Over 35 Years Eliminating Pain
The Back Shop, has been designing and selling products for the relief of back pain for 40 years. Its core business, the manufacture of made-to-measure home and office chairs and car seat supports that guarantee perfect posture, has been hugely successful in eliminating back and neck pain.
Today, over 16,000 Back Shop customers are living pain free.
The Back Shop – A Painful Birth
The business was founded in 1980 by Colm Campbell, a Chartered Mechanical and Electrical Engineer following an event that changed his life.
Colm, then working with The Irish Times newspaper, was called to answer a telephone call. As he rose from his desk he was overcome with agonizing pain, went unconscious and hit the floor. Rushed to hospital with a suspected heart attack, he was diagnosed instead with a ruptured disc and was scheduled to have an emergency operation the following morning.
Engineering of the Spine
Witnessing his bedside neighbour being in greater pain after a spinal procedure, Colm decided invasive surgery was not for him.
Helped by his wife Chris, he left hospital. He spent the next three months in severe pain, but resolved to find out why a spine could fail. Focusing on the mechanical and electrical engineering of the spine, he observed it had the structure of a flexible vertical column. Referring to strict engineering principles, he calculated the massive pressure that is exerted on the spinal column during extended hours of sitting. He discovered that ‘bad posture’ naturally occurs when the spine is not supported in the seated position. He also realized that this is the main cause of back problems (see other sections herein for more detail).
To support his spine and begin recovery, Colm made a simple seat support for his car based on his own measurements. Some nine weeks after leaving hospital was able to drive for 30 minutes in pain, but bearable pain. He began applying this principle to the manufacture of supports for his home chair and office chair, and the idea for the Back Shop was born.
Colm is now completely pain-free (at 86 years of age) and often thinks of his inspired decision to refuse an operation. He has personally interviewed over 2,000 people who have had back surgery, with staggeringly varying results. In his book “The Engineering Solution to Suffering Back Pain”, Colm quotes the findings of a renowned university medical school in the USA, which states, “The actual proportion of all back pain patients who are surgical candidates is only 2 percent.”
The Spinal System-S – Spinal Measuring System
Colm moved on to invent the Spinal System-S, the measuring machine now used by The Back Shop (based on engineering principles of the spine). The Spinal System-S calculates the information to make seating that guarantees least possible pressure in the intervertebral discs.
Our Unique Chairs
The Back Shop makes chairs for the home, office and car environments. We have three categories of chairs; made-to-measure spine alignment chairs, metrics based posture alignment chairs and lumbar support back alignment chairs to cater for people with varying levels of back and neck pain or who wish to prevent pain arising.
Success
Over 16,000 Back Shop customers are enjoying life pain free. Many have invested in home and office chairs, car products and beds, ensuring that they can stay in perfect posture for most of the day and night. Our success rate in eliminating pain is approximately 95% (the remaining 5% of people usually need hospital intervention).
Worldwide Delivery
Using expertise gleaned from measuring over 50,000 spines during our 36 years in business, we can now deliver made-to-measure products to worldwide customers. A patent has been acquired on a method that enables us to supply the unique ZS Zero Gravity Chair, the Galaxy office chair, and the Car Seat Mould to global customers without the need to be measured in-house. The only information we require is the person’s height, weight and some key physical dimensions.
The Team
A family business, The Back Shop is run by Colm Campbell, his sons Sean and Gordon, his daughter Claire and “adopted” sons Brian and Eoin along with their team of frame makers and upholsterers based in Dublin.
Apart from designing and making chairs that eliminate pain, The Back Shop provides a welcoming haven where back sufferers can come, talk about their back problems and seek advice on how back supports, beds and pillows, belts, and other specialist products can help their particular needs. A by-product of visiting the shop is that many back sufferers, who arrive in states of despair, leave with renewed hope from listening to a team member explaining about back pain, its causes, and prevention.
