Stability Ball as desk chair

[Hi Ho Silver]

Any chance you can afford a pair of computer use only glasses? I have reading glasses, set up to the distance of my monitor (don't work for poop to actually read...) They are for work only.

I second the above suggestion. I too need bifocals for regular usage, but I take my old frames and have some "computer glasses" made up. It is pretty inexpensive (as far as glasses go) because the lenses are single vision, uncoated, and the least expensive lenses available. Usually it costs me at most $50.

[ehirsch83]

We use a stability ball for the desk at home and I really want one at work but I am the only full time employee, so my desk it right where people walk in. I have been thinking about getting one and storing it under my desk when I need to use the actual chair when clients come in. I also end up with neck issues from sitting all day

[Catrin]

We use a stability ball for the desk at home and I really want one at work but I am the only full time employee, so my desk it right where people walk in. I have been thinking about getting one and storing it under my desk when I need to use the actual chair when clients come in. I also end up with neck issues from sitting all day

I hope you are able to resolve this and get to feeling better soon! My neck problems aren't from sitting all day - I wish they were Neck issues aren't fun, regardless of the source.

[nscrbug]

I would love to use a stability ball as a desk chair at work, and actually tried it a few years back. But our desktops are a bit too high for the ball to work properly. Sitting on the ball put my hands/wrists in a really unnatural position that I could see causing problems down the road. I'm back to using my crappy chair.

[sookiesue]

You can get a chair base that you put a stability ball in, and this will raise the height of the ball to fit your desk better, but I'm not sure what you'd do about your feet/knees being at the right angle - perhaps a small stool to rest your feet on? Just a thought - I've never used the chair base things, but I know they are out there.

[colby]

We use a stability ball for the desk at home and I really want one at work but I am the only full time employee, so my desk it right where people walk in. I have been thinking about getting one and storing it under my desk when I need to use the actual chair when clients come in. I also end up with neck issues from sitting all day

I use the Gaiam BalanceBall chair, which makes it look a little more professional than just a stability ball. It is also more spendy than just a ball, though.

In general:

I sit at a computer most of the day (when not in meetings ) and have found that my hips/pelvis/back/neck recover from long or intense runs/rides much better than they did sitting on a chair, no matter how fancy the chair. It also encourages me to get up and walk around because I get tired and notice my posture adjusting (in the wrong direction ).

I do still have to pay attention to all the things mentioned in the thread: where my mouse is (how far I have to reach), reaching for the phone, the height of my monitors, the angle of my head when looking at my monitors.

[OakLeaf]

Gaiam chairs $20 off now...

[fitnessallday]

I've been using the DFX (dynaflex) stability Fit Chair. It's basically a stability ball with rollers on the bottom. It engages your core just as well but keeps you from falling over. It also makes the ball higher since most desks are taller than the ball itself. I love it.

[molliewog]

I sit at a computer all day and have used a ball for about 2 years now. Some days, or parts of days, I do revert back to my regular chair for a change. I don't have any existing back/neck issues to compare before or after. What I like about the ball is I feel I move a lot more, meaning I'm not in a constant static position. You can get a ball at walmart or target quite inexpensively, so perhaps it is just worth a try?

[WindingRoad]

Catrin I don't know if you realize this but most of the "computer" lenses actually ARE progressives, or some form of it. The way they do it is obviously you still have your reading in the bottom but the proportions are different. The intermediate, which is what you require for things beyond 40 cm, is much larger. This area sits where your distance RX would normally be in 'traditional' prescription. The height of the reading portion is slightly lower too to accommodate for the upward head tilt you need to see monitors. You don't have to keep pulling your chin up all the time to read at intermediate in these style of lenses due to the fact that the whole top portion IS your intermediate prescription. If you decide to do this let me know first. There are a lot of opticians who don't know how to properly fit these to a patient and unfortunately a lot of optometrists who don't understand when using this particular type of lens they don't have to adjust the prescription because it is calculated to be at the patients intermediate distance based on the distance and near of the written prescription. I hope that made sense, let me know if I can help.