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saffronhareLiterally.
Starting a couple of weeks ago, I started to experience some serious discomfort when sitting in my office chair, to the point where it would take me a while to be able to walk once I'd cranked myself up to standing. The pain was very specifically rooted in the my left sitzbone, and sent really lovely zaps down the outside of my left leg. Yay for what seemed to be sciatica.
No other seating surface in my life caused this pain; just the office chair. No problems with standing or walking or even running. In fact, walking and running help a lot. But when I noticed that I was trying to avoid sitting at my desk, it seemed like time to Change Something. I looked up some OSHA guidelines, measured things, adjusted and aligned things...but to no avail.
When I went to my boss about the problem to see if we could order me a new chair, she reminded me that a person who is no longer with the company had a "kneeling chair" still stashed in her office. She said they could sure buy me a new chair, and wondered if I wanted to test-sit a few different styles to see what worked best first. I figured I'd give it a try to see if my office chair really was the culprit (still doubting). Survey says YES. As soon as I stopped sitting in that chair, the pain went away and hasn't come back.
It's been nearly a week with the kneeling chair, and I'm noticing some disadvantages. It's clumsy to get up and sit down again. I can't reach for things not right in front of my quite so easily. And it tends to limit my wardrobe choices -- the pressure on my shins is awkward with boots on, and skirts ride up quite dangerously. So.
I'm wondering if anybody on my Friends List has experience with kneeling chairs. Can you clue me in to ways to manage those disadvantages? How about the BalanceBall Chairs? What are the pros and cons of a choice like that?
Starting a couple of weeks ago, I started to experience some serious discomfort when sitting in my office chair, to the point where it would take me a while to be able to walk once I'd cranked myself up to standing. The pain was very specifically rooted in the my left sitzbone, and sent really lovely zaps down the outside of my left leg. Yay for what seemed to be sciatica.
No other seating surface in my life caused this pain; just the office chair. No problems with standing or walking or even running. In fact, walking and running help a lot. But when I noticed that I was trying to avoid sitting at my desk, it seemed like time to Change Something. I looked up some OSHA guidelines, measured things, adjusted and aligned things...but to no avail.
When I went to my boss about the problem to see if we could order me a new chair, she reminded me that a person who is no longer with the company had a "kneeling chair" still stashed in her office. She said they could sure buy me a new chair, and wondered if I wanted to test-sit a few different styles to see what worked best first. I figured I'd give it a try to see if my office chair really was the culprit (still doubting). Survey says YES. As soon as I stopped sitting in that chair, the pain went away and hasn't come back.
It's been nearly a week with the kneeling chair, and I'm noticing some disadvantages. It's clumsy to get up and sit down again. I can't reach for things not right in front of my quite so easily. And it tends to limit my wardrobe choices -- the pressure on my shins is awkward with boots on, and skirts ride up quite dangerously. So.
I'm wondering if anybody on my Friends List has experience with kneeling chairs. Can you clue me in to ways to manage those disadvantages? How about the BalanceBall Chairs? What are the pros and cons of a choice like that?
