I’ve hurt my lower back a few years ago one cold morning(went out in t-shit), while runing after my little boy to prevent him jump on to the traffic busy street, so, aldo everything is mostly ok right now, my back don’t realy love giging with Les Pauls or - sitting for long hours in uncomftable chairs.
Now, at work we have this Herman Miller chairs which are great, but man, they’re like thousand bucks!
What kind of chair do you use daily for long working hours while mixing/editing etc?
Is there something cool out there that don’t require selling your kidney 
?
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I feel your pain 
Had sciatica and lower back pain donkeys’ years now. What helped me most was the mantra “The best position for your back is the next one” so basically always adjusting seating position, standing up, moving, changing posture all the time, etc etc
When I work from the office we have these groovy adjustable standing desks so can constantly switch from seating to standing at the literal push of a button. At home I have a very expensive (north of 700 GBP) fancy desk chair that a previous employer coughed up for but never collected after I left the org.
So my personal advice is thus;
- try a bunch of different chairs and don’t try save money on it (second hand probably best option…? They can be pricey…)
- see if an adjustable desk is an option
- constantly adjust your position, take breaks, stand up, move
- take the time set up your desk(s) and chair(s) for optimal ergonomics - just look online and follow the guides, however daft they might seem
I also try do little yoga-for-lower-back type stretches, movements and exercises throughout the morning / day and that helps a lot. Have you looked into that before? Even just 5 mins here and there while the kettle boils makes a big difference.
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Well, while working i sit straight as an arrow (always have), basicaly the way they teach you is school, so those kind of “gaming” chairs which have slight curvature outwards(more to the back side, not to the belly side) in lower back area are a big no-no for me. I’ve tryed many gaming chairs, and not one of those worked for me.
Being a drummer (aldo i haven’t realy played much for 6 years now) i do have reasonable straight posture, and i kinda like to support my upper body with my legs a little while sitting.
I guess those Herman Miller’s work for me cause they don’t force curving my lower back and have this sitting area material which is not too soft so my behind doesn’t fall right into it.
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So recognisable! I’ve played an old Yamaha SG2000 from the 70s for years but at one point I found myself getting annoyed after about an hour. It was just getting too heavy. So I changed to a lighter guitar which is a lot more comfortable.
Regarding chairs, I’ve got a refurbished chair and adjustable desk. The chair is an Ahrend 230, those are ubiquitous around here, also refurbished ones. And moving a lot is good, walking, cycling, not taking the car to go to the shop around the corner. Being active helps I think.
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Yeah, something like your Ahrend 230 looks like it could work. Simple, firm, no weird angles, no fuss.
There’s Jysk shop nearby, i’ll have to check out is there anything that works for me there.
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The back is a bit curved though but I find that it supports my lower back really well. And almost everything is adjustable. Jysk has some nice chairs, maybe they have one that suits your needs!
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Just went out, tried like 50 different chairs in 2 shops, then went to Jysk, tried everything there and bought this simple:
You could see that te quality ain’t realy great, but it was the only one that i didn’t constantly fight with while sitting as i used to.
When i compare it to Herman Miller, it’ very similar by design, but quality-wise, it’s not not even near, of course. Herman is like 5 times better in that regard…but hey, we’ll see how it holds up.
I realised that i hate chairs that have “closed” sides under arm supports, and which are to deep until your back reach the backside support. So, my back needed to be as straight, and my legs as free as possible, as i gathered. Pretty flat sitting area suited me, not to soft not to stiff. Also, i hated designs that are always tilting you back.
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Not what you asked for:
For me, with life long back pain, what does wonders is letting the head hang down daily for a certain amount of time, perhaps 5 minutes, perhaps even less.
The important part, again: for me, is to not stretch it, but to really let it hang, to relax everything, mainly the shoulders, as much as possible. The grain of salt: can’t do it if others are around
We even have a rather unknown german term for it: Der Kutscher Sitz (the coach driver position), as it was their way to relax while idling (i was told … probably fake news ).
Also circling the shoulders backwards and forwards, but also in the most relaxed way as possible.
footbath are also quite a relief for me, mainly if i add a wee bit of baby-oil (which is the german term translated, not sure if it is the correct english term). I can mix both approaches, cause during footbath i have not a lot to do.
But, you know how it is: what helps in one case does no good at all in another case. So don’t be mad at me, i am well aware it can be annyoing to get tips you didn’t ask for …
Good luck, Tom Dooley
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Update:
Picked up my Jysk Asperup chair from Jysk’s storage and brought it home.
Assembled it from package, and examined it more closely while doing it. Yeah - the quality ain’t that great as expected. Materials do look a little thin+flimsy, chinese like.
Placed it in my personal mixing room/atelier and i’m sitting at it for the last two hours. Everything feels good. No back pain. No weird feelings.
Conslusion - i think this will do if it doesn’t fall apart trying to suppot my 97 kilos.
The design is actualy a real fit for me, and we’ll see how long it can survive in good shape.
The price was great - around 50 euros, for this kind of benefit/fullfiled role it was cheap af, no complaints there.
The thing that puzzled me is - how can it even be possible to find so many unfit designs - around 65 different chairs in price range up to 300 euros. Only one chair besides this one has even entered the second circle of the contest. Lost to this one because it was to easy to accidentaly tilt it backwards.
I use a Varier chair, it’s really comfortable. Because it’s “rockin” and has no backseat it forces your back out of a fixed position (a backseat is optional though). Maybe it’s worth a try if the Jysk falls apart 
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This looked liked a good idea some time ago after I recovered from hi-level sciatic troubles then fast-forward a few years and though my back felt a bit better now both my kneecaps were going jelly, the painful flavor, so I’d say maybe try to avoid this (note that I used it about 6 to 9 hours per day which may or may not have its importance)
I am using something like this. Almost immediately got rid of my back pain. Still i have to do a lot of training to get my back “straight” but it really solved my lower back pain and forces you to get into the “next” position for your back. Not very comfy though, but when i am focused i don’t really care what i sit on.
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I used to think chiropractors were mostly selling snake oil until I started going to one for lower back pain. After a handful of sessions, the pain went away. My health insurance covered it, but it isn’t very expensive to pay out of pocket, either. I still don’t believe it treats cancer or some of the other highly-questionable information they have displayed in their offices, but it worked for my back pain, which was mostly caused by my regular sleeping position. (Don’t sleep on your stomach.)
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Haha, there are an alarming number of chiropractors dispensing almost everything BUT musculoskeletal advice on YouTube, I wasn’t aware getting a chiropractic license automatically made one a dietary and coronary expert… 
If we’re throwing out spinal advice I found for lower back pain caused by herniated discs doing several flat-footed deep squats a day and squatting instead of bending as much as possible was the only thing that helped me even after years of chiro and physiotherapy. Squatting stretches the lower back muscles and seems to relieve some of the tension on the vertebrae and sciatic nerve.
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+1 for squats. Wall squats, sit-to-stand (or goblet squats is what my physio calls them) etc. Dead bugs are great too. Best to do a range of exercises. There’s a physio on Youtube called Will Harlow who makes some excellent videos on exercises for older people. You don’t need to be old to benefit, they are just more gentle but effective exercises.
I have a decent chair (and degraded lower lumbar discs) but it is important to not sit still for too long. Get up and move every 20 minutes or so. Even shifting your weight in the chair or stretching shoulders with arms above your head helps.
Most of the people I know have bad backs, it just happens over a lifetime of use/abuse. We just have to make the best of it as we can.
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… I can confirm that since sitting on a Aeris Swopper (basically 3D moving chair), I didn’t feel my back ever again! And I’m not even old (at least didn’t feel old enough for back pain when I got it 15 years ago 
)… Movement is key for me - doing exercise, or since Swopper, also sitting at the desk…
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I’m always hesitant to talk about my back issues because the back and spine are so complicated, and I’ve never known for sure that that my own choices were the ‘right way’ to treat back pain. But here goes.
I dealt with sciatica 20 years ago (in my mid 30s), with at least one flare-up a year. During the flare-ups, I’d be mostly unable to walk straight for a week or two. And the pain would travel down my legs. It was horrible, and it gave me an appreciation of what people go through dealing with ongoing pain. I never had any sense of what precipitated the pain.
10-15 years ago, I began doing simple yoga and built a standing desk. When I built the desk, I also bought a rather expensive ‘leaning’ stool of sorts. I wouldn’t put my full weight on it, but it’d allow me to take a few pounds off my feet.
In the last 15 years, I’ve been almost 100% pain-free in my back. I did have one instance where I had a bit of the old pain (maybe 2 out of 10 pain) for a day, so I always sense that my pinched nerve (or whatever) is always just over the horizon. But at nearly 60, I couldn’t be happier with my current state. (Now for my knees, achilles tendons, and shoulders, that’s another story!)
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Sorry, I realized after I wrote that that you were only looking for chair recommendations. For a standard height desk, I have no recommendations. But I do echo what someone else said: changing positions often, regardless of what chair/desk you’re using.
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