Painless Chairs?

Tarrek asks: "Eight or more hours of sitting and slouching with my feet propped up in an uncomfortable, half broken computer chair every single day for years has begun to take it's toll on my back, and I'm still quite young. I was wondering if the slashdot community might have any ideas with regards to a new chair, or just types and designs of chairs, that might be a little kinder to my back, as well as being comfortable enough to sit properly in for an extended period of time?" This is a revisit to a question from two years ago. That was then, what does the picture look like, now?

Comments

Get out of the chair!

[Beltza]

Your body simply isnt made to spend eight hours in a chair! Even the best possible chair is only a fix.
I also have an office job, but I try to change possition as much as possible. I do a lot of phoning while Im walking around (for long phone calls I go to the garden). For writing documents I take my laptop to any place I like; sometimes I even sit on the floor. Furthermore, even though I have a good quality chair, I change my chair every few hours with my colleague, who has a different model. The point is to move around.

Still the Best: Herman Miller Aeron

[wdr1]

If you want pure comfort and support, you still can't beat Herman Miller's Aeron's.

Some complain about the cost, but for me, not having pain in my back and shoulders are well worth it. (I'm 6'6" so finding comfortable furniture is often a challenge for me too.) They last forever, allow you to customize just about every aspect you care about (height/tilt/recline/arm height/optional lumbar), and fade transparently into the background, like a good working enviroment should. The only time you'll even notice the chair is if it's missing, or someone tried to replace it with something lesser (i.e. just about any other chair).

If it's coming out of your pocket look around for a good price. With the dot com bust, I was able to pick up a used one for home use for about $200.

-Bill

Exercise

[dnight]

Not a troll, real life experience here.

I had back problems from sitting in chairs for 8-12 hours as well. My doc told me "just get off my ass" and get some exercise, and that a comfy chair was just exacerbating the problem.

I took his advice, and bought a snowboard and kayak instead of a chair. I still have the same chair, and the back problems are gone.

Freedom Chair

[pjcreath]

Our bodies definitely weren't designed to sit for 8 hours. But perhaps more importantly, they weren't designed to sit still for 8 hours (that's just awful for circulation). That's the design philosophy behind Humanscale's Freedom Chair. It encourages you to move around and change your position. I've had this chair for a year now, and I'm very sad when I have to sit in anything else.

I tried the Aeron, but didn't really like it. Yes, the mesh was nice in terms of support and ventilation, but it took endless tweaking to adjust, and I never could quite get it to fit me properly. (On second thought, the endless tweaking just might endear it to most /. readers...)

I also tried out the Leap (by Steelcase). The flexible back was interesting, but still too hard to adjust.

In contrast, the Freedom is incredibly simple. There are three settings to make it fit your size: seat height, seat depth, and back height. These controls are intuitively placed and easy to reach without looking while seated.

The only other two adjustable bits (back tilt and armrest height) don't have 'controls' per se. They just move with you. Push back a little bit, and the seat back tilts back until you stop pushing. When you stop pushing, it supports you. It's really uncanny. (They did some very clever counterweight thing so that this provides the proper support and control regardless of your weight.) The left and right armrests always adjust to the same height, no thought or effort required. You just pull either armrest (or both) up or down, they both move, and then they stay in position. (They also drop lower than your lap, if you want to get rid of them effectively.)

The ease of adjustability is what makes this chair encourage you to move. You don't have to think at all to change your sitting position. You just move.

I have no affiliation with Humanscale other than being very happy with my chair.