Real stories · The chair cushion that ended my afternoon ache

The seat cushion that finally let me sit through lunch, the car and my crossword without that ache at the base of my back

A cushion that took the pressure off my tailbone and held the small of my back, so I could sit through a long lunch or a car journey without that dull ache setting in — that's what I'd been quietly looking for since the spring. I'm 67, and sitting has become the thing that hurts. Not walking, not gardening — sitting. Twenty minutes on a hard kitchen chair, an hour in the car to my sister's, an evening with the crossword in the armchair, and there it is: a nagging ache right at the base of my spine that makes me shift and fidget and finally get up and 'go and put the kettle on' just for an excuse to stand. Ordinary cushions didn't help; they just put me a bit higher up on the same problem.

What I wanted was something that actually took the weight off the sore spot, supported my back at the same time, and that I could move from chair to car to armchair without any fuss.

Then I found the Temperance from a British label called York Boutique — an ergonomic pressure-relief seat cushion with a backrest built in, and I chose the grey.

It's honestly changed how long I can sit. It's one piece: a shaped seat with a soft, supportive fill and, rising up from the back of it, a curved backrest that wraps gently round the small of my back. The clever bit is a hollow cut into the seat exactly where your tailbone goes, which is why the ache doesn't start — there's simply nothing pressing on the sore spot, and the weight is spread across the parts of me that can take it. The backrest means I stop slumping without having to think about it. It sits on the kitchen chair for lunch, then I carry it out to the car for the drive, then it lives on my armchair for the evening. It weighs next to nothing.

There's a hollow where my tailbone goes, so nothing presses on it, and the back wraps round the small of my back. I sat through a whole Sunday lunch and got up without a wince.

A cushion that clever, I assumed, would be seventy pounds. But York Boutique sells direct, so it was £34.95 in the summer sale. I'll be honest, I paused at that for a moment. Then I thought about how many hours a day I spend sitting, and how much I'd been dreading them, and that rather settled it.

Last Sunday I sat through the whole of a three-course lunch at my daughter's and got up at the end without a wince, which she noticed before I did. My husband has since 'borrowed' it for the drive to the coast and I've had to order a second. I'd checked before ordering that I could send it back if it didn't help — you can, within a fortnight, and the delivery's free — so there was nothing lost by trying. It comes in five colours.

If sitting has quietly become the thing that hurts for you too, do treat yourself to a look. The Temperance is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 300 people, it's £34.95 in the summer sale instead of £70 — half price — and the grey always seems to go first.