Back Designs Inc

Ergonomic furniture ~ Back care products ~ Honest advice

  Home    Learning Center Articles    My Wishlist    My Basket    My Account    Contact Us    1-800-466-1341  


 
Home > LEARNING CENTER > About office chairs and task seating > Pros & cons of foam back supports

Pros & cons of foam back supports


Foam back supports are easy to carry with you, but are less durable and fit fewer kinds of chairs.

McKenzie Lumbar Roll Obus Forme Velcro Pad

Back-Huggar SCP Posture Support Pillow


Back supports with a rigid frame are durable and fit into more types of chairs, but are more bulky and less convenient to carry.

Obus Ultra Moller Orthopedic Back Support

Sacro-Ease 2000 Back Rest BetterBack Lumbar Support

Each back support design has its advantages and disadvantages.

Durability

The contours of most portable sitting supports are made of high-density foam and covered in fabric. Heat (sunlight and body heat), moisture (sweat), and your weight act to break down foam's resilience. The useful life of products made entirely of foam and fabric is relatively short. (At worst, a few months under constant use; at best, two years.) Foam supports with frames of fiberglass, plastic, steel, or rubber have a considerably longer life.

Versatility

Simple foam back supports mold to the shape of the seat in which they are placed, which changes their support contours. For example, a foam back support placed in a bench truck seat (horizontally flat) will produce a much more agressive low back contour than the same foam back support placed in a bucket seat (horizontally concave). A back support with a rigid internal frame will maintain the same anatomical shape in any seat.

Portability

The smaller the back support, the easier it is to carry with you when you travel. Simple foam supports are generally very lightweight and portable.

Combined seat & backrest vs. backrest only

A backrest-only support generally works best in seating in which the seatpan is continuous with the chairback, for example, in a car seat or in an overstuffed chair. However, these portable back supports can be problematic in chairs in which there is a space between the the backrest and seatpan. Unless the back support can firmly attach to the chairback, it is likely to slip and fall through the hole between the chairback and seatpan.



Learning center articles

©1989-2010 Back Designs Inc. All rights reserved.

THE FINE PRINT
Our advice is offered in good faith but without guarantee, as individual conditions and product use are beyond our control. Our guidelines should not be taken as medical advice or a substitute for the recommendations of your health care practitioner, nor an endorsement of any procedure, therapy, treatment, or product. The user assumes all risk of injury and applicability for a particular item. All merchandise is sold under this condition, which no representative of the company can waive or change.