Customer: What’s the best angle to sit at to prevent back pain?
C.C. (Colm Campbell): It depends on what you are doing. An office chair would be at five degrees back from the vertical (95 degrees) because it’s a working chair. I wouldn’t make you a chair for the home at this rake. It’s too upright. The tendency would be for you to slump forward into the dreaded C position. The average home chair would be 10 degrees back from the vertical (100 degrees). There are exceptions of course. I recently made an office chair for a Professor of Anatomy. She can only sit without pain when the rake is at 85 (five degrees forward of the vertical).



What’s the best chair for someone with neck pain?
Customer: What chair do you recommend for my neck pain?
C.C. (Colm Campbell): The best type of chair, particularly for you with a neck problem, is a recliner. It’s really three chairs in one. You probably sit upright then, like the majority of men, after a period of time you get uneasy and start shifting from one buttock to the next until eventually your bottom moves forward in the seat and away from any support in your lumbar spine. This position puts great stress on your neck.
C.C.: I’ve been observing this for many years. Most women can sit for several hours at a time without moving. Men start fidgeting about after a much shorter period.
Customer: Why?
C.C.: I think women have better designed undercarriages. Anyway, when you get the squirming urge, in a recliner you just simply tilt the chair back. This relieves the uneasy feeling by transferring pressure to a different part of your body. And so on.
Customer: Yeah. But hang on. By doing this isn’t the S tilted to a different angle?