Any office workers on here have a fancy office chair to help with posture? Either the ball chair or the kneeling chair. I am coming off an injury that has left me sitting for weeks with no exercise and no riding. I just set foot inside the gym today after a month, but I am still not good enough to get back on a horse yet. When I am my active old self it seems my fitness efforts are constantly directed and trying to undo what my job does to my posture. If I weren’t at the gym 4-5 days a week plus riding my 2 horses 4-5 days a week my posture deteriorates fast and it drives me nuts. It definitely affects my ability to ride well. I am just wondering if anyone here has invested further in one of these chairs to help combat posture issues. Just asking here because I usually ask on the dressage board and there are always discussions going about fitness, etc. TIA
One of my friends took an old saddle with a broken tree and a sturdy wooden saddle rack to work and sits in it at the computer. I’ll try to ask her for an update on how that’s working.
I don’t have either the ball or the kneeling chair. I have a fancy office chair that our ergonomics teams recommended, along with all the regular advice on how to configure the height of my monitor etc.
One of my friends had the kneeling chair and my understanding was that it was primarily for back pain and not a general posture improvement kind of thing.
The only person I know that had the ball chair had it pop (and she was a twig) and she whacked her head against the wall when she fell and ended up with a concussion.
I suspect that the best thing for your posture is to do periodic self-checks during the day, kind of like what we do while riding.
Good luck!
I have a sit/stand workstation that I quite like. A coworker also bought a Lumo device that is a small thing you can attach to your clothing and it vibrates when your posture is not correct:
https://www.lumobodytech.com/
I thought that was really neat and considered one myself. I think it is great because it works in any chair/location you sit in. Or if you choose to stand at your desk like I do.
I have a sit and stand desk at home. I use an exercise ball sometimes for variety. My normal chair is backless and it’s fine unless I sit incorrectly.
I like the idea of a saddle to sit in. Might have to try that.
I bought a saddle stool not that long ago. Best purchase I’ve ever made, and about as close as you get to sitting in an actual saddle. Google them - there’s a million different models out there depending on how much money you want to drop.
It’s done wonders for my pelvic pain, which I’ve had chronically for years and which has gotten worse with the amount of sitting I do in my office job.
I have both a ball and a kneel chair as I hurt in different spots after sitting. The ball is fun and keeps me awake as I literally bounce all day, the kneel chair is better for the hips and helps me engage my core. I also sit in a normal office chair - but I put a tennis ball between my shoulders and force myself to lean back just enough to keep the ball in place against the back of the chair - forces me to not slump 
Did you notice any improvements in your riding since using the saddle stool?
Thanks for the tips guys! A lot of different options to consider
I am such a dork! I googled saddle stool expecting to see an english saddle on legs. LOL learn something new every day!
I think that the importance of good office chairs is seriously underestimated! You wouldn’t walk in ill fitting shoes yet we spend hours of our day in a poorly designed, badly adjusted chair. Most employers don’t spend much money on good office furniture (good rather than just pretty). As I have issues with my back, I once kicked up a big fuss at work until I got a suitable desk chair, ergonomically designed, supportive and adjustable. Sitting in the new one was like the sigh of relief as you put on comfy slippers. When I left there was nearly a fist fight over who got my chair.
Perhaps rather than going for balls and stools and saddles look for a really well designed office chair. My current one even has an adjustment where you can puff air into the back and move it around (think air flocking here) and, best of all, as it came from a charity recycling organisation it cost peanuts.
Actually, yes. My right hip has always been tighter and it plays up under saddle. I’m super aware of it but fighting old habits is a life-long battle. Sitting in regular chairs was havoc on my hips: the natural open position of the saddle stool doesn’t allow me to cross my legs (another bad habit of mine) and keeps my hip angle open, which has made it easier to adopt the posture I need to when I’m actually on a horse. Basically, I’m not undoing all my progress by sitting in a chair and going back to all the bad habits I have.
I work out of my home part of the time, and bought a ball chair (Gaiam) - it is awesome. I’ve had it for years now, just have to put a little air in it once in a while. Super comfortable and WAY less expensive then a regular office chair. Helps my back issues.
This is interesting cause I lean my hips left and if I have a problem riding it is almost always because my hips out and I need to go to the chiro. I will always have to be aware of it but maybe this could help me
When I look at the saddle stools I see ones for salons, is that right?
Also, silly question, the narrow part is supposed to be like withers and you are supposed to sit facing that direction correct? It’s probably obvious but I want to make sure. Don’t want to ride the horse backwards. :lol:
My favorite is a Steelcase Leap. It is fairly pricey, but you can get refurbished ones for half the price. It was standard issue for one of the companies I used to work for. They sent in an ergonomist to ensure that all employees had it adjusted properly. We sit in front of the computer more than 8 hours a day so a properly adjusted chair is important. It has so many adjustments that you are almost guaranteed to be able to adjust it to your proper posture. Google what good posture should be. Their website has pretty good tutorial about how to make adjustments. After I left the company, I love that chair so much that I purchased one for my home office.
I find that nothing works for me all day. I sit at my desk between 8 and 12 hours per day - so I need variety. I have:
A yoga ball in a base frame on wheels
A standard office chair on wheels that lock
A HOVR under my desk (it’s a foot rest that hangs so you can wiggle your feet all over).
A sit/stand desk (by Varidesk)
I alternate between standing (mostly to read), sitting in the chair with the wheels locked and my feet on the HOVR, and sitting on the ball.
While I like all of them, I still have tight hips. I’m going to check out a saddle stool the next time I’m in Staples. Thankfully my office fits all of my toys.
If you try the kneeling chair, be sure to get one which has the right seat angle for you. If the seat is not right, you may end up putting weight/pressure on your knees –– and create a whole new problem. The state my knees are in now, that kind of chair no longer works for me.
For ball chairs I like the Zenergy and Zenergy Swivel. For regular chairs I like both Steelcase Leap and Herman Miller Aeron.
If I’m on deadline and stuck to the computer, I set my phone on a timer to chime every 20 minutes to get up and walk around.
If they have them at Staples I will go check them out among all the other suggestions. This is my personal office so yea I’ve got room for an extra chair or two to experiment with.
I have a saddle chair and it has saved my back and my hips. Doesn’t matter how good the regular chair is… how ergonomic… it makes my hips ache. my saddle chair was fairly cheap… and keeps me stretched in all the right places.
I’ve had a Balimo chair for several years now and really like it. It didn’t take me long to learn how to slump forward in it, but at least I have to stay symmetrical left to right to avoid falling off. I am pretty sure it engages my core muscles, because some days I’m just too tired to use it all day, and resort to my old office chair.
However, we were getting new office furniture last winter, and I got a Vari-Desk, and requested a Fluidstance board instead of a new chair. I set off a trend in my office and several others have Fluidstance boards now as well. I stand more at my desk than I used to having this as an option, and I think it has really improved my posture. When I work at home, my work station is the wet bar in the basement, so it’s standing height, and I’ll sometimes stand on the flat side of my Bosu Ball, which has a similar effect to the Fluidstance, though I can’t use it for as long each day.
