Exercise ball chairs are all the rage. Countless websites looking to sell them tout the benefits of using an exercise ball (or fit ball) as an office chair. But are they really good for your core and back?  The jury is still out on that one, but in the meanwhile, here are a few things to keep in mind before committing to using an exercise ball as your desk chair. If you're uninjured or you've been discharged from treatment and have been doing back-strengthening exercises for a while, an exercise ball may prove to be a time-saving way to work your core. Core strengthening is used in physical therapy clinics to help relieve back pain due to muscle weakness and muscle imbalance. It is also used to help people with back pain increase their ability to perform daily activities. However, if you have a back condition or are still recovering from an injury, using an exercise ball as a full-time office chair probably isn't for you. A number of credentialed experts are not so quick to jump on the exercise ball as office chair  bandwagon.

Here's what they say:in their study, "Sitting on a chair or an exercise ball: various perspectives to guide decision making," which was published in the May 2006 issue of Clinical Biomechanics, found that participants reported discomfort with the ball as office chair and that sitting on it is seems to spread out the contact area. They reason that this causes uncomfortable soft tissue compression.al., in their December 2013 study entitled, "Should we be more on the ball? The efficacy of accommodation training on lumbar spine posture, muscle activity, and perceived discomfort during stability ball sitting," which was published in the journal Human Factors, found no evidence that using an exercise ball as an office chair helps to strengthen the trunk or posture, even when participants first went through an "accommodation" program. Any kind of sitting increases compression on your spine. Remember, the ball does not support your back muscles -- it only challenges them. Compression combined with a lack of support may irritate any injury, condition or muscle imbalance you may have, and will likely increase your pain if used for too long.

But if you've been doing your back exercises faithfully for some time, and your doctor or physical therapist has given you the okay to work with an exercise ball, you may find that using it as an office chair in a limited way makes a good adjunct to your home program. Performing trunk strengtheners while sitting on the unstable surface the exercise ball provides may even help you take your back exercise routine to the next level. Again, get your doctor's approval before trying this. If possible, ask your physical therapist for some things you can do on the ball. Related: How to Sit with Good Postureal. Should we be more on the ball? The efficacy of accommodation training on lumbar spine posture, muscle activity, and perceived discomfort during stability ball sitting. Kingma I, van Dieën JH. Static and dynamic postural loadings during computer work in females: Sitting on an office chair versus sitting on an exercise ball. Epub 2008 May 27. McGill SM, Kavcic NS, Harvey E. Sitting on a chair or an exercise ball: various perspectives to guide decision making.

Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon). Epub 2006 Jan 10. The Claim: Replacing Your Desk Chair With an Exercise Ball can Improve Your Posture. table and chair rentals essexNew York Times Health. cost to rent a barber chairA comparative study of the stability ball vs. the desk chair in healthy young adults: sagittal curvature, sitting duration and usability. high chair ikea indonesiaPublished online 2009 December 14. folding chairs for rent philippinesAre you frustrated with your sciatica?wheelchair van rental dc

Would you like to know the best ways to treat sciatica? Keep reading to discover what your options are and how to do the exercises to help your chiropractor or physiotherapist through your treatment program.best price stokke high chair Simply put, pinching of a nerve which causes pain into your buttock, down your thigh into the leg and sometimes into the foot.kidkraft table and chair set white The nerve can be pinched in 6 different spots. chair cover rentals newfoundlandSo if your medical doctor or chiropractor is telling you that you have sciatica, ask them to be more specific.cheap chair and table rentals riverside ca

Saying you have sciatica is the equivalent of saying you have pain in the neck that radiates down the arm. You already knew you had pain going down the leg.  It’s not a diagnosis. A non diagnosis or a wrong diagnosis will change the whole course of treatments and getting the wrong treatment will not get you better. For example if your sciatica is from disc herniation your treatment will be very different from a person with degenerative disc disease. So how do I know where my pinched nerve is? There are two nerves that come out between the last two vertebrae in your body. Your nerve is very commonly pinched here. Your lower back vertebrae are called lumbar vertebrae. There are 5 vertebrae in the lower back. Taking the “L” for lumbar spine, they are named L1, L2, L3, L4, L5. The last two vertebrae in your lower back are L4 and L5. Just below L5 is one of your pelvic bones. It’s called the sacrum. The sacrum has holes with the yellow colored nerves coming out.

The nerves are called S1, S2 and S3. “S” is for sacrum. These nerves are rarely pinched. Your sciatic nerve is formed when the nerves from L4 L5 and L5 S1 join together with the S1,S2 and S3 nerves in your buttock. So, most of you will have your nerve pinched in one of three spots. Now you know where the nerve can be pinched but it doesn’t answer why one of the nerves is pinched causing your sciatica Most people’s sciatica is from: These are the diagnosis that your doctor or chiropractor should be telling you about Remember sciatica only says that you have a pinched sciatic nerve causing pain into your buttock and leg, sciatica doesn’t tell you the cause of your pain. Without determining the cause you will get hit or miss treatments from your chiropractor or physiotherapist as they can’t give you specific treatment. The key exam that you need to determine what the heck is causing your pain is a neurological examination. You have probably seen it on TV before.

Also remember that the diagnosis should pretty much be determined in the office and X-rays, MRI, CT scans done only if the their are signs of something else or the diagnosis is kind of fuzzy. You herniate a disc from the everyday habits that you have. The everyday habits of slouching and bending with a rounded low back, build up to weaken and damage the disc to the point it is ready to break open and herniate. The problem is there is no pain. You don’t feel sciatica, until the disc has herniated as there are no nerves inside the disc. So you continue your habits and think you don’t have a bad back until one day you lift your daughter off the floor. The only problem is you had a bad back with no symptoms for a very long time. This is just like car with a little bit of rust showing but if you take the car apart you see a lot more rust. Degenerative Disc Disease really is a continuation of the break down of the disc that was started by the bad lifting and slouching habits.

The disc becomes smaller, brittle like an old elastic band that is decaying, leading to the disc becoming smaller in height. The smaller disc makes the space between the vertebrae smaller. Thus, your nerve doesn’t have much room, so your nerve gets pinched between L4 and L5 or L5 and S1. Stenosis is a “narrowing”. There are two types of stenosis Spondlylolisthesis is usually the moving forward of the vertebra (sometimes backwards). When the vertebra moves forward the spinal cord and nerves are pulled putting tension in your nerve. Nerves under tension get irritated and so turn into sciatica. This can happen from a fracture to the vetebrae or osteoarthritis. Most people’s sciatic nerve usually goes over or under the piriformis muscle. In some cases, possibly yours, the sciatic nerve goes right through the piriformis muscle. When the muscle tightens up it literally squeezes on the sciatic nerve causing sciatica. Walking like a “man” is an another reason for sciatica.

That’s right, when you walk bow-legged with your feet turned out might mean “you the man” but it also can give you trouble later. Chances are, if you are reading this you already have a problem with sciatica. When you turn your feet out this makes the piriformis muscles work harder. The harder your piriformis works the more likely the nerve will be pinched causing sciatica. While treatments are different for sciatica depending on the cause you can still help your chiropractor or physiotherapist by doing your home exercises. Flossing is good for your teeth but a different kind of flossing is good your spine and spinal hygiene. First determine if you can floss safely: If the pain decreased you are safe to do flossing. Warning: This exercise can cause acute sciatica but chances are minimized by doing the screening exercise. Don’t floss until you have been out of  bed for at least 2 hours.   Lying Face-up:  This exercise might be easier for some of you.