Do you suffer from back pain because of your job? Maybe you’ve had a sports injury, and it’s causing discomfort. Regardless of how and where it happened, you are experiencing pain, and the last thing you need is to feel that agony at home.
Trying to get comfortable while sitting down can be challenging with a lingering injury, so you must find solutions to ease your suffering. What’s the answer? Let’s take a look at the best living room furniture for back pain.
1. Living Room Sofas
Almost every living room furniture set has a sofa in it. They range from small love seats to a sectional island with ample room for the whole family, and when we think of sitting in a living room, it is usually on a sofa.
For a person suffering from back pain, most sofas are not ideal. They tend to be built for those without injury, allowing plush comfort and cuddling up. You can get couches with built-in recliners that will give better support, and this will help alleviate some of your pain.
The word ergonomic gets used a lot, meaning the design and arrangement of things to allow for a safe and efficient interaction. For a couch, that translates to a piece of furniture designed for comfort and supportive function. Get an ergonomically designed couch with lumbar support and sized correctly so your feet can be flat on the floor with your knees bent at a 90-degree angle.
This will provide a healthy posture with a neutral spine and reduce excess strain on your bones and muscles. A person with back pain shouldn’t curl up or cross their legs because it leads to stiffness, aches and pain, so while you can buy the perfect economic sofa, it comes down to how you sit on it.
2. Reclining Chairs
Being able to lay back in a chair is ideal for watching tv and relaxing after your day. They call them ladyboys for a reason. With back pain, sitting too long, especially in a rigid, upright position like at a desk, can weaken the muscles and put pressure on the spine. Soft chairs are no better because they don’t offer support. The answer for your living room is a recliner.
Having your body position reclined to around 135 degrees has provided the perfect angle for minimal spinal disc movement. This is like a reverse 45 and lets you take pressure off your back because you aren’t slouching or hunching over. You still want your chair to have enough support, so you don’t sink into it and create poor posture.
While you can stretch out on a sofa, laying your head on the arm rescan puts your neck and spine out of alignment. With a recliner, your head can relax into a more natural, restful position to avoid straining the neck muscles and worsening back pain. Recliners also have built-in footrests; when your legs are elevated, it takes the pressure off your hips and lowers your back.
3. Kneeling Chairs
How about a kneeling chair? These are not too common and, at first, glance, seem uncomfortable. Some say they resemble a workout seat at the gym for lifting weights, but this design is for better posture and additional movement.
Kneeling chair positions your body to open your hips with your butt and thighs supported on cushions. Your knees and shins also have cushioned support, and this upright body position aligns your neck, shoulders and back better.
With this type of chair, your body is more engaged because it is active sitting, not like the static position of a regular chair without proper back support. This allows using your core muscles to keep your body upright and maintain a less painful posture.
These chairs are great for additional seating in a living room or for an office or game table chair. You may not want to sit in them for long periods, but to decrease back pain, they are chiropractor-recommended.
4. Living Room Chairs
Any other chairs that are used in the living room should have features that provide the following:
Proper Height
This helps keep your hips and lower back positioned correctly to keep the natural curve of your spine.
Proper Seat Depth
You don’t want your chair cutting off your circulation around your knees.
Lumbar Support
Lumbar support keeps your posture natural by filling the gap between your spine and the seat in an inward curve.
Good Headrest
This supports your neck, so no strain transfers down your back.
Setting up your living room for a person with back pain is easy when you get the right furniture. Use this as a guide to buy the best pieces to aid relief, so you have a comfortable castle to live in a while recovering from back pain.
A lumbar back support helps promote good posture by simply filling in the gap between the lumbar spine and the seat, supporting the natural inward curve of the lower back.
