Aeron was helpful for my bulging disc. Headrest is a big plus. Typically, in a desk work ergonomic scenario, you do not want any tension (which rules out exercise balls, saddle chairs, etc.) It also rules out “perfectly upright” chairs. Yes, it’s bad to sit that long, but holding a position for 4 hours is worse.

So I was wondering if anyone here with lower back issues has found a chair that helped them sit?

Yes and no.

Sitting is the/my enemy. So, I use an adjustable standing desk with the best standing mat I could afford.

When I can/wan to sit, I sit, while the rest of the time I have the desk at my usual standing height and use the standing mat instead of the chair. The standing mat is key to help reduce fatigue & stress (feet, legs and back). I may also put it at different heights from time to time, depending how… tired my back is.

At least as important, I try to never sit longer than an hour.
I will get up and walk (either going out for a real long walk) or just be standing and walking in my home office. I may even dictate draft notes to a pocket recorder while I’m doing that.

As you can imagine, the chair is not the most important for me in that configuration but I do have one. It is one of those gaming chairs. Just a model for people that are well over my weight (so it’s rather firm). It’s ugly as hell (and quite large) but it offers all the adjustments I need : height and the ability to lean back as much as I wish (it can almost lay flat). I removed the arm rests that are rather… useless and cumbersome. When I sit, I also use a little cushiony stand thingy, on which I rest my feet at a slight angle. This seem to quite help my back too.

Imho, your doctor should be able to suggest you some better chairs than any random stranger online could… even if it’s me ;)

Still, I hope this can help you a little bit: I know too well how our back can be a bitch.

I don’t personally run into it, but I’d imagine that you’d be better-off in a more-reclined position, since that’d put less pressure on said discs.

I’d probably try sitting in a reclined position for an extended period of time and see if that’s less of a problem.

If mitigates it, I’d probably try to find something that can recline a long ways. Probably armless, like a sunlounger.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=sunlounger

If you use a computer and can’t sit at a desk while reclined that far, maybe get:

• A split keyboard. You can put each half on one side, each on some flat platform like two adjustable-height small, low tables or similar.

• Something to hold your laptop or monitor up in front of your face. For monitors, you’re looking for something with a VESA mount that supports tilting downwards; this will screw into the back of most monitors.

  https://www.amazon.com/s?k=vesa+mount+arm

  https://www.amazon.com/s?k=vesa+bed+mount

  Note that these will have weight limits, so you’ll need to know what the monitor will weigh.

What in the fuck is bottom left?

how are you with standing? I say this because my wifes issue is more about one position over time than any particular one. Anything but laying down is limited in time and even if she mixes it up she will eventually need to lay down. That being said mixing it up is what works the best. If you have a standing desk and a barstool kind of office chair that you can sit at ergonomically at the standing height that is ergonomic. Well then you can switch between standing and sitting pretty easy because the chair is so high. So you don’t have to fall into the chair or rise up as much out of it. I find the height of the chair ends up being about but height so easy to get into. I don’t know if it would be better for you but food for thought.

Standing desk, don’t be static, change positions often.

If standing is a problem the saddle stools are pretty good

PT/weight lifting really help.

Also metabolism has a big impact on joint issues and pain. If you have obesity, hypertension, snoring, skin tags, nafld, t2d, etc… they are all indicators your metabolism could use some improvement, and it probably will help your back too.

I use two chairs, a regular office chair and a kneeling chair. I switch between them regularly.

The only thing which finally helped my back was physical therapy. It was the list of 7 exercises she told me to do. I searched each on youtube and one of the videos included 2-3 extra beyond the one I was searching, and 1 of those extra exercises finally worked like a miracle! 😁 I still have the video bookmarked if you want me to search for it and link it.

I have messed up my back so bad a few years ago that I couldn’t even stand or sit on a couch or normal chair for very long without pain for over a year afterwards. Fortunately I got better after a slow recovery but it never fully went away.

I sit at a desk for most of the day so solutions had to be explored. I’ve tried many things during that time. I’ve found out that what worked best was to be sitting with my legs not fully at 90 degrees with my body and my back held vertically, supported only by my core muscles.

Exercise balls worked fine if you sit more on the front edge of it, but you have to resist the urge of moving around and bouncing on it because that will absolutely wreck your back.

I’ve settled on a kneeling chair without a back support. The one I have you can adjust the angle so you can decide how much of your weight is on your knees and how much is on your butt.

Both of these require an adjustment period to get your core muscles used to be engaged for so long. Stretching your quads and hamstrings to gain more hip mobility so you can sit with your legs at 90 degrees without having to tilt your hip back and stand without tilting it forward helped a lot too.

The saddle chair does look like it would help too I might try it one day.

Switching to standing desk every once in a while. Motorized desks are very affordable these days.

Swapped between normal and kneeling chair for a while as budget solution to back pains. Switched to sit/stand lifting desk + normal chair, stand pad (do not cheap out on the stand pad, get a nice thick one) and balance board when I upgraded my desk.

Kneeling chair was great, but shouldn’t be used for long periods of time (2+ hours) according to lots of easily corroborated medical advice easily found even on the kneeling chair supplier websites.

Sit/stand desk is the best investment I’ve ever made, felt the improvements after 3 weeks of casual use. Balance board is awesome bonus but requires a solid hard surface. Had to buy a wooden panel to put over my plastic carpet protector cuz my place has fairly deep carpet.

Those kneeling office chairs really hurt my knees, I’m too tall to use saddle chairs at a regular desk and with exercise balls its hard for me to get the height right. As far as chairs go what helped me was finding a chair with adjustible lumbar support, and adjustible spring tension on reclining. Steelcase used to offer all of these features but it looks like they don’t have as much adjustment now. I’ve heard good things about Herman Miller but I’ve never tried them. As for lifestyle changes: a heating pad to loosen cramps, free weights to strengthen, and a foam roller to help realign the spine have all helped me. ymmv obv.

In the office, I have a regular office chair, a wobble stool, and a height-adjustable desk riser if I want to stand. Constantly switching between them makes the biggest difference for my back. Sometimes I use one setting all day long, sometimes I switch several times a day, however I feel

Bought a used Steelcase Leap chair 9 years ago to deal with pain caused by disc problems. It’s built like a tank, amazingly adjustable, and completely alleviated my lower back pain. Still using it.