few hours or you're doing back breaking warehouse/labour/construction work and really need your computer time to always pamper your back -- pull up your favourite Aeron clone (or properly designed higher-end truly-ergonomic gaming chair rather than the cheap generic wannabe-knockoffs that are sometimes overpriced from its fancy-looks-skimped-ergonomics).
That's why I say "
preferably both options", especially for geeks/people who program/game/work/whatever for 12+ hours straight on a computer (albiet I recommend breaks regardless). If you want something for your back, get something proper, don't spend on poor-ergonomics-engineering.
IMPORTANT: Do NOT Neglect Problems Caused By Bad Seat At Job.... You may need to do something about the chair at work. Whether it's a desk chair or car/bus seat. If you're driving for a living -- if your back is wrecked because of a very bad driver's seat (bus driver or taxi driver or backhoe operator or crane operator -- many vehicle seats are terrible, like municipal bus driver seats of several common buses), spend the money on an ergonomic cushion ($100 ish, probably less if you live in some countries such as China) for your vehicle/machinery/office seat BEFORE you purchase your own home computer chair. Make do with a cheap pillow on a stool or a cheap exercise ball, and save your back at the source of problem (your job's seat) first. Your back will be so eager to sit upright painlessly on
a milkcrate or soapbox chair after a day of a comfortably upgraded job/work seat (if your work is the all-day-seated type). You will profusely thank me. You could also buy an ergonomic pillow for your existing chair, yes. But be careful, some are cheap knockoffs that aren't ergonomic (like fake infant formula with melamine).
Now, if you're unavoidably doing back-breaking labour such as carrying bags of concrete or manually shovelling mountains of gravel, my condolences to your back... Likewise if you're a career football player that is brutal on your back.... condolences to your back too (1 in 3 football/soccer players develop back problems/injuries eventually). Spare no expenses on a top of the line "properly tested" ergonomic that will pamper your back.
Maybe you won't afford a chair more expensive than an RTX 3090 GPU, but it is dangerous to spend less on a chair than you spent on Cyberpunk 2077 unless you're super smart (e.g. grabbing an Aeron chair at a business bankruptcy auction), you may want a chair that is 3rd-party-tested (ergonomic testing labs), that costs lots of money for chair manufacturers to get top-rating ergonomic testing.
If you're working at an office (whether be Google or Alibaba or whatever), you want to go through a
Computer Workstation Ergonomics: Self-Assessment Checklist, to make sure your office chair and desk is properly adjusted. Print it out, and take it to your job, and fix the problem yourself (many offices won't always help fix the problem) with things like bringing your own upgraded bought office chair and/or adding ergonomic pillow to an existing chair.
If you're a career esports athelete, ditto, get upgraded sponsor gaming chairs -- skip the "slap your logo on cheapest generic esports chair" Aliexpress order stuff (those cheap "buy 4 with your custom team logo" gaming chair specials are tempting but some of them are so entry-level that aren't ergonomic-tested). Make sure the sponsor chair meets the proper spec.
Remember...backs don't complain about your seating position until hours/days after the fact! So back problems/tiredness are hard to troubleshoot sometimes.