Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for October, 2009

How Do I Find a Good Massage Therapist?

Posted in Massage Therapy, Stress Management, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 18, 2009| 3 Comments »

By Sue Shekut, Licensed Massage Therapist, ACSM Personal Trainer, Certified Wellness Coach, Owner, Working Well Massage

I like to think of myself as not only a good massage therapist but also a good judge of massage therapists. I’ve had thousands of massages and given thousands of massages. As the owner of a wellness company, I interview many massage therapists and receive regular massage myself. Often, when clients travel or move out of town, they ask me how to find a good massage therapist.

It’s a question very similar to “how do I find a good dentist or a good doctor”. Since massage is a personal service, my first impulse is to say, ask your friends and coworkers who they go to and start there. But then, we’ve all had referrals to service people that our friends liked that were not a good fit for us. (One person may like a deep massage and you may like a lighter touch or vice versa. One person’s fantastic hair stylist may be great for that person but be unable to cut your style of hair well.)

Before you search out massage therapists, take a minute to think about what you want from a massage experience. Then when you call different therapists or massage centers, ask questions to make sure you get the massage therapist that best fits your needs.

Good questions to consider:

1. Are you going for stress relief or pain relief or both? Swedish massage or “relaxation massage” tends to be best for stress relief. Deep tissue or therapeutic massage tends to be best for pain relief. If you have a specific injury or chronic pain pattern, you will want a massage therapist with skill in relieving muscle pain, not just in relaxation therapy.

2. What’s your budget for massage?
Can you afford a weekly full hour (prices ranging from $65 to $120) or only mini-sessions (like the 15-20 minute $1 per minute chair massages offered at Whole Foods and similar places). If you have a chronic neck and shoulder pain, it’s often more cost effective to get weekly 20-minute massages than a one hour once a month.

3. Do you want someone you can go to regularly or just on a pamper yourself basis?
Spas tend to charge the most for massages and tend to be the place people go for pampering. However, some independent massage therapists may be able to offer you better prices and a really personalized pampering experience. Spas charge the most but they will give you the whole pamper yourself experience. However, if you want a regular massage your best bet is to find a good practitioner that is reasonably priced. If you can’t afford an hour regularly, try chair massage for 15-20 minutes if you want more frequent upper body massages.

4. How much do you care about the quality of the massage?
If you just want someone to pamper you and rub oil on your back while you relax and snooze away your stress, you don’t need someone with extensive experience or medical massage training. If you want someone to help you recover from an injury or deal with a chronic tension issue, you will likely want someone with a good deal of experience and skill working with similar conditions. Make sure you massage therapist meets minimal licensing and certifications standards if you want more than just relaxation massage!

5. Do you want the whole massage enchilada: the robe, slippers, the soothing music and spa environment? Or do you care more about the environment or more about the actual massage?

For the slippers and robe, go to a spa like Urban Oasis or Exhale in Chicago. For a great therapeutic massage, it’s more important to find a good practitioner. Use the locator services below and then speak with the therapist about his or her skill before you commit to the appointment.

Massage Locator Services
My top sources for great massage therapists are massage locator services (versus Google or any other search engine). Massage therapists that register with these services must meet minimum standards of training, normally 500 hours or more and have graduated from an accredited massage school.

One of the best is the Association of Bodywork and Massage Professionals massage practioner site here.

Massage Today also has a great service as well here.

Insider Pages is a review site that provides user comments about massage and spa services.

How Do I know if My Massage Therapist is Qualified?
In the State of Illinois, Licensed Massage Therapists are required by law to have at least 500 hours of training and graduate from an approved school. You can look up your therapists to see if he or she is licensed at this site. This site will also display a Y or N to indicate whether the massage therapist has ever undergone disciplinary action by the state of Illinois’s Department of Financial and Processional Regulation.

Other states vary in requirements. Some states do not require a license at all and allow municipalities to regulate massage. For example, in California, there is no state license. Hours of training required vary depending on the city. So some therapists in Northern California only have 100 hour of actual massage training! The Truth About California Massage Licensing here. However, at the other end of the spectrum is New York State, which requires 1000 hours of training. New York Licensing Requirements here

Still Unsure, Try a Sample Massage
Lastly, if you want to try a sample massage, your best bet is to try a chair massage at Whole Foods Gold Coast or Lincoln Park in Chicago. Or at a local health food store or mall. You can get a few minutes of massage, determine if the therapists fits your needs, then ask for his or her business card to set up a longer massage!

If you have questions about Chicago area massage therapists, feel free to contact Working Well Massage here!

Read Full Post »

Exercise Boosts Body Image!

Posted in Fitness, Motivation, Workplace Wellness, tagged , , , , , , , on October 16, 2009| Leave a Comment »

In an article from Physorg.com, A new study shows that exercise boosts body image for both fit and unfit:

Attention weekend warriors: the simple act of exercise and not fitness itself can convince you that you look better, a new University of Florida study finds.

People who don’t achieve workout milestones such as losing fat, gaining strength or boosting cardiovascular fitness feel just as good about their bodies as their more athletic counterparts, said Heather Hausenblas, a UF exercise psychologist. Her study is published in the September issue of the Journal of Health Psychology.

“You would think that if you become more fit that you would experience greater improvements in terms of body image, but that’s not what we found,” she said. “It may be that the requirements to receive the psychological benefits of exercise, including those relating to body image, differ substantially from the physical benefits.”

The study by Hausenblas and graduate student Anna Campbell is the first to systematically analyze the wide-ranging effects of exercise on body image by examining all intervention studies on the subject until June 2008. From the 57 publications, the researchers found conclusively that exercise buffed up the way people see their bodies regardless of the actual benefits, but the results varied.

Negative body image has grown to almost epidemic proportions in the past 20 years, with as many as 60 percent of adults in national studies saying they don’t like the way their bodies look, Hausenblas said.

Americans spend billions of dollars a year for products designed to change their body size and shape, including diet pills and various cosmetic procedures, she said.

“Body dissatisfaction is a huge problem in our society and is related to all sorts of negative behavior including yo-yo dieting, smoking, taking steroids and undergoing cosmetic surgery,” she said. “It affects men and women and all ages, starting with kids who are as young as five years old saying they don’t like how their bodies look.”

The psychological advantages of exercise have been less explored, including the reduction of depression or confidence in body image, compared with the well-researched and understood physical benefits, she said.

Link to article here

Read Full Post »

Get Hooked On Healthy Food

Posted in Fitness, Nutrition, Workplace Wellness, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 11, 2009| Leave a Comment »

By Sue Shekut, Licensed Massage Therapist, ACSM Personal Trainer, Certified Wellness Coach, Owner, Working Well Massage

I have had to eat a “healthy” diet for most of my adult life. As a young girl, I ate as much junk food as my peers and my body rebelled. By 20, I could not eat any white or processed sugar because I was hypoglycemic. I developed migrane headaches from chocolate (a former childhood love) and fermented foods like sharp cheeses and wines. White bread made me sick, so I had to switch to whole grain bread even before it was marketed as whole grain bread. Through the years my body let me know, anything overly processed, overly sugared, overly salted, or overly fat was going to give me stabbing pain in my head, my abdomen, or just plain make me sick and exhausted. I am the “canary in the coal mine” when it comes to food. But in many ways I am a lucky person. I haven’t been able to eat the typical American diet and I don’t have a lot of the typical American diseases. (such as obesity, high blood pressure, Type II diabetes)

I don’t tell you this to get accolades or say I am so great. No, my healthy diet was mainly by default in the beginning. I liked the junk food. I just couldn’t handle it. Later, as I read more and learned more, I ate healthy by design. Having grown up on Rice Krispy Treats, all things Nestle, Rice a Roni, Carnation Instant Breakfast, Skippy Peanut Butter, McDonald’s and Wonder Bread, I know what it’s like to try to wean off the processed foods and try to eat vegetables, fresh fruit, healthy grains, like brown rice, and be satisfied. In my case, I had a crash course in changing my diet. Still, it took a while to adjust to new tastes and learn how to be satisfied with less added sugar. But I can tell you IT CAN BE DONE! and your health and well being is worth it.

But How do you Know What’s Junk Food and What’s Healthy Food?
According to Margie King of the Philadelphia Nutrition Examiner, the NuVal nutritional scoring system may be the ticket to simpler healthy eating. The NuVal system will analyze more than 50,000 food items found in a typical grocery store and assign a value of 1 to 100 to each item. The higher the score, the more nutritious is the food.

The system is the brainchild of Dr. David Katz, an Associate Professor at the Yale University School of Public Health, and the Director and founder of Yale’s Prevention Research Center. Dr. Katz is an expert in nutrition and preventative medicine, the author of several books including The Flavor Point Diet, a syndicated health columnist for The New York Times and a medical contributor for ABC News.
Read more from Margie King of the Philadelphia Nutrition Examiner here

Dr. Katz says our taste buds are malleable and we are teaching them to crave salt and sugar. Eating added sugar in non-dessert items in everything from pasta sauce to breakfast cereal causes our taste buds to crave sugar much more than we normally would. In the video, he talks about how there is as much sodium in many breakfast cereals than your diet should be. It’s well worth the 4 minutes to watch Dr. Katz talk about how our diets are modified by the food supply and how we can retrain our taste buds to enjoy healthier less salty and less sugary foods.

Link to Dr. Katz’s video “Rehab Your Taste Buds: Getting Hooked on Wholesome Foods”

As American’s look to health care reform, there is a growing buzz about food system reform as well. Some say health care reform won’t work without reforming our nutritional system. The Nu Val system is one attempt to give us tools to reform our diets so we don’t NEED as much health care intervention. It’s Prevention versus Disease Treatment. And that sounds pretty sweet! Read Why Health Care Reform Requires Nutrition Reform by Margie King in the Philadelphia Nutrition Examiner

Read Full Post »

Should Massage Hurt?

Posted in Massage Therapy, Workplace Wellness, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on October 10, 2009| 1 Comment »

by Sue Shekut, Licensed Massage Therapist, ACSM Personal Trainer, Certified Wellness Coach, Owner, Working Well Massage

Through the years I’ve had a number of massage therapy clients say things like, “I know it has to hurt to be effective,” and “no pain no gain, right?” Actually, massage does not, and should not ,“hurt” to be effective. In fact, if the massage you are receiving is so painful you have to grit your teeth or hold your breath, it likely isn’t going to be very effective.

The idea that we have to experience pain in order to heal is a holdover from the 1980’s when people were “going for the burn” and many bodywork modalities were just starting to take root. Some massage therapy schools of thought held that people were experiencing deep emotional breakthroughs if they cried out or had an emotional “release” during a particularly intense bodywork session. This led to the idea that you HAD to have a deep emotional outburst or had to feel pain to have a really “good” bodywork experience.

Since then, somatic psychology and bodywork has matured. As have bodywork practitioners. Many realize that, especially for people that have already had a physical trauma such as a car accident or injury, the body has already been through deep trauma. Working too deep, giving too much pressure, or expecting clients to have radical transformation from a single session can be retraumatizing.

Some massage therapists still hold to the belief that trigger points need intense compression to release the knot. Sometimes this is true. But holding a trigger point for too long, or pressing too deeply into a sore muscle area can cause more pain and damage than healing. (Trigger points are areas of the muscles that have a cluster of muscular adhesions or “knots” that refer pain elsewhere when compressed.)

Good Pain Versus Bad Pain
Does that mean that massage should be painless? Well herein lies the rub (pun intended). Massage is not painless any more than working out is painless. There can be muscle soreness. When we first press on a sore or extremely tight muscle area, there may be tenderness or soreness. We call this “good pain” similar to the soreness you may experience when you lift weights or do a prolonged cardio session. However, if you are working out and you “pull” a muscle or sprain your ankle, that would be “bad pain.” That type of pain indicates an injury to the tissue and requires medical attention. Muscle soreness during an exercise or massage session is not abnormal and can indicate that healing is occurring.

What About Soreness?
When a tight muscle is massaged, at first you may notice the sensation of soreness or tenderness. Initially you become more aware of that muscle area and that may include an awareness of just how very tight and sore the muscle is. Then as the massage therapist continues to work with the muscle tissue, fresh blood flows into the muscle area as the therapist presses down (as in compressions or gliding strokes). This fresh blood helps “loosen” the muscle tissue and also helps bring nutrients and oxygen into the muscle. At this point, especially in a deep tissue massage, you will likely notice less soreness in the area. If the muscle gets more and more sore, the massage therapist may be overworking the area and it’s best if you tell him or her to stop massaging that area and to move elsewhere!

That all said, after a deep tissue massage, you may feel some muscle soreness a day or two afterwards, just as you may feel sore after a workout. In essence, a deep tissue massage is like having someone else give your body a workout. Soreness or bruising lasting longer than a day or so may indicate the massage was too intense. Let your massage therapist know if this happens so he or she knows to work with less pressure for your next massage. (If you go back to him or her at all!)

Read Full Post »

The Balm That is The Bomb!

Posted in Massage Therapy, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on October 3, 2009| 3 Comments »

Shane's Herbol Muscle Heating Balm

By Sue Shekut, Licensed Massage Therapist, ACSM Personal Trainer, Certified Wellness Coach, Owner, Working Well Massage

Many chiropractors and sports clinics use BioFreeze for sore muscle relief. However, we’ve had better results with a simple product made of all natural products. Unlike Icy Hot or BioFreeze, Herbal Muscle Heat Balm has a time release formula that allows the balm to penetrate muscles more slowly over a period of hours, instead of providing a quick, short-lasting, superficial muscle heating effect.

Our clients report that after applying the balm before bed, they wake up with less pain and less tension in their muscles. It’s great for massage work as well.

A small jar only costs about $10 and can last for months!

Note: Do not apply this balm before taking a hot bath, sitting in a steam room or sauna! The balm does not easily rub off and it will heat up fast and feel like it’s burning. It’s best to apply it post bath for this reason.

It’s hard to find in stores but you can order a jar or two online a this website here. Click on the far left hand webpage: Tools for Life. Then click on the picture of the balm to order.

Read Full Post »

Pair Your Backrest with a Great Seat Cushion

Posted in Massage Therapy, Uncategorized, Workplace Wellness, tagged , , , , , , , on October 3, 2009| 7 Comments »

By Sue Shekut, Licensed Massage Therapist, ACSM Personal Trainer, Certified Wellness Coach, Owner, Working Well Massage

Do you have a great backrest, but your chair or car seat is too hard or you find yourself sliding off the seat? Or is your chair a wire mesh type with a supposedly great ergonomic design but no comfy cushioning in the seat?

Why settle for uncomfortable car seats and office chairs when you can easily upgrade your seating setup with a foam cushion! Pair your backrest with a foam seat cushion.

For about $100-$150 you can put together your own “ergo” seating. We’ve reviewed many of the products out there and found the best prices and reviews on Amazon. You may be able to find the same or similar products elsewhere, but you will pay about 10-30% more from other vendors.

To save you time, we pasted the links and pictures of the products in a few separate posts about backrests and seat cushions. Find the situation that describes your issue (you are taller than average, shorter than average, of wider girth than average, etc.) and read the associated post to find out about the product we think may help you best. In this post we discuss three different seat cushion options.

We also included pertinent tips from the Amazon customer reviews so you don’t have to wade through them yourself. However, if you want to read all the reviews yourself, simply go to the Amazon product link and check out the customer reviews.

Note: Many car seats are smaller and office chairs may be deeper and wider in the seat than some cushions. So when adding a foam seat cushion to your chair or car seat, keep the existing seat dimensions in mind. Amazon customer reviewers make note of this for some of the cushions discussed below.

1. Essential Medical Supply Memory P.F. Sculpture Comfort Seat Cushion

Essential Medical Seat Cushion

A bargain on Amazon for $28.92!


According to the manufacturer:
• Relieves Pressure
• Seating cushion includes molded, 6 lb. density memory foam
• Comfortable seat for individuals sitting in chairs, riding in cars, scooters, etc.
• Encased in removable and washable luxurious zippered blue velveteen cover.
• The sculpted design is anatomically correct and provides maximum comfort.
• Product Dimensions: 18 x 2.5 x 16 inches

Amazon Reviewers Say:
• The memory foam is dense so it doesn’t collapse into nothingness when you sit on it, and it gives you very good support. It raises the seat about two inches, which can make getting up from the chair a lot easier.

• My only complaint is that it would be nice if it was at least 2 inches wider and 3 inches deeper so it would approximate the seating area of my office chair. At its current dimensions, it only covers the seating area of a traditional dining room chair.

• While it does have a dense foam, it is not memory foam, as I understand the term. It compresses and quickly bounces back like any other foam. Would also have liked it to be a bit bigger, particularly in depth. Really only good for a small chair.

2. Kensington Memory Foam Seat Cushion

Kensington Memory Foam Seat Cushion

On Amazon for $37.64

According to the manufacturer:

• High-density memory cell foam was originally developed by NASA to relieve G-force strain during lift off.
• Temperature- and pressure-sensitive, it molds to the body’s contour, offering optimal comfort.
• Dissipates pressure while conforming to body contours.
• Leather-like bottom cover reduces movement on chair.
• Product Dimensions: 16.2 x 2.6 x 16.2 inches ; 2.6 pounds

Amazon Reviewers Say:

• No customer reviews on this product as of yet. We purchased one for one of our clients and so far she loves it, but she weighs only about 120 pounds.

Review from the similar Kensington Memory Foam Seat Rest (L82024)

• I ordered this cushion for my rather large desk chair at work- and it works great! The foam is very thick, but conforms to the body to support it well. The cushion is tapered at the front to prevent pressure on the legs. I would highly recommend this to improve posture and support while working at a desk. I am buying a second one to keep at home so when I work at my kitchen table on my laptop I am at the proper height.

• Heavier people may find the cushion smashes quickly, according to Amazon reviewers.

3. Obus Forme Ergonomic Seat Cushion

Orbus Forme Seat Cushion

From Amazon for $59.46

According to the manufacturer:

• Polyurethane foam construction absorbs compression forces and dissipates the vibration created in moving vehicles, making it ideal for use on the road.
• Can be used on its own or with any Obus Forme Backrest support to create a complete and comfortable ergonomic sitting experience.
• The removable front section is easily unzipped to allow for use with narrow chairs and benches.

Amazon Reviewers Say:

• The seat comes in a handy little plastic tote bag with a handle for carrying, and you can zip off the front segment of the seat to fit shallower chairs.

• This cushion saved my butt on a long car trip! I have periodic flare-ups of sciatica and hip pain, aggravated by riding in the car. Even short trips around town usually have me squirming in my seat. With the ObusForme cushion I can ride or drive pain free for hours at a time. I also brought it to a football game, and was comfortable for over three hours on the bleacher seat.

• However, I purchased the Obus Ultra Forme backrest for added support. I was so happy with the backrest that I decided that adding the seat was called for. It unfortunately turned out to be fairly uncomfortable. The support was pretty good, and the problem might have been that it was too small for my recliner, but I ended up returning it. I’m 6’4″, 200lbs, so maybe I don’t have enough built in padding, but regardless, I was disappointed in the seat after being so happy with the backrest.

• Great firm seat cushion. It stays in place well, and is a good complement to the Obus Forme back support device.

Read Full Post »

Smart Phones are a Pain in the Neck…Literally

Posted in Massage Therapy, Workplace Wellness, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 3, 2009| 2 Comments »

Image representing iPhone as depicted in Crunc...
Image via CrunchBase

By Sue Shekut, Licensed Massage Therapist, ACSM Personal Trainer, Certified Wellness Coach, Owner, Working Well Massage

Smart phones are common tools for today’s fast-paced business world. And just as computer use has improved our lives AND added a host of new ergonomic issues, “iPod Neck” and “Blackberry Neck” are concerns for many users that hold their phones while looking down.

Smart phones are not heavy. You may think holding them won’t cause muscle tension. They are easy to hold in one hand and type with the other. But holding the phone and looking down at the small screen for long periods of time can cause unwanted muscle pain in the upper back and neck. Those that use their iPod’s as a Kindle reader spend even more time looking down while viewing the device.

Think holding a small phone can’t cause any problems? Try this test yourself.

1. Hold your phone up in front of you and look down at the screen for a full 60 seconds.

2. Notice how your neck and shoulders feel as the clock ticks by.

3. Feel any uncomfortability in your muscles?

4. Now think of how you would feel after holding your phone and looking down for five minutes. Ten minutes. You get the idea.

When you use your phone or media player you are usually focusing your attention on the task at hand, not on your muscle tension. Doing this exercise makes you more aware of how you use your body when typing or viewing your smart phone.

Smart phones need smart accessories. How can you counter the muscle strain you may get while holding your iPod or Blackberry to type?


A few simple suggestions to avoid “iPod Neck.”

1. Whenever possible, rest your elbows on a table or surface so that your arms are propped up to view your smart phone. This takes pressure off your neck and shoulder muscles and let’s you work more easily. Resting your elbows on a flat surface is free! And you can take your elbows with you anywhere you go. Just make sure the table or surface is not so slow you have to slump over to reach it!)

Find this inexpensive, portable stand here

2. Purchase an inexpensive Smart phone holder to use to prop up your device when you are on the go.

Tiko Stand

This Tiko Fold is convenient on planes, trains, at the coffee shop or at a desk. Free your hands and relax while viewing your phone or media player at one of nine adjustable viewing angles.

The Tiko Fold folds flat for slipping into a shirt pocket, backpack, computer bag, or purse. When folded into a stand, the Tiko Fold provides a universal base designed to hold the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G, Sony PSP, and practically any portable video players like your cell phone in both vertical and horizontal orientations. The Tiko Fold also holds the iPod Classic, iPod Touch, iPod Nano, BlackBerry Storm, BlackBerry Bold, most video capable cell phones, the Microsoft Zune, Sony PSP and even some ebook readers.

The Tiko stand retails for about $8.00 and can be purchased here here

3. Another alternative for holding iPods/iPhones is the Incipio Kickstand Leather Case for iPod touch 2G link here for about $24.00

Leather iPod/iPhone case

Note: Apple makes wrist band holders for iPods but the problem with these is that they still require you to bend your arm in an unnatural position to view the phone or iPod.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Read Full Post »

Great Backrest for People of Wider Girth and Gamers Too!

Posted in Massage Therapy, Workplace Wellness, tagged , , , , , , on October 3, 2009| 1 Comment »

By Sue Shekut, Licensed Massage Therapist, ACSM Personal Trainer, Certified Wellness Coach, Owner, Working Well Massage

Are you an avid video gamer or person that likes to read or work sitting upright on the couch or in bed? Or are you of wider than “average” girth? Keep in mind that average is not the norm these days. Recent statistics state that 62% of the American population is considered “obese.” A person is considered obese if his or her fat body weight is more that 30 percent of his or her total weight.

Funny thing is, office furniture is still made for the Hollywood ideal, the office workers of Mad Men days. If you don’t fit that body ideal, we are not going to lecture you about the need to lose fat. Being height/weight proportionate is the healthier goal. However, getting fit is not something you can do overnight. So what do you do to sit comfortably when you have a wide girth?

A good backrest for people with wider girth or those that want a bed rest for reading or working sitting upright in bed or on a couch is the Orbus Forme Wide-back Backrest. It’s also great for gamers that rest on a bed or couch playing video games. (Of course, if you get a Wii Fit you can game and get fit!)

Obus Forme Wide-back Backrest

On Amazon for $66.66

Orbus Forme Wide Backrest


According to the manufacturer:

• 3 inches wider and 1 inch taller than normal backrest
• Enhances overall posture and provides relief from pain from poor posture
• S-shaped frame
• Portable and lightweight

Amazon Reviewers Say:

• It is the PERFECT “pillow” with back support and the BEST I have found for sitting up to read or use a laptop in bed. It offers the kind of support that other sitting up in bed pillows don’t. I think I have tried every style of bed pillow ever made for reading in bed without being 100% satisfied with their performance and my comfort. So, I am delighted with this use for this backrest. This backrest nearly hits the 100% mark as a reading pillow.

• The one big problem with this backrest is that the curve of it sticks far from the chair making the space where your legs go is cut to half of what it originally was. My back feels better but now my legs hurt because they hang over the edge too far because of the curve of the backrest.

However, if your chair allow for the backrest and you are of wider than Mad Men ideal girth, this backrest may be the perfect fit for you! Until they start making wider, better cushioned office chairs.

Read Full Post »

Backrest for Short and Medium Height People

Posted in Massage Therapy, Workplace Wellness, tagged , , , , , , , on October 3, 2009| 1 Comment »

By Sue Shekut, Licensed Massage Therapist, ACSM Personal Trainer, Certified Wellness Coach, Owner, Working Well Massage

Are you shorter than average or do you simply want a better back support than your current chair or car seat offers? Do you have lumbar back pain or a back disorder that requires extra support for your back?

Why settle for uncomfortable car seats and office chairs when you can easily upgrade your seating setup with a foam cushion and backrest!

For about $100-$150 you can put together your own “ergo” seating. We’ve reviewed many of the products out there and found the best prices and reviews on Amazon. You may be able to find the same or similar products elsewhere, but you will pay about 10-30% more from other vendors.

To save you time, we pasted the links and pictures of the products in a few separate posts about backrests and seat cushions. Find the situation that describes your issue (you are taller than average, shorter than average, of wider girth than average, etc.) and read the associated post to find out about the product we think may help you best. This post describes backrests for people of shorter or medium height, about 5′ to 5′-6″.

We also included pertinent tips from the Amazon customer reviews so you don’t have to wade through them yourself. However, if you want to read all the reviews yourself, simply go to the Amazon product link and check out the customer reviews.

For medium height to shorter people that want a simple backrest with lumbar support:

Orthopedic Lowback Backrest Support By Obus Forme

On Amazon for $68.39

Orbus Lowback Backrest

According to the manufacturer:

• Patented, polycarbonate S-shaped frame that promotes correct spinal alignment and proper posture; guaranteed for life. Includes a patented, removable and adjustable lumbar pad that provides additional support to your lower back by filling in your lumbar curve.

• Portable and lightweight, turns any chair into an ergonomic seating system; use it in your home, office, vehicle, or anywhere else you sit.

• Polyurethane foam protects the frame.

• Hypoallergenic, brushed nylon cover can be removed and sponge washed.

Amazon Reviewers Say:

• Sounds cliché, but this backrest is worth its weight in gold to me. My back used to get so sore sitting in an office chair all day. Now that I have the backrest my back actually feels BETTER after having sat in my office chair for a while. It’s always good to get up and stretch now and then though. If the seat cushion of your chair is not firm enough, I recommend purchasing this backrest along with the Obus Forme seat cushion that helps to keep you in the proper position.

• If you’re a big person, you may want to consider the wide backrest version. I’m less than 125 pounds, and this particular (smaller) model is fine for me.

• It comes with a detachable pillow that can be placed wherever it’s most comfortable for lumbar support. It attaches with Velcro and could probably eventually fray the seat cover if it’s moved around a lot.

• It’s high back allows for complete back support.

Read Full Post »

Backrest For the Above Average in Height That Need Head and Neck Support

Posted in Massage Therapy, Uncategorized, Workplace Wellness, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on October 3, 2009| 1 Comment »

By Sue Shekut, Licensed Massage Therapist, ACSM Personal Trainer, Certified Wellness Coach, Owner, Working Well Massage

Are you taller than average or have a long torso and find that standard office chairs don’t offer you enough back support?

Why settle for uncomfortable office chairs when you can easily upgrade your seating setup with a easy to use backrest!

For about $100-$150 you can put together your own “ergo” seating to accommodate your height requirements. We’ve reviewed many of the products out there and found the best prices and reviews on Amazon. You may be able to find the same or similar products elsewhere, but you will pay about 10-30% more from other vendors.

To save you time, we pasted the links and pictures of the products in a few separate posts about backrests and seat cushions. This post covers the need for back support for those that are either taller than average height or have long torsos.

We also included pertinent tips from the Amazon customer reviews so you don’t have to wade through them yourself. However, if you want to read all the reviews yourself, simply go to the Amazon product link below and check out the customer reviews.

If you are above average height, or if you simply want extra head and neck support for your chair, try the:

Obus Forme High-back Backrest

On Amazon for $79.95

Orbus Forme High-back Backrest

According to the manufacturer:
• Enhances overall posture and provides relief from pain from poor posture
• 8 inches taller for head and neck rest
• S-shaped frame
• Portable and lightweight
• Black

Amazon Reviewers Say:
• It has a lumbar support that is moveable and it is high enough to support my head comfortably.

• I have used this product before and this was to replace one, which I had worn out. I have 3 at the moment – 1 for my easy chair, 1 at my office at work and 1 in my car. At various times I have lent one of these to friends and the biggest problem is to get them to return them.

• This is not a magic cure for all back problems but it is magic if it helps your back problem and since it is high back it does seem to help many people.

• The height of the product works well with my long torso.

• The calzone-sized pillow attaches with Velcro. Depending on preference, it can be discarded or placed at the lumbar spine or head.

• The product is sturdy but not immortal. After a couple of years of steady use, the joints attaching the top third of the piece to the lower part are prone to break.

Read Full Post »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »