The Back-Huggar® lumbar support cushion was designed by a chiropractor, Dr. John Fiore, to provide therapeutic back-hugging support for his patients. Dr. John, as he was known, discovered that his low-back pain patients were often undoing the benefits of their spinal adjustment when they sat in the car on the way home, thanks to poor posture and a lack of lumbar support in their vehicles.
Dr. John spent many hours with a knife and a block of foam, fashioning a two-plane prototype for a lumbar support cushion that would provide lateral and vertical back support to relieve low-back disc pressure. The resulting design was named the Back-Huggar, and it was truly the first of its kind. Since then, more than three million Back-Huggars have been sold to people who want to alleviate low-back pain and fatigue, often at the recommendation of their chiropractor.
A recent Canadian clinical trial¹ determined that there is a positive correlation between use of a lumbar support pillow on lumbar posture and comfort during a prolonged seated task. The purpose of the clinical trial was to determine whether a lumbar support pillow (e.g., a Back-Huggar) is more effective than a standard chair in promoting a neutral spinal posture and improving subjective and objective measures of comfort in healthy individuals and patients with low back pain.
In this study, participants sat for 30 minutes in a regular chair with vertical (90°) back support and for 30 minutes in the chair with a lumbar support pillow² while watching a video on a computer screen placed directly in front of them in the mid-sagittal plane.
Similar to previous studies investigating healthy individuals, the results of this study indicated that “a lumbar support pad was better at increasing (or preserving) the natural lumbar lordosis in sitting in both healthy individuals and patients with low-back pain.”
The significance of this health impact is important when considering the amount of time many workers spend sitting at a desk. The study researchers cited Canadian statistics that back injuries make up 28.8% of the lost-time claims and 7.0% occur in clerical jobs. The result of the musculoskeletal conditions is a reduction in work attendance and performance. For instance, 19% of those with low-back pain lose 6.2 hours of work per month and those with severe pain lose 8.2 hours of work per month.
Figures in the United States are just as staggering. The Spine Research Institute at The Ohio State University quotes a report³ by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons that states: “In 2004, 25.9 million persons lost an average of 7.2 days of work due to back pain — a total of 186.7 million work days lost that year.”
One of the simplest steps someone experiencing low-back pain — or a healthy person wanting to avoid back injury– can take is to use a Back-Huggar lumbar support cushion whenever they are seated, whether at work, at home, or in the car.
The Back-Huggar is available in five different styles; one is sure to suit your individual needs and uses. Choose from:
- Standard. Our most popular style! The original design providing therapeutic back-hugging support in auto bench seats and straight-back chairs.
- Extra-Wide. This Back-Huggar style provides therapeutic back-hugging support for wider backs or those who enjoy a slightly looser fit at the side. It’s 2 ½ inches wider than the Standard Back-Huggar.
- Bucket Seat (Thin). Beveled in back of the side panels to provide therapeutic back-hugging support in contoured auto bucket seats and curved-back chairs. This is the most popular Bucket Seat style.
- Bucket Seat (Thick). Slightly beveled in back of the side panels to provide therapeutic back-hugging support in auto bucket seats and curved-back chairs with less contour.
- Secretary. Exactly the same design as the standard Back-Huggar, providing therapeutic low-back support in open-back chairs using a unique crisscrossing elastic strap configuration to secure the Back-Huggar to the back of the chair.
Back-Huggar Features
- Measures 13″ x 14″ x 4.5″ (The Extra-Wide style is 13” x 16.5” x 4.5”)
- Weighs 16 ounces
- Relieves low-back disc pressure, reducing pain and fatigue
- Unique shape supports laterally and vertically
- Actually improves posture while sitting
- Relaxing comfort at home, at work, or in your car
- One-piece, molded polyurethane foam
- Luxurious hand-sewn, zippered cover
- Individually shrink-packaged in sanitary cellophane
- Attractive loops for optional elastic-securing strap
- Colors available are Blue, Gray, Beige, Black, and Green
- Mix and match colors and styles and still receive greatest quantity discount
Citations
¹The clinical trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT00754585). Data were collected in the Biomechanics and Elastography laboratory at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (CMCC).
² Grondin DE, Triano JJ, Tran S, Soave D. The effect of a lumbar support pillow on lumbar posture and comfort during a prolonged seated task. Chiropractic & Manual Therapies. 2013;21:21. doi:10.1186/2045-709X-21-21. The lumbar support pillow used in this study had a cut-out for the posterior pelvic tissues. URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3766244/.
3 Addressing The High Corporate Costs of Back Pain (and other MSDs). Spine Research Institute at The Ohio State University, August 15, 2014. URL: https://spine.osu.edu/blog/2014/08/addressing-high-corporate-costs-back-pain-and-other-msds