How a chair and an 8-bit bug almost broke my back
Like anyone else during the COVID-19 pandemic, I had to create an impromptu home office for myself, so I borrowed this chair pictured on the right from my parents to use. To my untrained eye at the time, it was a serviceable chair, since I only used my office for work or continuing ed courses maybe 1-2 hours a day. Most of the rest of the time I would work as an occupational therapist at a nursing home. Or, I would mainly play my games on my Switch or PS4 on the TV.
This weak bug specifically
Until I decided to start an odd, self-imposed video game challenge in early 2021. Inspired by the likes of SmallAnt, Alpharad, and MahDryBread, I wanted to put a twist into a playthrough of one of my favorite gaming series, Pokémon: to beat the game damageless with one of the weakest monsters in the game. And to make that into a video (which, mind you, I’ve never done before).
I was no stranger to long hours of gaming, but it is a very different experience while trying to film yourself and your gameplay. Wanting to accomplish as much as possible within a session, keeping yourself presentable and poised, just to name a couple things that I normally wouldn’t consider just playing casually on my couch or bed. Especially in the chair that I was in.
When I first started the challenge, I could handle 3-4 hours of game-filming per session, no problem. But then my lower back started to ache about 30 hours into the challenge…which I thought I could simply resolve with a bed pillow.
I was wrong.
My back started screaming at me. Just 2 hours in one session. Then 1 hour in the next. Then not even 30 minutes into the following session, I had to stop filming because the pain was excruciating. So excruciating, that I had to lie on my back the entire following day, using pain-relieving patches and massages before it felt better. I essentially lost 16 hours of work to bedrest and pain.
I reexamined the chair with my recently acquired ergonomics knowledge and noted a couple things: 1. the lumbar support is practically nonexistent; and 2. I was basically sitting on a fabric-covered metal frame. The lumbar curve of my spine and surrounding muscles were working excessively to support my lower extremities and to maintain my position, so it was no wonder I was in pain.
Luckily for me, one of my mentors in ergonomics informed me of an upcoming sale for various ergonomic products, including a fantastic chair brand, Office Master…one month later. Since I didn’t stand to gain anything from continuing my passion project other than more pain, I opted to put the challenge on hold, focusing on my day job until I got the chair.
The wait was well worth it, my new Office Master chair’s cushion and lumbar support was like night and day compared to my old chair. And nearly 70 hours later, I completed my seemingly impossible challenge, and another 60+ hours of editing later, I uploaded my video onto YouTube in July 2022. Which, I (and my back) would greatly appreciate if you watched!
I never edited before, so that’s why it took me over a year to complete…I have gained much more respect for all editors, especially for content creators, after this endeavor.
I just did this for fun. I can’t imagine how editors are able to produce, frankly, much higher quality content with shorter deadlines, their paychecks on the line, and the constant worrying of the unfathomable YouTube algorithms.
A lot of people in this position won’t have the luxury of waiting to get a new chair: they have to keep working, but also potentially sacrifice their health to pay the bills. The wrong chair, and the wrong setup, can have devastating consequences, such as cumulative musculoskeletal injuries and burnout, leading to greater losses of productivity and profitability in the form of increased sick days and, for Americans, exorbitant medical bills.
This is one of the factors that ignited my passion for ergonomics, I want to help people by using my own experience as an example. If you feel like this story resonated with you, or you know someone in this position, contact me for a free initial consultation so I can see how I can help you!