No matter how great our fitness level a basic fact of the modern condition is that we live in a right-angled world. Sitting for prolonged periods of time is stressful on the back. The seated posture segments the body into top and bottom halves, restricts the natural mobility of the lumbar spine, and can set you up for low back pain. If you tend to sit a lot one helpful solution is to get a Gymnic ball and use it as an ad hoc alternative to the regular office chair. Use it for a portion of every hour to regain mobility in your lumbars, sacro-iliac, hips. You can rock and roll, make little circles, figure eights, bounce up and down while seated and even get a couple nice back stretches in. And no it wont distract you from your work anywhere near as much as the discomfort of being glued to that other "ergonomic" right-angle backed chair for hours on end. To get the right size ball measure your current seating height and buy one approximately similar. Make sure that that your feet can press strongly into the floor and that the angle between your lap and torso can be maintained at or greater than 90 degrees.
