[zoodoo613]

Have any of you tried sitting on one while at working/at the computer?

Yesterday I walked past someone kneeling in his chair and he told me that his back hurt and he was considering bringing in an exercise ball to sit on. I reminded him we had one downstairs in the gym and he went and got it and tried it out. I'm trying to today and I"m having fun! I'd never heard of the idea before, but when I googled it there's a lot of talk about it, although most of it seems to be about 5 years old.

Any thoughts?

[alaskanlaughter]

it's definitely fun to sit on one of those...especially since i like to wiggle and fidget in my seat...they are also used in classrooms to help focus children on the lessons and it works well

[Renwomin]

I looked into doing that myself a while back. There are some concerns that just the ball doesn't provide enough back support to sit on all the time. I also was concerned about appearances at the office I was working at.

A good and more discrete alternative seemed to be what is called "balance discs" or "active sitting discs".





Same concept but in a smaller package, plus you have the chair for back support. They also make balance ball chairs.



I can only speak from research and not from experience. I'd be interested too in hearing from those who have tried it out themselves.

[Suzanne 3FC]

I used to have the balance ball chair and loved it. My posture was better while sitting, which had a positive effect on how my back felt the rest of the time.

[saintxio]

I used to sit on a plain old exercise ball (and a basketball as a foot stool!) for 3 years during college. As long as you're conscious of it, then it really helps the posture. I don't like the chair versions because you can still slouch on them, and people with long legs or too small exercise balls can end up slouching a lot and defeat the purpose. Just make sure when you sit directly ontop of the ball that your legs are bent at 90 degree, try not to rely on putting your elbows on the desk and don't curl your feet under the ball. If you keep this up, then this is an awesome way to help with back pain

[ddc]

I tried it and it wound up making my hips hurt.
I guess I got too much 'spread' goin' on - lol.

[painfullystoic]

LOL. I was going to use a balancing ball instead of my chair once I got back to school.

I think it'll be fun. I usually sit straight because my back hurts, but its gotten harder in the last 20#s I've put on- so I thought it would be a fun experiment. Plus I need the BBall for the exercise DVDs so yeah...

[mzKiki]

I never heard of it, seems like a great idea. I used to watch tv on my balance ball when I was trying to coax labor to hurry. (It didn't work).
But it wasn't uncomfortable at all.

[indiblue]

I work from home and use one. It's a tad bit short for the desk where my computer is, but it works pretty well. I don't really feel my abs engaging like a lot of people note, but the "give" of the exercise ball doesn't feel like it's compressing my lower spine like sitting in a normal chair does!