Gaiam Classic Balance Ball Chair, Stability Seat (Black)

This chair is fantastic and perfect for my job. I have a herniated disc at L4/L5, which I've been dealing with for 3 years. I've tried everything for pain management with no long-term success, and I'm not a candidate for surgery, so I decided to buy this chair with the hopes that it would help strengthen my back during the day. I have a desk job, but do get up at least every hour to walk around a bit. It is so incredibly comfortable and stable! I make sure to not use the backrest and sit up very straight to get the most out of the ball. I waited to write this review about a month after I purchased. The first day, because it was so comfortable, I sat on it for nearly 6 hours and came home in pain! Don't get me wrong, this is NOT a bad thing - this is a good thing! This means it works - it does what it's supposed to do - strengthens your core and those muscles along your spine. If you're unsure, think no more - YOU MUST BUY THIS CHAIR!! When you put it together, the ball will make the whole chair look really low, and I was worried it would be too short for my desk, but it was the perfect height. My desk at work is tall, and our monitors are elevated even more - I would say you're probably safe to buy this for your desk, as I believe mine is higher than typical desks. My advice to others - 1. There are only two wheels with brakes on them - if you're like me, you roll around to different parts of your desk all day. You should put those wheels on the back, so you don't accidentally put the brakes down with your heels. 2. Pump that ball up as much as it will go! You want it to be really full and firm. 3. Start off sitting in the chair for 2-3 hours per day, then slowly move up in hour increments so you build up your muscles and don't end up hurting your back like I did! Example: Monday & Tuesday, sit for 2-3 hours. Wednesday & Thursday, sit for 3-4 hours. Friday and next Monday, sit for 4-5 hours, etc. You will not regret buying this chair. I'm so happy I did!

I purchased 3 of these for my office, 1 for me and 1 each for two other co-workers. I assembled all of the chairs. The packaging is very substantial and is well packed for easy removal and assy. The assembly was straight forward and very easy to do. I found the parts to be of good quality as well. I was nervous about pumping up the balls because I read on other reviews that some folks were receiving balls that were too small. I assembled my co-workers chairs and both of their balls were the correct size and fit nicely within the chair. However, when I assembled my own chair the ball was noticeably smaller than the other chairs and i inflated it the same amount as I did the other two balls. When inflated it did not fit snugly into the chair like it is supposed to fit. Amazon was great about immediately delivering another chair to me on the very next day and they instructed me to box up my chair and leave it outside my door for pick up- easy, no charge to me and great prompt replacement. However, the second chair I recieved the same thing occured. One co-worker decided to pump up the ball extremely more than we pumped theirs. I was reluctant as I was not sure how much pressure they can hold. This solved the issue. Apparently the smaller balls are thicker in material as well and they require much more pressure to pump to the right size. I did not realize this and I hope this helps others who have had the issue with the size of the ball portion of this chair. By the way, this chair is SO comfortable and its great for your posture. I also like that I can remove it and do ball exercises during my lunch hour, office door closed of course.

This item is just as described by Amazon. Thumbs up - there is a lightweight, plastic pump in the box to blow up the ball. It is easy enough to set up that my daughter set it up in just a few minutes by herself. The fit ball is small, not the huge exercise ball that you normally see in a fitness area. It is a bit rough, not a super smooth, shiny surface. This prevents the person seated from sliding around on the ball. The main body of the chair is a very sturdy, hollow plastic. Smooth but not shiny. The back of the chair is extremely flexible. If you were a very large person this could be a problem if you prefer to lean back or sit back on the chair. The design of the chair though encourages me to sit forward and I spend very little time resting against the back of the chair. And no, this does not seem to get uncomfortable or make me sore in any way. It is quite comfortable. The wheels are plastic and a bit small, but they do move ok on both carpet and tile. If I were to have a complaint, it is that the chair sits quite low. Some sort of height adjustment piece of two to four inches would be helpful. However, being seated at the lower height, even though you look a bit like a young child sitting at a large desk, helps to keep the person sitting in a straight, upright position rather than being stooped over the top of the desk. My height is 5' 2", so if you are taller this might not be a concern for you. I have to raise my elbows just slightly to rest them on the desk. Which, by the way, also prevents my wrists from getting sore while I type on the keyboard. My arms are straight and rest on the surface of the desk. If you are much shorter than I am, you might want 1) a shorter desk, 2) a taller chair/height extenders, 3) a bigger fit ball. Overall, the quality of the chair is good and I have noticed a lot less body aches since I am not bending over the desk so much.

I switched from a crappy office chair to a ball for a couple of weeks, but I found it impossible to move around my desk space with any sort of convenience. Additionally, in order to reach my desk, I had to sit on a ball far too big for my frame, which gave me achy hips. This Gaiam Ball Chair is the perfect blend of a chair and a ball. The wheels work well on the flat carpet in my office, and I never feel unstable during the day. I can move from one end of my long desk to the other with no difficulty at all. There's an insert that warns you the ball will seem/feel too small for the chair when you first set it up. THIS IS TRUE. Don't panic; it will stretch out with a few days' time, just as the insert claims. I'm currently at 25 hours of the chair being set up, and the ball has already stretched and relaxed to become visibly bigger. I currently have it inflated to a point that's a bit too firm for my comfort, but I expect to be able to decrease the air pressure as the ball stretches a bit more in the next few days. My butt was sore after using it the first day, but the soreness is not lasting. This is great for anyone who is a wiggler, fidgeter, or otherwise restless at their desk. Set up took me all of 10 minutes (and that's with ball inflation) and was easy to understand. No tools needed (it comes with a tiny wrench and the air pump). **8 MONTH UPDATE** I've been using this chair 5 days a week since I bought it and it's amazing. Any soreness I had disappeared after a month. The ball has stretched to a great size now and totally looks like the photo. The height is good for my desk; just today, I added more air to the ball and I realized how much bigger it could get now! If you're on the fence about this, or if you just purchased it and you're feeling some buyer's remorse, stick with it! It's so worth the time.

Gaiam refused to publish my review on their website because it shed some unfavorable light on a known issue with this item. The metal (chrome) bar that tries to help hold the ball in place atop the base is of inferior quality and breaks after a few months of gentle/careful use on either low pile carpet or bare floor. There are so many reviews about this on the Gaiam website - it is officially a "known issue". Gaiam will send you a replacement bar but there is currently a three month waiting list. The ETA for mine has been extended twice already. If Gaiam "knows" this is an issue, why have they not made improvements? I have reached out to Gaiam Customer Service a few times over the past several weeks (while waiting for my replacement bar) to find out if/when they will begin selling these chairs with an upgraded bar but have yet to receive a response (or acknowledgement) to my question. Since I have experience using an exercise ball as a chair, I still sit on this chair with the missing bar. However, a handful of times the chair has shot out from underneath me because the ball started to roll out of the base - and I use this chair at work directly atop hard wood flooring. I would highly recommend this chair for "desk jockeys" as it does encourage good posture and helps strengthen my core and lumbar regions. However, I would wait to see when/if Gaiam begins using higher quality material for the "metal" bar.

I’ve wanted a balance ball chair ever since I read a few articles praising them on Lifehacker. I already owned a cheap balance-ball, but had no base or way to really stabilize the ball. After reading endless reviews and going through the questions/answers here on Amazon, I finally decided to bite the bullet and order the Gaiam Balance Ball Chair. In the box is one chair frame (disassembled), one 52cm balance ball (deflated), a hand pump (borderline useless) and a nice, well-illustrated booklet containing exercises/stretches to use with the chair. The chair itself is a cinch to assemble – the casters simply press into the base, then the back support clicks into the base and is held in place with 2 twist-in bolts. Finally, 4 small nuts hold on the wire ball support (a little wrench is provided). All in all, assembly takes under 5 minutes. The ball is a different story – the ball needs to be at room temperature before inflating. You only want to inflate the ball about 80%, then let it acclimate and stretch for about 24 hours. Gaiam provides a small hand pump, but it’s incredibly tedious an inefficient to use. I used a bicycle pump and inflated the ball to about 42 cm (about 16.5”), then left it sitting for 24 hours. Note: By 42cm, I don’t mean the circumference of the ball. I marked off 42cm from the wall, placed the ball against the wall, and inflated until the edge of the ball touched the 42cm mark on my tape measure. After acclimating, I followed Gaiam’s directions and inflated the ball fully to 52cm (about 20.5”). The ball, being fully inflated, needed some manipulating to fit into the chair frame, but nothing too difficult. Before I purchased the ball chair, my main concern about the chair was height – I am only 5’0” tall, and was afraid that the chair would leave me sitting too low. Turns out, the opposite was true – once the fully-inflated ball was in place, I was seated up very high, and my feet did not touch the floor. Gaiam’s instructions say to inflate the ball so that the thighs and shins should be at a 90° angle to the floor. If your hips are higher than your knees, deflate the ball. Conversely, if your hips are lower than your knees, you need to inflate the ball to find that ‘sweet spot’ for your height. I ended up deflating the ball until my feet were able to touch the floor – as a result, the ball was not as firm and had more ‘give’ to it, but the ball is still quite comfortable. I have to make slight adjustments to keep myself stabilized, which activates my core. I also have to sit up straighter instead of slouching or leaning forward (as us shorter people are prone to doing). The chair’s ‘back’ isn’t really meant as a support structure; per Gaiam’s instruction booklet, it’s strictly for stability during exercises. Work your way up to using a balance ball chair – I recommend ditching your office chair and going to the balance ball chair full-time. As you become more conscious of your posture and core, you’ll be utilizing muscles previously neglected. So, work your way up to the chair – I spent a few hours in the ball chair, then a few hours in my regular office chair until I felt comfortable going ‘full-time’ with the ball chair. I do not use the ball itself for any exercises, though I do perform some of the seated stretches from the included booklet. Now, my posture is so much better, my lower-back pain is near nonexistent, and I can definitely feel a difference in how my core feels. I also don’t experience the tailbone pain that I used to have after a long day of work. For under $80, you won’t find a better chair.

Ordered this on Jan 6th 2017, probably got it on jan 9th or so and today May 25th 2017 it broke. The end of the metal bar that keeps the ball in place broke off. Holding the broken off threaded piece in my hand - this feels like the cheapest quality steel possible. My wife asked if it was really metal or some other pressure formed solid coated to look like steel. I have handled a lot of threaded bolts and nuts and this is the lightest "chuck" of a bolt I have ever seen. I have only ever sat on the chair. I have never tried to do any of the exercises that use the chair that are included in the instructions. The ball is properly inflated. While I will attempt to get a replacement part - I have no idea if this will be possible and if so is this a part that is going to need to be replaced every 5 months. Assuming I cannot get a replacement part for free, this will have cost more than $10 a month to use for only about 10 hours a week. Before it broke, I liked it ok, I was using it as a desk chair. Not a great desk chair but better than I though it might be. Perhaps if they used real "old fashioned" steel in the metal bar it would last longer than 5 months. This ends up being an expensive way to get an exercise ball, because it won't work as a chair for long. Yesterday I received the replacement metal bar (yes, it took essentially 3 months). The new bar does seem to be made of steel, it is substantially heavier and hopefully will actually last. The packing list shows 3 items shipped, but all I got was the metal bar - no nuts to hold it on. Packing slip Lists: 95-1198 Kit Comp: Circular Metal Piece BB Chair 1 ordered 1 shipped 95-1198BOLT Kit Comp: Circular Metal Piece Security Bo 2 ordered 2 shipped I went to the hardware store and got the necessary nuts to hold the bar on. But it does seem a little strange that a company that initially sent out a product that based upon all of the reviews of the metal bars breaking, knew was defective, while replacing the defective part would not send the nuts necessary to hold the bar on. They seem to be trying and not to have their act together. I did raise my review to 3 stars (from 2), but I would not see Gaiam on a product and purchase it thinking the quality was any good. Updated. 11/9/17 Tonight the ball started to deflate. Sitting on the chair at my desk I heard a hissing noise. At first I thought it was coming from the computer, no the hiss got louder and I figured out the ball was deflating. Nothing punctured the ball - it is just poor quality. Lowering review to 1 star. Gaiam quality control is very poor if the chair I got is at all representative.

I purchased this chair because I have lower back pain. I've had it now for about 6 months and find that at the end of the day my back feels much better. I don't use the ball for working out, I only use it as an office chair. It definitely takes a little while to get used to it. The first few days, my back was sore and I almost went back to my old chair. It was sore, but it didn't hurt. After about a week, I stopped noticing my back being sore. I'm pretty sure it is because my back had to build up the muscles to support my body. Which is exactly what I was hoping it would do. The chair doesn't allow you to lean on the back of a normal office type chair, therefore forcing you to use your back muscles. It doesn't force you to have perfect posture, but without the ability to lean on a backrest, it reminds me throughout the day to sit up right. After a couple of months, I do it naturally now. I realized how much the chair has helped with my back pain last week. One of my co-workers asked to try the chair out for a couple of days. My back hurt at the end of the day significantly more than it has in months. Pretty conclusive proof that this works for me. Be warned, you'll get a lot of funny looks when people first see it. Even the UPS guy laughed at me while delivering it. I don't care! It makes me feel better. The bottom line: Be prepared for a week or two of time to get used to it and build up the back muscles. I think afterward you'll thank yourself. ***UPDATE*** Almost 2 years now since I bought this chair and I still sit on it every day. Have not had lower back pain at the end of the day since a few weeks after I bought it. Still 5 stars for me!

I love this chair but takes some getting used to. Not the most comfortable for sitting for long periods but I guess that must be the point to get up and walk around and not sit for too long.

Tengo una semana usando la silla en mi home office, si bien no son 8 horas al día al menos si son 4 y la verdad es la silla más comoda que he sentido en casa. Hace algun tiempo intente usar solo una pelota para sentarme y no me era tan comodo porque era difícil mantener la estabilidad. En esta silla tengo los beneficios de forzar tener una buena postura y a la vez no tengo problema con la estabilidad. Me encanta

仕事中は、ずっとこの椅子です。足腰が痛くなくとても良い感じです。他の椅子に座れません。

Es súper cómoda si tienes dolor de coxis, sin embargo como el respaldo es muy bajo, no me mantiene la espalda recta. Combino el uso de esta silla con la tradicional y mi coxis dejó de doler

La verdad la idea esta padre, no? pero en la ejecución real luego de más de 6 meses de uso te digo esto. Dejar la pelota montada en su base es aburrido, o lo fue para mi y fue un error sacarla porque creció jajaja ahora ya no cabe en la base, es decir el hule dió de si. Mi sugerencia es que en vez de pagar lo que piden por esta cosa, busca una pelota lo mas grande que te sea posible con base a tu altura y peso y usala como tal. Creeme que yo disfrute mas la silla como pelota que como silla pues no solo mejora postura sino que fortalece piernas para mantener el equilibrio y si te gusta la pelota que dicho sea de paso te saldrá menos de 1/3 parte del precio de esta cosa tal vez te des cuenta de que no necesitas la silla. Son ese tipo de cosas que cuando pasa la novedad la gente deja de usarla. Yo ahora mismo la tengo como pelota, la base me estorba y tengo una silla de malla imitacion herman miller que tiene excelente duración y ergonomia. Me costó mucho más pero llega un momento en que la requieres si tu trabajo requeire como el mio pasar horas frente a computador. Mejor inversion es un standup desktop con distintas cosas para sentarte y disfrutar mas que una sola opcion.