You may want to see someone about the back pain before ditching the chair. The yoga ball can be effective with stability and strength but a lot of people still sit in a slouched position while on it. You really have to pay attention to how you are sitting and depending on your work space a ball may not be practical. Hope that helped.

If you can, first get an ergonomic evaluation (the risk management department at my workplace paid for it). That made a tremendous difference for me, I just had no idea that my chair and monitor were so far out of whack from what the should have been (in fact, when they adjusted me, I thought they were crazy - the monitor was now way too close - but they were right, this works much better for me). Second, it's important to note that the yoga ball chairs (and I do love mine) are NOT meant to be sat on for an entire work day - more like 4 hours. So if you get one, I would recommend either switching every couple of hours, or switch chairs after lunch.

Exercise ball sitting does not help. An exercise ball chair (ball sat in a frame on rollers) I owned made my lower back problems WORSE and I am in shape and athletic, with good core muscles. I have herniated disc at L4-5, sciatica severely (hurt myself exercising) I've had epidurals, physical therapy, chiropractor, acupunction, tried everything for years; will have surgery this spring. BUT, sitting and exercsing on the ball did not help and hurt me more, and I purchased it because was said it was the best to sit on for my problem, but it was not. What I sit on now is called a "bungee office chair". It has elatisized bands, make sure you get one with a low back. BEST thing I have sat on with my chronic pain. Good luck.

I have been sitting on a yoga ball instead of a chair for two years now. Both during my 8 hour work day and at home on the computer. I would never go back to a chair! I have no back injuries (knock wood) and went to the ball because my new job two years ago put me at a desk the majorty of the time. I was feeling the chair in my back muscles (note my prevous job was safety and ergonomics). When switching to the ball it is important to not just start for 8 hours. I worked up to 8 hours over about a month alternating between the chair and ball. I can tell a huge difference. No back pain, stronger back, better balance, and the micro adjustments you make during the day is great for circulation. When I initally ordered I got a ball with a "base" to help keep it from rolling. I quickly realized that that was counter productive (see the micro adjustment comment above) and ditched the base. Now just the ball on the floor.