Office chairs

I'm not certain quite where this should go so I'll post it here anyway.

As my bones grow older so sitting in the same place for a period of time gets less comfortable. Over the years I've tried a number of different chairs, I think forty years ago I had a solid wood one with a small cushion in the office and I was quite happy with it. Since then I'd had a number of office chairs either at home or in the office. Being able to adjust the seat height was a major improvement.

More years ago than I care to remember the advice I received in a furniture store was try them out before you buy and buy the most comfortable one. I tried that at Staples but to be honest two weeks after I brought the fairly expensive office chair home it was sitting in the corner unused. I found a small leather adjustable chair in the bargain bit of IKEA and that worked well for a number of years except it didn't tilt. I had one chair from IKEA that was super adjustable, trouble was I never did work out what the adjustments were or how they were made.

So I indulged in a Herman Millar Embody chair and that one seems to work for me. I think Logitech have a version of this chair except they call it a gaming chair and it has brighter colours. I'm not saying there aren't cheaper alternatives and it might not work for you but if you have the funds it is worth considering if you're going to spend time at the computer screen. I also picked one up to use as a dining room chair. It's arms make getting up easier and being able to pivot means I don't have to pick the chair up to move closer to the table. I think forty years ago it was fashionable to use office ergonomic chairs as dining room chairs.

I also found that buying from a local office supplies company that sells them by the dozen to companies was a lot cheaper than buying through Amazon and they had them in stock.

Cheerio John

I personally use a very excellent task chair made by Bodybilt.

New one's are pretty spendy,, about 1800 USD. But mine, I got cheap for 100 USD at a liquidator store near me. They were selling an entire office full of these chairs. I snagged two.

I use mine for about 6-12 hours a day, and I never get a sore back, butt or anything else. Superb ergonomics. I have the Staccato 7018 model, but that one is no longer made. The 7020 model replaces it.

The chair seat slides forward/back, tips forward/back. The seat back slides up/down, and also tips forward/back. The armrests rotate in/out and slide up/down, and can be positioned at differing angles, depending on your needs.

The chair can also rock back and forth. A total of ten ergonomic adjustments. Lumbar and thigh/leg support and a contoured seat as well.


Here's a site that hosts the full line > https://officechairsoutlet.com/collections/ergogenesis

Company homepage > https://bodybilt.com/ergonomic-seating/by-application/office/


Rico

I've got a gaming chair from amazon, it's been amazing. Replaced an Ikea kids chair that was the most uncomfortable chair to use. I could use it as a bed if I really wanted to, it's so nice. Only thing is the material isn't the most breathable, but it isn't too noticeable.

This Obusform chair works well for me. Government Surplus. Even so, must get up and walk around every hour to keep the blood flowing.

I got a nice Lazy-Boy office chair from Staples. It's well made and quite comfortable. I plop in that chair about 6 to 10 hours a day myself and I don't ache or feel stiff from sitting in it.

I have a nice one with a fabric cushion. But it has no lumbar adjustments. The biggest problem with it, is that my cat likes it as much as I do. :hehe:

Hello John,

A good chair is very important, you're right.

Mine is from Ikea. I've had it for several years and I spend all day on it both for my job and for fun. https://www.ikea.com/be/fr/p/markus-chaise-de-bureau-vissle-gris-fonce-70261150/


Take care of yourself.

Driplex Ergonomic Office Chair



Sadly NLA. Bought it on Amazon in 2020, but I was able to test drive it as my wife has one.

All I did was immediately replace the el-cheapo-delux casters with actual good ones. And I keep the reclining back 100% up.

Movable lumbar support is a god send as no chair made with a fixed one hits me in the right spot. (Which is super annoying and painful in cars)

Forester1 said:

The biggest problem with it, is that my cat likes it as much as I do. :hehe:

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I have the same issue with my ergonomic computer chair. If she is hanging around me then I know that as soon as I vacate the chair she will occupy it. There are other chairs in the study which she often uses but there are still times when I have to "negotiate" a solution to the impasse when I return to my "occupied" chair.

Hi John --

Some health experts are now saying that sitting for an extended period is as harmful to health as smoking.

Have you considered a standing desk?

philskene said:

Hi John --

Some health experts are now saying that sitting for an extended period is as harmful to health as smoking.

Have you considered a standing desk?

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Twenty years ago perhaps but these days my knees aren't up to standing looking at a computer screen all day.

I do get up and wander round from time to time. I think the point of this post is when you're young anything works. As you grow older anything that makes life easier or more comfortable becomes much more important.

An example of this is I use a Touch Stream keyboard. You can no longer purchase them, Apple brought them up to use the technology in their iphones but with my osteoarthritis in my fingers a conventional keyboard becomes painful after a few minutes and stays painful for some days afterwards.

I had thought about taking up smoking when I reached three score years and ten but never quite got round to it. I think the smell put me off. I'm not sure I wish to live to be a hundred.

Cheerio John

Hi John --

It's going a bit off topic, but "I'm not sure I wish to live to be a hundred."

We had a Treasurer here in Australia who pointed out that with advances in medical technology we would all be living to 120 and it was time to revisit retirement age because it would be impossible for the Government to fund retirees for the remaining 60 years of their life.

My reaction was OK, so I'm at work, I have my 60th birthday and the boss comes up and says "Well done Phil, you are now half way through your working life." Hmmm.

Phil

philskene said:

Hi John --

It's going a bit off topic, but "I'm not sure I wish to live to be a hundred."

We had a Treasurer here in Australia who pointed out that with advances in medical technology we would all be living to 120 and it was time to revisit retirement age because it would be impossible for the Government to fund retirees for the remaining 60 years of their life.

My reaction was OK, so I'm at work, I have my 60th birthday and the boss comes up and says "Well done Phil, you are now half way through your working life." Hmmm.

Phil

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Interesting but not quite off topic. Certain jobs are more productive at younger ages. Footballers for example, scientists and computer programmers also peak about 35 which leads us to a conflict between a manager and society. Most managers are A type rather than B type. My last one for example had a programmer who was over the retirement age but was quite happy working. The manager would ask him when he was going to retire from time to time. The main reason I retired when I did was I found his management style a pain in the neck.

Society needs people to work longer or to automate more. A company in I think it was Sweden had trouble finding new staff, the location was a smallish town. So they had a physiotherapist take a look at what could be done to help the existing workers. Eventually they made a number of fairly small changes which helped people work longer. The changes cost less than the training costs of training new workers. I think they put the average retirement age up by five or six years. What was also interesting was the amount of sick leave taken by all ages dropped by about thirty percent. In a commercial setting even expensive Embody chairs can pay back in less sick time within two years.

For an individual manager getting rid of older workers can make his team more productive. A bit like the American railroad companies, to make money in the short term you spend less on track maintenance and drop the idea of servicing small loads but from society point of view pushing those small loads off the rails and on to trucks is not a good move.

Cheerio John

johnwhelan said:

Interesting but not quite off topic. Certain jobs are more productive at younger ages. Footballers for example, scientists and computer programmers also peak about 35 which leads us to a conflict between a manager and society. Most managers are A type rather than B type. My last one for example had a programmer who was over the retirement age but was quite happy working. The manager would ask him when he was going to retire from time to time. The main reason I retired when I did was I found his management style a pain in the neck.

Society needs people to work longer or to automate more. A company in I think it was Sweden had trouble finding new staff, the location was a smallish town. So they had a physiotherapist take a look at what could be done to help the existing workers. Eventually they made a number of fairly small changes which helped people work longer. The changes cost less than the training costs of training new workers. I think they put the average retirement age up by five or six years. What was also interesting was the amount of sick leave taken by all ages dropped by about thirty percent. In a commercial setting even expensive Embody chairs can pay back in less sick time within two years.

For an individual manager getting rid of older workers can make his team more productive. A bit like the American railroad companies, to make money in the short term you spend less on track maintenance and drop the idea of servicing small loads but from society point of view pushing those small loads off the rails and on to trucks is not a good move.

Cheerio John

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Interesting thoughts and observations here. Reading about your manager, I thought you were talking about my uncle's employer. He worked for Lotus Corp which eventually became part of IBM. IBM eventually consolidated the small company that was formerly Lotus into the fold and shortly afterwards things changed for the worse. One day, my uncle, long past his retirement age, was told he had to leave. The company brought in 6 people from India to learn his job because IBM was offshoring the division. Once they were trained, they laid him off with 2-weeks of severance and no other benefits even though he had been with IBM for well over 25 years by this point. At 82 now, he still gets calls from his former manager for consulting on the old projects. It looks like the offshored workers couldn't handle the job he was doing.

The age here is an important thing here. Older employees have experience, and a more efficient way of doing things. When older people are "retired", they take with them the decades of experience and history with a product that the new employees, no matter how much they're trained on how to do the job, never really know the ins and outs of it no matter how good the documentation and training is.

Some people like to work and also working gives people a purpose to live. My great grandmother was forced into retirement at 88 years old. She passed away at 92 after becoming depressed. I've seen this with many older folks and in particular with those that don't have a hobby or two. Being retired and having something else to do does help, so having a comfortable chair to use Trainz or do other hobbies is an important thing for their wellbeing.

I have an old chair I use, it leans to one side, and is well-worn. I don't remember where I got it (Office Max maybe??). Anyhow members of my family keep saying I need a new chair, but heck, this one is still so comfortable I don't want to give it up. It's cloth (wouldn't have a body-sweating LEATHER one). I feel right at home in this one so I'll keep it until it falls apart.