October and November have been a hectic month for us in the office.
It was the most strenuous months, as we enter all the year-end promotions, the 11.11 sales, another 12.12 sales and trying to get new businesses for Q1 2018.

As terrible as it sounds, all this work, sitting and designing have aggravated my long chronic issues of back pain.
I had been on and off to the physiotherapist when things went from bad to worse, as I pulled my groin. A big mention to Fred, from Precise Rehab, for helping me go through this difficult period.

Sitting on a fitball (fitness ball) for desk work?

Source: Livestrong.com

Should you?
Before I dived into buying one, I had to research things first. Well, like they say, with sarcasm, it's true, if it's on the internet! Should I swap my chair or my stool for a fitness ball when I work on the computer. Well, actually, the world is still divided on the benefits of using this method.

What do experts say?

A few case studies have concluded that some patients with low back pain managed to improve their conditions by swapping their chairs with a fitball.

An excerpt from the studies, that sums up the benefits of using this method:

There are several studies that show the benefits of the gym ball. These include increased muscle activation, co-activation and muscle co-contraction.

Full article here: http://tiny.cc/kei_backissue_1

On the other hand, a 2010 New York time report suggested that while sitting on the balls helped users increased more muscle activity and "trunk motion" by 33 percent, they also produced more spinal shrinkage.
Wait, what is spinal shrinkage?
Spinal shrinkage is when you load your spine and you become shorter as the gap between your spine gets smaller.
With the conclusion: Leave the exercise ball for during exercises
Sounds bad eh.

Full article here: http://tiny.cc/kei_backissue_2.

So after reading the good and the bad, what did I do? Let's just do this, and learn from it.
I decided to go to decathlon and get myself a medium size ball, as I think that the S size is way to low for the desk and the L size was too huge to fit.

(No, this is not an advertisement from Decathlon)

So I am currently on my 2nd day using this.

Here are my initial impressions:

• It is not that comfortable, and this needs some getting used to.
• I am forced to sit upright but my knees are bending at an acute angle so that I keep the ball in place.
• I feel that I am not slouching that much, but there's a lot of lateral movement from side to side.

Let's give this a try up until next year as a productivity experiment. I'll write my experience more in a couple of weeks time.

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Hmm... I should put a post-script here, like those cool writers.
Hey, it's Kei. I want you to know that you are special. Have a nice day.
A Mirian at heart, a Francophonic Sarawakian that tries to practice kaizen and the art of Life.