Our company works with data centers, emergency call centers, and network operation centers (NOCs). The Ironhorse chairs are rated for 24 hours. The price is 1000+, but 24 hours is a long time to sit in your chair. You can find them at: http://www.ergonomicofficechairs.com/. That is what we recommend to clients who have people pulling 12 hour shifts at a workstation.
The key point you raise is how difficult it can be to find these chairs in a place where you can try them out.
Buying the right chair is like buying the right pair of stereo speakers. May be cheap, may be expensive, but youāre going to have to experience it and judge for yourself because it will be a very personal fit, and whatās right for you is whatās right.
I have an Aeron at work, itās acceptable. I have an Ikea ALLAK at home ($69.99), and itās more than acceptable. But donāt order either off the web ā youāve got to go sit in one and see if itās right for you.
Graham Stewart, you really skooled me, dinnitja? So let me bring the tone down a little so my point wonāt get lost.
Iām not arguing with you about the Productivity Value of A Good Chair (and if you only own 100 things one of them might as well be a $1000 chair) Iām pointing out the way peopleās attitudes about CHAIRS makes me FEEL (sad). Part of what makes me feel this way is the context of the discussion (a long summer weekend for most of the readers, including the author). Partly itās the passion people have for office chairs which in my experience (limited to a single blog post, sure) rivals that of best golf clubs. Partly its the heat a suggestion like maybe you should sit less can generate.
But mostly what makes me sad is the crazy way so many very smart people are devoting so much attention to what may be the wrong end of the syllogism.
Person 1: My back hurts because I sit for long periods in a particular chair.
Person 2: Maybe you should sit less, or in many different chairs.
Person 1: No, noā¦I need a BETTER CHAIR!
I submit very humbly that before you drop a cool grand on the chair-to-end-all-chairs it might behoove you to consider the other bits of that syllogism.
Yes, Paul Souders, it is a poor workman who blames his tools, but the point of that saying is that the workmanās bad not because he blames his tools, but because he was responsible for making sure his tools were up to the job.
This entry is about making sure peopleās tools arenāt holding them back.
The company I work for has a big ergonomics program. They figured out it is cheaper to get the right workstation furniture than to pay medical bills for RSS (Repetitive Stress Syndrome) injuries.
They set up a chair room with 5-6 selected ergo chairs. You went there, and tried out each of them; selected the one that fit you. Some just didnāt fit right, even with 8 different adjustments. For instance, some chairs could drop the front end of the seat to relieve pressure there. Some worked better for short people, some better for tall people.
The best you can do with this topic is get a list of good chairs. Donāt buy one without trying multiple versions.
Spend your money on the things your body touches for many hours a day: chair, mouse, keyboard, and screen. Donāt scrimp. And then pay attention to how it is arranged: http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/computerworkstations/
ā¦ and give the MS split/ergo keyboard a try - especially if your shoulders are wider than the keyboard.
Any Babylon 5 fan can tell you that the classic Aeron has a lot of years left to it ā they will still be used in military bunkers on Mars in the 23rd century.
A āgoodā chair is damn important.
I had to sit half a year in a f*cked up chair!
It was broke, and stayed in a 45 degree angle!
They (www.ls-ag.ch) couldnāt change itā¦
āLean backāā¦ but not Gangsta styleā¦
Glad I changed my employeer and have now quality equipment.
Iāve had a Steelcase Leap chair for about a year now. There are some things I love about it:
- The adjustable arms are awesome. This really helps with aching neck and shoulders.
- The recline feels very natural and comfortable and is fully adjustable.
- The seat base is very comfortable.
The only thing that Iām not sure about is the lumbar support. Itās not bad, but it just doesnāt have that ultimate comfort feel that I was expecting. It feels a little stiff/rigid to me. As a disclaimer, I should point out that I have low back pain issues, so maybe Iām asking too much.
The next time Iām looking for an office chair, Iād like to check out the Steelcase Think. I believe it has all the same good points as the Leap (adjustable arms, recline, seat), but it has a different kind of back support that may be more comfy for me. Itās also a green chair and looks a lot nicer than the Leap.
SamSim: You got me, my post implied I owned those things. I actually donāt own a car (not needed where I live) or couch. They say after a house, a car is usually oneās largest investment followed by furniture/appliances though. Which is what I was getting at. Those items usually cost much more, but get used much less.
I do have a TV, which I barely use. So, I hardly consider it a prized possession. I went multiple years prior without one. I do not even have cable as itās not worth it to me.
I have no passion for a chair. Previously I had crummy Staples chairs, the $50 ones on special to be exact. However, over time they became very uncomfortable especially noticeable later in the day to the point where my back would start to ache. So, I decided to look at alternatives and was willing to pony up the money to get something comfortable for long periods of time.
I do go and work at the coffee shop a few days a week. They donāt have expensive ergo chairs. They do have nice wood bar stools with matching tables though and I get to meet lots of interesting people. Especially when school is in session. The coffee tastes like snot (not that I wold know what that tastes like), but I still go.
I donāt understand why you are so angry and passionately eccentric about someone who decides to invest a few extra into a more expensive chair?
Itās just a chair, get over it.
I was disappointed that this posting did not live up to its title. I was expecting a discussion of quality chairs for quality programming, basic chairs for basic programming, waterfall chairs for waterfall programming, etc. Rather like that David Lee Roth song:
I walk around with the blues
I need some sensible shoes
Sensible shoes, ones that will lead me back to you.
PairOn chairs for pair programming:
http://www.cenqua.com/pairon/
The poster talking about how programming is not hard work is simply ignorant. I have serious spinal problems while my brother has worked labor all his 50 years and has none. This is not isolated, but common.
The only back store in Denver doesnāt stock squat. There is a Herman Miller dealer in the Denver area, but there is nowhere to test drive any other chairs. I use a back support strapped to my cheap chair and thatās probably the best thing. Iāve never sat in a chair that has that kind of support.
The swopper does seem promising thoughā¦
Everywhere you go, all the professionals say the same thing: ergonomic chairs are the key to a better workday. I had researched for some time before finding the right website, Officedesigns.com, and the right chair, the Aeron, for the right fit in my office. Like all the blogs had said, my back pain went away and my arms felt less sore at the end of the day. The people at Officedesigns.com told me how to adjust my chair to size perfectly with my body. Iād recommend ergonomics twofold for anyone who asks.
Buy cheap tables and expensive chairs.
Didnāt Joel buy very expensive adjustable tables for his office recently?
All this talk about sitting in fancy chairs, and no mention of getting any excersise. Programmers move from chairs to couches to tables (back in chairs). No wonder people have health problems.
My fat ass has broken a lot of supposedly nice office chairs.
For some reason, the Verte` chair has intrigued me for a few years, though I havenāt actually had the opportunity to try one out in person yet. http://www.anthro.com/cpage.aspx?pid=220
I am also convinced that you HAVE to spend more than just a couple hundred on a chair that you use for 8+ hours a day. I blew some freelancing $$$ on an Aeron at home (I got spoiled at the one that I had at a previous job) and never looked back.
However, I managed to get a Mirra at my current job and I do believe that it is slightly more comfortable while being slightly less expensive than the Aeron. Add 10 year warranty into the mix and it becomes cost effective. Really. You get what you pay for - a $500 chair will last for a long time, be attractive and comfortable.
I recently bought a new chair as well and I couldnāt agree more with you on their importance to anyone who spends a significant enough amount of time sitting.
Prior to buying my new Office Star Space Series, MATREX chair, which is essentially a high-back ripoff of a herman miller chair with a head-rest, I was using $100 staples chairs which would break in under a year. Not only is the new chair sturdy and amazingly comfortable, it also has a lifetime guarantee, so even if my fat-ass breaks it, I donāt have to worry about shelling out for a new one.
While it was hard to justify dumping almost $600 on a chair, I havenāt regretted it for one second.
Everyone needs a good desk chair to be productive.
I had to suffer through a partly broken, crappy excuse for a chair (henceforth, chair A) for maybe 6 months recently. I asked, I cajoled, I even half-begged for a replacement and was promised much but got nothing for it. Someone more important than I in the grand scheme of things had a major chair breakdown and after maybe 6 more weeks, I finally got a replacement (chair B). Iām not sure what it was - I think some sort of Office Max knockoff of the Aeron idea. It was pretty nice, though, certainly much nicer than the chairs I sat in that preceeded A, and A, which I hope was thrown away and went to the Chinese Hell of Boiling Oil.
Of course, a month later the development group was moved to the new(ish) business office location, and was ordered to leave chair B behind. I now sit in chair C, which is better than chair A in a decidedly backhanded manner, and vastly inferior to B.
Sigh.
Exercise? Are you nuts? If your problem is a back injuries caused by a sedentary job of course the solution is a more-comfortable chair which will allow you to be even more sedentary.
Spend your way to early retirement! Eat yourself thin! Drink away your alcoholism!
ps if you think programming is somhow hard on your body Iād love to introduce you to my buddy who lost his arm at the meat packer