piepatch

A good laugh is good for the soul! And besides, if your tongue follows your FMQ pattern, it just shows you are in the mode!

mpspeedy

I purchased a good office chair form Staples on sale of course. I sew with my left foot because my Bernina has a knee bar that you operate with your right leg. I put a plastic box on the floor that I rest my right foot on. It is the same height as my foot pedal so my feet are always even. The best thing for stopping the crouching over the machine is a tilt table. If you don't want to spend the money for one put two doorstops under the back of your machine. It takes a few minutes to get used to but then you will not be able to sew without it. I acatually tend to lean backwards when I am machine quilting my many Linus quilts. The same when I am on the computer like now. Maybe it has something to do with wearing bifocals.

fatqtrjunkie

I too, was suffering from back pain. Since it was intermittent it took me a while to figure out it was from sewing. Does your chair have wheels? My chair has wheels and when I had carpet I had no problem, since I moved to a new sewing room with wood floors when I sew the motion of stepping down on the foot pedal would push my chair back ever so slowly and minutely that it took me a long time to realize it. I now use a wheel-less chair with the rubber disk mentioned in another post. Now if I can just stop hunching my shoulders......

dgmoby

Yes...I admit! It is rather funny :)

Off topic: I once worked with a very pretty woman who moaned, LOUDLY, when eating! It was almost obscene at company pizza lunches in the conference rooms...you can imagine what that moaning sounded like! Still makes me laugh to this day :) (FYI - She said it was so embarrassing! Dr. said it was an involuntary response of vocal chords. She was so pretty, and to hear her moaning while chewing...well - you can just imagine the reactions! She said she didn't even know she was doing it until she realized people were starring at her! Can you imagine?!?)

And now you...I'll think about this every time I freemotion quilt...and it'll make me smile too!

Too funny :)
Debbie in Austin

plainpat

Could it be time to switch to other foot again? One reason my iron is in the kitchen is because it forces me to move often.I keep it sitting on the stove,(next to counter space I use) just in case I'd forget to turn it off. Hasn't happened yet.....but always a 1st time.

plainpat

Not me....I use a laptop beside my Lazy Boy chair....sooo comfy. Too much so, as told by amt of time I spend on line :-)

I wonder how many of us have back aches due to hunching over our computer keyboards?[/quote]

Good question. I do get back aches from hunching over my computer. I catch myself slouching, for like of a better word over my computer with very poor posture, probably more so than at anything else I do. I can imagine that there are a lot of people doing the same thing.[/quote]

steelecg

great idea - I thik I will post these by my chair to remember to do them

plainpat

Rice bags are so easy to make....it's basically a cloth bag 3/4ths full of rice.Lots of info on line....just google for info.
Have had mine for around 10 yrs...heat one min in micro & there you go.

sewgray

One thing that helped my back is centering your chair in front of the needle, not the machine.

Spice

I found that by using a book under my left foot he same height as the presure foot it keeps my spine straight and helps prevent back pain. When we use only one foot we tend to lean toward the other one and that can throw off your alignment. Hope this helps. I found an old phone book works fine. A hunk of wood the right thickness would also work.