Most chairs invite you to disappear. You sit, you lean back, you soften, and slowly your body gives up its shape.

Your pelvis rolls under. Your low back flattens. Your shoulders drift forward.

By the end of the day, you are no longer upright. You are folded into the furniture.

The NuChair interrupts that quiet slide. It does not try to rescue a collapsing spine with a thicker lumbar pad.

The adjustable seat angles forward. The front support subtly engages you. Your hips tip into a more neutral position and, almost automatically, the lumbar curve returns.

The spine stacks. You feel taller without straining. It removes the option to slump comfortably.

After the first three days of using it, I found myself feeling taller when I was standing in line to order at my favorite coffee shop.

As a chiropractor, that distinction matters. The pelvis is the base of the structure. When it tucks under, everything above it compensates.

I see it every day… Rounded shoulders. Forward head posture. Chronic tension that people blame on stress or screens or age.

Most chairs quietly accommodate that pattern. This one challenges it.

The first time patients sit in it in my office, there’s a pause. They look down at the angled seat. They shift. Then they say something like, “This is different.”

A few seconds later comes the surprise. “Wow. This is actually really comfortable.”

They settle into it, test the angle again, then sit a little taller without realizing they just adjusted themselves.

On the very first day of using it in my office, conversations started to drift. We’d begin talking about their neck or headaches and suddenly we are deep into a discussion about the chair.

Novelty opens the door. Experience seals it.

I’ve started using the NuChair as my dedicated scanning chair for patients receiving thermal imaging. For those scans, posture has to be upright, relaxed, and repeatable.

A traditional office chair introduces too much variability. Patients lean back differently. They slump. They fidget. With the NuChair, they naturally settle into a tall, stacked position.

The scans are more consistent. The data is cleaner. When something improves reliability in a clinical setting, it earns credibility quickly.

Professionally, this chair could make sense for orthodontists and periodontists. They lean forward for hours, focused on millimeters.

Dentists, hygienists, estheticians, nail techs, and tattoo artists, live in that forward zone. Even desk workers who start the day sitting back eventually find themselves perched at the edge of their seat, pulled toward the screen by concentration.

The NuChair simply formalizes that engaged posture and supports it correctly.

Here’s what most people notice in the first few days: You do not sit in this chair for eight hours on day one and forget about it.

There is an adjustment period. You will experiment with the angle, height, and front support. And your back muscles may fatigue at first.

That is not a flaw. It is feedback.

If your stabilizing muscles have been underused for years, waking them up feels unfamiliar.

When I began using the NuChair, I noticed that engagement almost immediately. After 20 minutes, I could feel muscles working differently. It took about three days before everything settled in and felt natural.

After that, upright sitting no longer felt like effort. It felt like default.

That early fatigue was reassuring. It signaled active support rather than passive bracing.

The aim of this chair is to encourage better neuromuscular patterns over time.

Subtle repetition. Daily reinforcement. Small corrections that accumulate.

The build quality reflects that seriousness. The frame feels stable. The mechanisms move smoothly. The seat structure prevents forward drift so you are not constantly compensating with your legs.

It does not feel like a gimmick or a posture experiment. It feels intentional.

Compared with traditional ergonomic chairs that emphasize plush cushioning and recline mechanics, the difference is philosophical.

Those chairs excel when you lean back. The NuChair excels when you lean in.

If you are someone who values lounge-like softness, this may not be your chair. If you are unwilling to go through a short adaptation window, it may feel demanding.

But if you care about how you sit during the hours that shape your body, this chair changes the environment in a meaningful way.

Posture is not about willpower. It is about systems. When the system changes, behavior follows.

NuChair alters the geometry of sitting so that upright becomes easier.

For forward-focused professionals and even for patients in my office, that geometry makes a difference.

And sometimes the most persuasive shift is not a lecture or a reminder to sit up straight. It is a chair that quietly makes the right position feel natural.

You can remind yourself to sit up straight a hundred times a day. Or you can change the environment once. I prefer the second approach.

Disclosure: The company provided this chair for evaluation. I was not paid for this review.

You stretched yesterday. You moved. You even got to bed on time.
So why do you feel like you lost the night instead of rested through it?

It might be your mattress.

The Question I Hear All the Time

As a chiropractor, I’ve been asked just about everything… pillows, posture, office chairs, supplements. But the most common question by far?

“What kind of mattress should I be sleeping on?”

For years, I gave patients a safe, generic answer:
“Find something medium-firm, supportive, and resistant to sagging.”

It’s not bad advice. But it isn’t specific.

Part of the problem is that everyone’s needs and budgets are different. Some people are looking for a mattress under $500. Others will spend $10,000+ without blinking. Recommending a single model has always felt tricky…

That changed when I became the one waking up sore.

My Own Wake-Up Call

Out of nowhere, I started feeling stiff in the morning… hamstrings, shoulders, low back. I knew how to treat it during the day, but my recovery at night was off. I chalked it up to stress. Or age. But eventually, I had to ask myself the same question my patients ask me:

Could it be the mattress?

Digging Into The Details

I wanted real answers, not guesses. So I dove in.

I read every detailed mattress review I could find. Watched hours of YouTube comparisons. Dug through hundreds of customer reviews, filtering out the obvious fake ones.

I reached out to my professional network (over 1,200 chiropractors) to ask what they were using in their own homes. I kept notes, built a spreadsheet, compared construction materials, company policies, and build quality. I even examined patent filings.

Then I hit the stores.

I tried over 50 mattresses in person, ranging from $500 budget beds to $70,000 ultra-luxury builds. What I found surprised me. Many of the most popular mattresses were vacuum-sealed, boxed, and stored in warehouses for months before they ever reached a customer. That works fine for kitchen gadgets and gym shoes, but not for spinal alignment.

Eventually, one brand stood out (for all the right reasons).

The Brand That Got It Right

The mattress I chose is from a company called Saatva (a Sanskrit word meaning purity and balance). It wasn’t just the feel… it was how the design aligned with what I’ve learned in over 22 years of clinical practice.

Here’s what mattered to me:

Reinforced Lumbar Support

Most mattresses collapse in the middle over time, which lets your hips sink and your spine bow. This one has a firm, reinforced center third that holds you level so your spine stays neutral all night.

Built-In Spinal Wire

There’s a steel wire embedded in the lumbar zone. It’s not a gimmick; it’s real structure. It keeps the center supported without making the whole bed stiff.

Zoned Latex

Five zones of natural latex give firmer support under your core and softer relief under shoulders and legs. That helps with pressure, circulation, and overall joint comfort.

Euro Top That Holds Its Shape

It’s plush without being puffy. You sink in just enough for comfort, but not so much that your posture suffers. That’s a hard balance to get right, but this mattress nails it.

Heavy-Duty Coil Base

Tempered steel coils give the mattress lasting structure and stability. They reduce motion transfer and don’t develop soft spots over time.

Clean, Safe Materials

Organic cotton cover. Certified-safe foams. No fiberglass. No chemical off-gassing. No weird smell. Just clean sleep.

Made to Order

This part matters more than most people realize. The mattress is made after you order. It’s not mass-produced and shrink-wrapped in a humid warehouse. It shows up full-size, delivered and set up in your home. No boxes. No waiting days for it to “inflate.”

What Changed for Me

After the first few nights, the soreness was gone. I stopped tossing to find a better position. I stopped waking up multiple times a night. My body felt like it could finally settle.

The improvement wasn’t subtle.
My recovery during the day improved.
My energy was better.
And the sleep metrics I track on my Apple Watch (heart rate, deep sleep, respiratory rate) confirmed it. This wasn’t placebo. It was measurable.

What I Tell Patients Now

I no longer say “medium-firm” or “just avoid sagging.” I explain what I use, why it works, and what to look for if they’re shopping on their own.

Because here’s the truth:
If your mattress isn’t supporting your spine, it’s working against it.
And no amount of chiropractic care, stretching, or supplements will undo eight hours of poor alignment every night.

Sleep posture matters just as much as work posture.
Your recovery depends on it.

Final Thought

This isn’t about hype or luxury. You don’t need the most expensive bed. You need the right one. The one that actually helps your body heal while you sleep.

For me, that was the Saatva HD.

For you?
Start by asking the better question:

Is your mattress helping you recover, or quietly making everything harder?

If you’re looking for the best mattress of 2025, start here.

There’s no shortage of deadlifting videos on YouTube and Instragram, but this one does a very good job of explaining and demonstrating the movement safely and properly.

I think that most people quickly associate the cause of their pain with whatever they were doing the moment it started.

A 60-year-old man grips his chest and collapses to the floor while eating onion rings. Did that one batch of onion rings cause his heart attack?

A 45-year-old woman herniates a disc while lifting a new bag of dog food from her trunk. Did lifting this particular brand cause her back problem?

While these events precipitated two very unpleasant health problems, it’s a mistake to consider them causal. Instead, a habit of eating poorly usually causes the heart attack… and a history of wear-and-tear on the spine allows for herniation of the disc.

Habits create outcomes. Don’t blame it on the onion rings.

I just finished reading a terrific book by Scott Adams (creator of Dilbert). I’ve always been a fan of Scott’s, and am surprised it took me so long to read his life story. It’s titled, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big.

He discusses a variety of valuable life topics that can benefit almost anyone. One part in particular covered the “system” mindset of healthy eating. (He goes much deeper into the difference between systems and goals, and stresses the importance of not having goals).

Very briefly, he mentioned a nutritious homemade meal that he eats a few days per week for lunch. It consists of brown rice, quinoa, edamame, and carrots. Even though I never really eat quinoa or edamame, the meal intrigued me, so I decided to give it a try.

Since it’s not a cookbook, he didn’t offer a step by step recipe. This prompted me to rely on a quick Google search to find something similar to use as a framework.

With a few minor tweaks for flavor,  I can tell you that this is a simple meal that I now intend on making regularly.

Here’s the basic recipe…

• 1 cup of brown rice (here’s the kind I happened to have on hand)
• 1 cup of red quinoa (from Trader Joe’s)
• One tray of cooked edamame (also from Trader Joe’s)
• 1 heaping cup of shredded carrots
• Chopped green onions
• Minced garlic

Separately cook the rice and quinoa (for simplicity I actually pondered whether or not I could cook them together, but decided against it).

Once they’re finished, toss them both into a large mixing bowl and add the edamame, carrots, green onion, and garlic. Stir it all together.

I added a few splashes of soy sauce, rice vinegar, fish sauce (first time I’ve ever used it), and sesame oil for flavor.

If Scott Adams happens to stumble across this article, please accept my apologies for butchering your actual recipe. I welcome all corrections (and mockery if yours is much better).

But my “chiropractic eye” noticed that one question was left unanswered… What’s the best type of chair for podcasting? 

Sound quality is certainly the most important thing to focus on while preparing your recording setup, but don’t neglect personal comfort. So put away the folding chairs, and invest in something that’s comfortable and ergonomic, while fostering great conversation between you and your guests/co-hosts.

The Best Podcasting Chair

If you’re going to be sitting down for several hours at a time, use an intelligently designed chair that promotes healthy posture and doesn’t induce back or neck pain.

I recommend the Capisco Chair (cuh-pee-scoe) by HAG. It has a saddle-shaped seat that improves blood flow to the legs, with adjustable height and horizontal depth.

It eschews conventional armrests, allowing you to be more closely oriented to your desk surface. This can be particularly helpful when you’re engaged in compelling conversation.

Another feature that makes this chair particularly useful for podcasters is the minimalist backrest. If your podcast happens to be recorded on video and streamed online, the backrest doesn’t stick out from the sides in a bulky or unsightly way.

If desired, you can also spin the chair around and sit on it backwards with your chest against the “backrest” (see video below).

And it just so happens that as of September 2017, this is the type of chair that Joe Rogan has chosen to use on the Joe Rogan Experience. So take it from a guy who sits down to interview guests for several hours a day, multiple times per week — this is the best chair for podcasting.

Of note, you might notice two different models: the Capisco and Capisco Puls. The Puls model is the cheaper and more minimalist version. It doesn’t have the same level of padding as the original Capisco. Apart from this, the chairs have identical functions.

Here’s a video promo of the chair in action:

Best Budget Chairs for Podcasting

I’ve always been a fan of the Herman Miller Aeron chair for conventional workplace desks. It offers tremendous postural benefits if you work at a desk all day. But not everyone has a $900+ office chair budget…

That’s why you might find the Argomax Ergonomic Chair appealing. It’s quite similar in functionality to the Aeron chair, and only costs $229.

Another option, particularly if you want the same type of seat that’s on the Capisco, is this BetterPosture Saddle Chair. It’s $199, and eliminates slouching by promoting upright spinal posture.

So if you’re thinking about starting your own podcast, or enhancing the podcast setup you’re currently using, I hope this article helps you choose ergonomic podcasting chairs for both you and your guests.

It’s about a research project underway at DARPA (a top-secret organization known for creating military technology). They’re experimenting with electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve, and how it can be used to help soldiers rapidly learn foreign languages.

Sounds pretty neat, but there are still a lot of questions that the project must answer. For example, should the nerve be “zapped” before learning something, during a study session, or after? What strength should the electrical impulse be, and what other parts of the body are affected by this type of stimulus?

It’s some intriguing research that will begin human trials later this year.

Why is a Neuroanatomy Researcher Sharing This News With a Chiropractor?

As an expert on neurological structures, he’s keenly aware of how specific adjustments to the upper neck can impact the nervous system, and in this case, the vagus nerve.

Every patient who receives care in my office has heard the following explanation before their first atlas adjustment:

“You might feel a bit of warmth behind the ear, or some gurgling sounds in your stomach as if you’re hungry. You may also notice yourself taking deeper breaths.”

These are common sensations that patients can experience after the procedure. They’re noticeable indicators of vagus nerve stimulation.

Now, if government scientists are intrigued by what the vagus nerve can do when amplified with electricity, what effects could it have when it’s more passively stimulated during a chiropractic adjustment? Could it improve one’s mood, focus, or general disposition?

According to this study, vagal nerve stimulus has been researched for the past 25 years. Studies have demonstrated positive changes in cognition amongst those with Alzheimer’s, as well as those suffering from epilepsy and depression… So it’s not impossible to reason that chiropractic adjustments could lead to favorable changes in overall brain function.

If/when DARPA publishes their research results, I look forward to the reading their findings. In the mean time, I encourage you to experience for yourself the benefits of chiropractic care.

The effects of stress within any career shouldn’t be downplayed or ignored, however.

According to WebMD:

• 43% of all adults suffer adverse health effects from stress.
• 75-90% of all doctor’s office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints.

We all have stress; it’s an inescapable issue that costs the American work industry $300 billion dollars per year. But how we adapt to this stress determines how much or how little it impacts our health and wellbeing.

Teaching: A common job with an uncommon level of stress…

Conspicuously absent from the list mentioned above is a common job with an uncommon level of stress – teaching. While they’re not really ever in harm’s way, I believe that teachers have a unique set of demands that inevitably impacts their nerve system in beyond average ways.

The data I’m using to form this opinion stems from an assessment of my practice population. It was determined that 77.8% of established patients held their spinal corrections for an average of 2-6 months.

What I found interesting about this statistic was that many teachers seemed to buck the trend. More specifically, elementary and high school teachers. The holding time for this group was on the lower end of that scale, at 1-3 months.

Further evidence, albeit anecdotal, revealed that teachers needed to be adjusted less often during summer vacation. In other words, they typically were adjusted most often during the 9-month school year, and seldom needed adjustments during the 3-month break they have each summer.

From a chiropractic perspective, it’s clear to me that there’s something exceedingly stressful about the vocation of teaching.

What makes the job so stressful? Consider the demands…

First, they have to build a connection with a new group of students every year/semester. This is not an easy skill, individually or collectively. It takes tremendous emotional effort to bond and establish trust with one student, let alone dozens.

Then there’s the constant need to convey enthusiasm for subject material that they’ve gone over hundreds of times. Personally, I lose excitement about my favorite movies after seeing them twice.

How about having to juggle so many different types of learning needs? One section of the class is exceptional, needing unique subject material to keep them mentally stimulated and growing. Another section struggles to grasp basic concepts. Then there’s the group in the middle who could go either way, and need constant encouragement for participation, and chronic reminders that good school work matters. Oh, and then there are the troublemakers who seem to enjoy ruining the whole learning experience for others.

Outside of that, there’s an obligation to handle all of these kids’ parents – an equally diverse melting pot of personalities and world views. Can you imagine how difficult it must be to communicate with some of those people on a regular basis? Ugh.

What it all boils down to…

From my perspective as a chiropractor, teachers give so much of themselves to the job — emotionally, physically, and mentally — that it taxes their nerve system in a way that forces them to process a relentless barrage of stressors day after day, week after week, for 9-months at a time.

So if you’re a teacher, know that there are advantages to chiropractic care that can help you adapt to the unrelenting stress you’re exposed to, and that having a chiropractor as part of your healthcare team can be incredibly beneficial.

I’ve listed some of these stressors below, with recommendations for how to reduce the toll they take on our bodies.

1) Carrying Luggage

It starts with lugging a suitcase or duffle bag that weighs 15-30 lbs from your bedroom to the front door. From the front door to the car. From the car to the airport check-in area. If it’s a carry-on, you have to hoist it up onto the conveyor belt to be scanned by the TSA. From there, it gets wheeled or carried to the gate, forcing one arm/shoulder to do all the work. At the gate, you have to bring it over to the line where you wait to board. Then there’s the long walk from the terminal, down the jetway to the entrance of the plane. Next, you have to carefully maneuver down the narrow aisle until you find your seat, where you hoist it up into the overhead cabin, or scrunch down and push it underneath the seat in front of you.

After you land, you essentially have to do all that again in reverse. And then again two more times for the trip home. Since most people aren’t terribly concerned with biomechanics and proper posture during this process, it adds up to a lot of body strain.

Recommendation: If you don’t have to check luggage, don’t. Checked bags are always heavier; carry-on is the way to go. Pack as light as you can, and whether you have a rolling bag or standard duffle, remember to distribute the burden of transporting it equally between right and left shoulders. 

2) Cramped Seat

Unless you’re flying first class, you’ve probably got an uncomfortable seat. If it’s the aisle, you’re routinely bumped or jarred by flight attendants and passengers as they move throughout the cabin. Or you’re wedged against the window where the wall of the airline is curved. God help you if you’re stuck in the middle seat sandwiched between two passengers. There and back, this adds up to several hours of bodily stress.

Recommendation: The “lesser of three evils” is the aisle seat. It offers the freedom of standing up to stretch without pissing off the people in your row.

3) Craning Your Neck to Look Out the Window

Even when they’re not in a window seat, most passengers can’t help but stare out the tiny porthole during the flight. Without giving it much thought, passengers gaze through the small window for minutes at a time, which can apply considerable strain to one side of the neck.

Recommendation: Limit your “look time” to under 5-seconds. Balance it out by turning your head to the opposite window for the same duration. Sustained head turns for long periods of time can induce painful muscle spasm.

4) Disgusting Airplane Ventilation and Filthy Seat Surfaces

I have a number of pilots as patients, and I’ve taken time to ask each one the same question: “How clean is the inside of an airplane?” 

Unsurprisingly, they’ve all admitted that commercial airline cabins are typically sanitized at the end of the day, rendering them incontrovertible cesspools of germs and illness. Want proof? Just read how sneeze particles travel within an airplane.

Recommendation #1: Bring a travel-size pack of lysol wipes with you onboard. Wipe down every surface you’re likely to touch. The armrest, seatbelt clasp, window shade, front and back of the tray table, as well as the headrest and overhead directional air blower thing (pretty sure that’s the technical term). Nearby passengers will look upon you with envy as they regret not doing the same thing.

Recommendation #2: Bring oral zinc spray. 8 squirts before and after each flight (seems like a lot, but it isn’t), and throughout the day while you’re traveling. It boosts your immune system and fights off the nasty germs you’re exposed to in poorly ventilated spaces.

5) Sleeping in an Unfamiliar Bed

Unless you’re staying at a premium hotel or with a friend who invested in an expensive mattress for their guests, there’s a good chance that the bed (or couch!) you’re sleeping on is going to be crummy. Waking up with aches and pains while traveling is fairly common, and it can certainly impact your sleep quality and nightly routine.

Recommendation: Implement this mobility exercise each morning (via @JohnRusin)…

6) Sleeping on an Unfamiliar Pillow

Hotels pillows, no matter how luxurious, are typically awful. There’s really no avoiding them unless you bring your pillow with you. Speaking of which, don’t be the weirdo who brings his/her pillow on a trip. You’re not 10 years old, and this isn’t your first sleepover at a friend’s house. It looks ridiculous.

Recommendation: Take a hotel towel, fold it three times (long ways), and place it under the pillow. This will add stability and depth to help level your head and improve neck alignment. 

7) Sleep Deprivation

If you have a nightly routine at home, it’s unlikely that you’re able to stick with it while traveling. Most people either stay up late or have to wake up earlier than usual, and this throws off your sleep cycle. It’s extra stress that your body doesn’t want or need.

Recommendation: Use a sleep mask (here’s what I use) to completely blackout the hotel room you’ll be sleeping in… This encourages a deeper level of sleep by eliminating intrusive lighting that can disrupt brain activity. 

8) Nutritional Roller Coaster

Eating healthy and tracking food consumption is much easier to do at home than it is on the road. Unfortunately you can’t bring 12 different smoothie ingredients or pack your 15-pound VitaMix blender. The food and drinks that are consumed while traveling, while delicious, throw off our digestive patterns, and often cause gastric distress like diarrhea, constipation, and bloating.

Recommendation: Take a daily probiotic. Bring a dose for each day of your trip. This promotes regular bowel movements and healthy gut flora. 

Bear with me though, the terms used are a bit of a mouthful. I’ll break it down shortly.

First, let’s look at the published results…

Relationship between craniocervical orientation and center of force of occlusion in adults

Findings suggest that changes in posture and occlusion can be observed after the NUCCA procedure. Not all patients demonstrated a more balanced contact pattern following the adjustment, indicating a need for further investigation.

[This suggests] interconnectivity between the CCJ and an individual’s occlusal contacts and supports the need for further integration between chiropractors and dentists seeking to co-manage temporomandibular joint disorders.

• Cranio: the Journal of Craniomandibular Practice 2016 October 20, : 1-7

Let’s start with the “NUCCA” term. It’s a system of analysis performed by Upper Cervical chiropractors coupled with a procedure that improves the position of the head and neck. In the study above, this head/neck region was described as the craniocervical junction.

Just when I thought chiropractors had wordy terminology, dentists decided to toss their hat in the ring with “Center of force of occlusion.” It’s a phrase that describes how the upper row of teeth makes contact with the lower row of teeth when your mouth is closed. Or, MUCH more simply, your bite.

So here we have a highly experienced dentist in Canada pairing up with an exceptionally talented chiropractor, as well as an accomplished biochemist, to observe the relationship between our neck and bite.

What they noticed in this clinical study (albeit observational) is that positive changes were measured in patients’ bites when analyzed before and after the chiropractic adjustment.

Here’s Why This Matters for TMJ Sufferers…

A lot of patients seek help from the dentist when they experience jaw pain or discomfort while chewing. And some of those patients invest in dental appliances alone that may not improve the problem.

Similarly, patients seek help from a chiropractor when they experience TMJ-related jaw pain. And some of those patients invest in chiropractic treatments alone that… you guessed it… may not improve the problem.

But by integrating the services of a skilled dentist and chiropractor (co-management), patients suffering from TMJ dysfunction could experience a better overall outcome.