Swiss Ball as Office Chair

Hi,

I find my current office chair very uncomfortable - and, as I spend far too much time sitting in it, I have been contemplating spending large amounts of cash on an ergonomic chair like the Herman Miller Aeron Chair.

However, I noticed on one of the Swiss Ball manufacturers web-sites a suggestion to use a Swiss Ball as your office chair, because it is good for your posture / core stability. A potentially much cheaper solution with a free core stability workout thrown in!

Has anyone tried this out?

If so, is it comfortable? Is it really feasible to sit on it whilst using a PC all day?

And, less importantly, does just sitting on the ball actually do anything for your core stability?

Comments

  • Lawrie - I have never used a swiss ball as an office chair, but one thing I will say is that depsite the fact I have a hugely expensive Herman Miller Aeron chair I still have problems as I don't sit properly in it! ie it doesn't matter how good the chair is if the user doesn't use it to its full design!!

    There are plenty of chairs on the market that are as good and cheaper than a Herman Miller, you need to try them out to find the right one... main things to look for are adjustability: height; seat plate; back; back support and lumber control... best get back to doing my day job now!!
  • Thanks Spans,

    The reason I thought of the Herman Miller Aeron chair was because I believed it to be the chair I was very comfortable in for six months at a client site. I am not totally sure though because there are a few other mesh chairs out there.

    My current Ikea chair / desk combination just seems to aggravate my neck and back however I adjust them so I think almost anything will be an improvement...

    I just wonder whether a Swiss Ball is worth trying as a chair, or if it is just a bit of a gimmick.
  • I use the ball as a chair in my house, mainly because I have very litle furniture as this is my "work" house and all my kit is at home. I do not have a TV but I do sit for a couple of hours at a time reading and find the ball pretty comfy I dont know if it feasible to use it as an office chair but you would certainly set a trend among the "must have" crew at work.
  • And perfect for footie at lunch time.
  • Go-KLGo-KL ✭✭✭
    Lawrie,
    I have tried a swiss ball in front of my computer at home. Unfortunately for me it sits me much higher than a normal chair would so I am stooping down to reach the keyboard, which probably doesn't do you much good.
    I could buy a computer desk to fit the swiss ball, but I cannot afford it!!
  • A friend of mine (who is an osteopath) uses one as his office chair in his practice. I think that is a reasonable endorsement.
  • Found this link on the web. It's a health and safety bulletin from the Australian government.

    Hazard 25 - Using a fitness ball as chair

    It's in PDF format, if you can't read that then here is Google's attempt to translate it to HTML.

    In summary, they think it's a bad idea, unless specifically prescribed by a doctor.
  • one of mr fraggles work mates uses a swiss ball as a chair - and they are computer nerdys who sit at a desk all day.
  • yes but nerdys have no need of straight spines and such frivolities.
    Actually Fraggle pot and kettle sprung to mind there.
  • Thanks for the link, venom.

    Not sure that I agree with everything it says, but it does bring up some interesting points.

    Firstly, that the more reclined your position, the less stress you put on your lower back. My current Ikea desk has a lower platform for the monitor than the keyboard and seems to encourages the complete opposite, i.e. a leaning forward posture, which is the worst possible according to the report.

    The ideal seems to be to have the keyboard and mouse just above your thighs (so that your arms are relaxed), to have the monitor raised up so that the centre of the screen is at eye level, and to have a chair that supports your back/neck/head so that you can recline comfortably (plus no clutter under desk that inhibits stretching/moving your legs). The other important thing is to keep changing position every few minutes.

    So it sounds like using a Swiss Ball as a replacement for an office chair is probably not a good idea after all, except for perhaps sessions of limited duration.

    LC

  • So, what does anyone think about using a fitness ball as a weights bench as suggested in this month's RW?
  • I have an Aeron chair and it's brilliant to sit in. If I don't want one of these in my living room, what other choices are there?
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