How to fit a back seat cushion
You can improve your sitting posture and relieve back pain with a back support... but only if it fits you properly. A portable sitting support can redefine your seat's height, contours, resilience, and angles. Of course, if you change your sitting posture frequently you might be happier with a well-fitted chair rather than a cumbersome combination of seat inserts.
Follow these steps when you choose a portable sitting support.
Step 1 - Fit your activity
Back-rest supports work best for upright and reclined activities
such as driving, typing, and relaxing.
Seat wedges work best for forward sitting activities such as writing.
A backrest support will not work for forward sitting since you lean away from it.
Step 2 - Fit your height and weight
A person's height or weight may affect a sitting support's fit and function. Here are some product selection tips for those of you who are particularly short or tall, heavy or light.
SHORT PEOPLE
When your seat is too high, you may need to "raise the floor."
Use a footstool, mount a footrest bar underneath your desk,
or use a chair with a footring.
If your seat is too deep, use a thicker backrest cushion.
If your neckrest is too high it can push your head uncomfortably forward.
Women often suffer this in an airline seat. Try sitting on a seat cushion to raise
yourself high enough for the neckrest to nestle into your neck.
TALL PEOPLE
Your backrest support will be ineffective if you are too tall for your chair or car seat.
To correct a low chair, raise yourself on cushions or raise the chair legs.
You'll probably need to raise your desk height, too.
If raising the seat in your car compromises your line of vision,
access to foot pedals, thigh room, or head room,
little can be done short of getting a new car.
HEAVY AND VERY LIGHT PEOPLE
If you weigh more than 250 pounds, a soft foam support will compress too much under your body weight. You should select more rigid, nonfoam supports or thicker, firmer foam supports. If you weigh under 110 pounds, select softer or flatter foam supports since they compress little under your weight.
Step 3 - Fit the chair
No one sitting support makes all chairs comfortable. Different seat heights, contours, and back angles influence a portable support's performance. Select supports for the seats you use most often.
An automobile bucket seat or the curved back of a captain's chair is more difficult to modify than a flat seat back. Make certain that the sitting support is narrow or select a sitting support specifically designed for a bucket seat.
A chair with a gap between the seat and backrest is difficult to modify because many supports - even those with attachment straps - can slip through the gap as you shift around. Look for supports specifically designed for this type of chair or consider all-in-one seat and backrest support units.
Very soft or sagging seats like couches and overstuffed chairs may "swallow up" your portable seating support and make it ineffective. Select a thicker support to compensate for a chair softness or choose a support with a rigid built-in frame.
Article reproduced with permission from
ergoTALK.
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