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Forget South Beach, Atkins and Fasting-Use Better Choices!

October 26, 2009 by workingwellresources

From the Nutrition Data Website,a diet that makes sense…and can actually be maintained over time. It’s not a fad, it’s a framework. Read about the Better Choices Concept:

The Better Choices Diet revolves around one very simple key concept:

For every food that you eat, there are likely to be other equally nutritious foods that will satisfy your hunger with fewer Calories.

The Better Choices Diet starts with a simple nutritional analysis of your current diet. It evaluates each food that you now eat, and recommends alternative foods that may provide more nutritional value and help you feel full on fewer Calories. Instead of shocking your body with an abrupt change in foods, the Better Choices Diet focuses on evolving your diet one food at a time.

Other benefits of the Better Choices Diet
Unlike many other diet plans, the Better Choices Diet:

• Has no banned foods. Instead of rigid lists of “approved” and “unapproved” foods, the Better Choices Diet allows you to eat anything, but encourages you to make smarter food choices.

• Requires no special foods or other investments. Everything you need to understand and use the Better Choices Diet is contained within the Nutrition Data website.

• Can be used with other diet plans. The tools and methods of the Better Choices Diet can also be used to improve the effectiveness of most other diet plans.

• Can also be used for weight gaining diets. The Better Choices Diet is not just for weight loss; it’s about controlling your weight (up or down) through proper food selection and hunger control.

How the Better Choices Diet Evaluates Foods

The Better Choices Diet determines potential food substitutions with the help of ND’s Nutritional Target Map, which maps food in relation to their predicted satiating effect (Fullness Factor) and nutrient density (ND Rating). Foods closer to the upper right corner of the Nutritional Target Map are Better Choices for healthy weight loss, and foods closer to the lower right corner are Better Choices for healthy weight gain.

Better Choices Nutritional Target Map

The 4 Steps of the Better Choices Diet:

1. Make a daily record of everything you eat. Making a record of your diet is a very tedious task if you’re using paper and pencil, but it’s very easy to do with the My Tracking feature of My ND. Please read the My Tracking Help page to learn how to track and analyze your intake.

2. Determine which foods contribute the most Calories to your diet. The primary focus of the Better Choices Diet is to gradually replace some of the foods that you now eat with other foods that are more supportive of your goals. It makes sense to start with those foods that are contributing the most calories to your diet, since this is most likely to have the greatest positive impact on your progress. This step is automated with My Tracking. The tracking report that it generates includes a listing of all foods that you consumed, along with the percentage of calories that each supplied to your diet.

3. Make Better Choice substitutions for those foods. For each item on your tracking report, you’ll also find links to Better Choice substitutions. Select your goal (weight loss, optimum health, or weight gain), and click on the link to explore the resulting list of foods. It’s not important to choose foods that appear highest on the list—simply choose any of these foods that you would enjoy eating.

4. Repeat. Your goal is to gradually evolve your diet to include more nutritious and filling foods and less unhealthy and unsatisfying foods. Over time, as you incorporate more of these foods into your diet, the total calories that you consume will drop, and the overall nutrient density of your meals will increase.

Warning: The Better Choices Diet is a self-directed program.

Despite its potential benefits, the Better Choices Diet is not recommended for those with eating disorders or diet-related medical conditions. It is best suited for individuals who are only moderately overweight and reasonably self-disciplined. All diet analyses and food recommendations are provided interactively via the Nutrition Data website. Although these services are free, no other specific dietary advice is provided. The Better Choices Diet also relies heavily on ND’s Ratings and Fullness Factors. While these calculated values provide a reasonable scientific prediction of a food’s benefit with relation to diet, they can not take into account every aspect of a food’s value. For this reason, no guarantee can be made on the accuracy or suitability of this diet with respect to your individual needs. If in doubt, please consult a nutritionist or healthcare professional for more specific dietary recommendations.

For more on the Better Choices Diet and Nutrition Data tools for tracking and evaluating your food choices, click here.

Posted in Nutrition | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

Fitness in the Forest-Part I

October 25, 2009 by workingwellresources

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

Some people go to the gym to workout, which is great. These days, between working many hours and long commutes, it’s tough to find time to workout and relax and still spend time with your loved ones. Why not combine your fitness routine with a little nature, add your family and or friends and explore the peace and fresh air afforded you by spending time in the forest.

In the Chicago area, there are approximately 50-60 different forest preserve trails within an hour or so of the downtown area. Many people enjoy the lakefront, but that’s the problem–many people. If you want a quieter bike ride, hike or even a horseback ride, the Forest Preserves are less crowded, much more wooded and often actually quiet!

Biking in the Forest Preserves
Biking in the Forest Preserves can be a great workout and a nice way to relax, enjoy the company of family and friends and see something other than buildings, concrete and cars. Speed training or racing is not permitted so you are less likely to get run over by a fast-paced bike racer!

Biking in the Forest Preserves

Families with small children can take their little ones along on bike rides with a bike trailer such as the Childrens bike trailers shown here.

On one our of forest preserve bike rides, we came across a family that brought along the bikes for mom and dad and the eldest daughter, then packed up their two little girls in the bike trailer for the dad to pull. In this way, the whole family got to ride together and dad got a super workout (especially up hills!)

Family fun on bikes in the Forest

Info on bike carrier safety for children here.

Cook County Forest Preserves
Cook County Forest Preserves provides 100 miles of paved bicycle trails and over 200 miles of multi-use trails in the Forest Preserve for bikers, joggers, walkers (and in winter, snow shoe-ers and cross country skiers!) to enjoy. Cook County Trail System Maps here.

And did you know that in Cook County, there are 27 lakes, ponds, quarries, reservoirs and sloughs to enjoy! Check out the listing of water sources in Cook County here.

View of Lake from biking trail

DuPage Forest Preserves
DuPage Forest Preserves offer over 145 miles of on-foot explorations from seldom-traveled footpaths to wide limestone trails.

DuPage Forest Preserves trail listing and hiking maps here.

DuPage County Forest Preserve Locator Map here.

Lake County Forest Preserves
Lake County Forest Preserves offers Forest Fitness sessions which are “Fast-paced group fitness hikes feature a different preserve each week.” For more info click here.

Lake County Forest Preserves Map here.

Will County Forest Preserves

Will Country Forest Preserves trail system list.

Will County trail Systems Map here.

Where ever you live, there are likely forest preserves and national parks in your area. Take advantage of this free (no membership needed!) natural gym for you and your family. And get your fitness in the forest!

Posted in Fitness | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Yoga Bolsters on Sale!

October 24, 2009 by workingwellresources

Yoga Bolsters on sale!

Standard Round Yoga Bolster

Order from Yoga Accessories for only $37 here: YogaAccessories (TM) Round Cotton Yoga Bolster
YogaAccessories (TM) Rectangular Cotton Yoga Bolster

Yoga Bolsters are great for to give your body a break from forward leaning work. With a simple yoga bolster, you can relax your back muscles, stretch our your pectoral muscles and let the day’s stress float away from you. Check out our Yoga Bolster video for a demonstration!

For more detailed explanation of the reasons to use the yoga bolster to stretch your muscles and relax, read this post here

Posted in Fitness, Stress Management, Yoga | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Climbing Stairs Can Be Fun!

October 20, 2009 by workingwellresources

Climbing stairs is a great way to pump fresh blood, (and thus, oxygen) into your brain, give yourself a break from a stressful day, and burn a few calories. Best yet, it can be fun.

In the 1960’s, Volkswagen made ugly cars fun with the Volkswagen Beetle. Now they are finding new ways to make exercise fun. A car company encouraging people to exercise? Now that is FUN!

Link to You Tube video!

From Volkswagen’s The Fun Theory website: We believe that the easiest way to change people’s behavior for the better is by making it fun to do. We call it The Fun Theory. Link to The Fun Theory Website

Working Well agrees!

Posted in Fitness, Motivation, Stress Management, Workplace Wellness | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

How Do I Find a Good Massage Therapist?

October 18, 2009 by workingwellresources

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!

Posted in Massage Therapy, Stress Management | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Exercise Boosts Body Image!

October 16, 2009 by workingwellresources

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

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Get Hooked On Healthy Food

October 11, 2009 by workingwellresources

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

Posted in Fitness, Nutrition, Workplace Wellness | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Should Massage Hurt?

October 10, 2009 by workingwellresources

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!)

Posted in Massage Therapy, Workplace Wellness | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Balm That is The Bomb!

October 3, 2009 by workingwellresources

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.

Posted in Massage Therapy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

Pair Your Backrest with a Great Seat Cushion

October 3, 2009 by workingwellresources

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.

Posted in Massage Therapy, Uncategorized, Workplace Wellness | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments »

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