About 2 years or so ago I stumbled upon BackJoy online and was tempted to see if it could help eliminate the knots in my back. In the end I wrote it off as some kind of ploy to steal my money, because I’m deeply suspicious of health claims online. But about a month or so ago I was contacted via this blog to see if I wanted to review one. Um…. yes please! So I was sent the BackJoy Posture+.

It is kind of weird to sit on it at first, I’m not going to lie. I was worried that I wasn’t using it right, since all of the literature says you “sit on it” and don’t “sit in it” – but I can’t entirely tell the difference with those statements, because I feel like when I’m sitting on it, I’m sitting in it as well.

You’ll notice it has a handy-dandy little handle on there, so you can take it with you anywhere. In the car, to the office, to a game, on a plane, etc. I think I’d feel goofy carrying it around with me everywhere. So here’s where it lives…

In my desk chair. And I work out of my home office, so I never had to carry it to work and have co-workers asking about it as I sit on it and tug it into place. However, after using it a while I would find it worthwhile to keep in the office.

When sitting in it, my hips don’t feel as tight and my spine feels less compressed. It’s an actually noticeable change in the spine feeling, going from sitting in it to sitting without. And it feels kind of weird in my desk chair, since the seat kind of gives. But then I tried putting the BackJoy on the hard floor and sitting on it and that felt even weirder. It’s all explained in the video… I guess the hard floor really amplified the improvement and my body is used to schlumping in my desk chair?

Watch this Video:

BTW – Do you like my desk chair? When we were ordering them as a department a few years ago, we could choose our colors. So I chose a different color for almost every part, thus the blue back and green seat. This was to make sure that nobody tried to steal MY chair. Of course, I worked in a department full of men and they didn’t care about customizing anything. “Just give me gray.” But this worked to my advantage as well, since none of them wanted to sit in my weird multi-color chair.

Part of receiving the BackJoy, I got to interview  Dr. James Rouse; “a naturopathic doctor, who is an expert in functional and lifestyle medicine as well as a certified yoga instructor and author. Dr. James is an avid educator in his field as a member of the faculty of the Institute of Functional Medicine. Dr. James is best known for his highly engaging “Optimum Wellness” TV segments that highlight all areas of a wellness lifestyle, balancing mind, body, and spirit. He is the author of 9 books, including the award-winning cookbook, Colorado Fit Kitchen.” He uses the BackJoy and recommends it to his patients. Here’s what he had to say:

Why do you use Backjoy and why do you recommend it to patients?

I use BackJoy because both clinically and personally I have seen the positive results that healthy and positive posture can create in pain reduction, productivity, creativity and in the overall improvement in quality of life for myself and my patients.

How do you see the use of this influencing a person’s posture in the long run?

I see that when someone begins to use BackJoy products they notice an immediate positive difference in how much better they feel. They really notice how they feel when they do not use BackJoy and then they never want to be without its support. They become wonderfully attached to better posture and its support of a better quality of life.

I’m a runner, what arguments do you have for runners on the importance of improving posture?

Runners have a more pressing need to support their posture as running can be tough on posture and overall joint health. BackJoy enables runners to gain recovery and increased support measures in-between running sessions. Lower back pain and discomfort is common with runners – posture support from BackJoy can help with improving the way you sit, recover and run again.

Thank you to BackJoy for letting me try this out and I’m looking forward to sitting on/in it for the future to see if it helps my chronically knotted back. (In addition to electrocuting the knots!)