Should I keep this ergonomic chair or return it?

March 1, 2007 10:03 AM

Should I keep this ergonomic chair or return it?

I finally bought an ergonomic chair to ease back and neck pain. I am still having some (increased) pain after sitting in it for several hours and I'm wondering if I need to get used to it before it will work well or if I should disassemble it and return it immediately. I need to make a call in the next 2 days based on the return policy.

I had been using a $15 used office chair, and I bought a $300 chair from Office Depot. It has almost all of the features recommended on websites I've seen: mesh seat and back, padded armrests that adjust in height and angle, seat depth adjustment, height adjustment on the back and seat, recline, etc. I've adjusted it as well as I can, I think.

I test-drove it for about 30 minutes in the store and found it very comfortable. It is comfortable at first sit at home. But, after sitting in it for about 2 hours at home, I found that my upper back was hurting/burning. Usually my pain is in my lower back.

Do these kind of chairs require a 'training' period where you learn to sit with a better posture? I tend to lean forward when I type and I'm trying now to avoid that. I can't tell if the pain is due to my trying to sit up straight or because the chair is just not right for me.

Any advice appreciated.

posted by underwater to health & fitness (9 comments total)

The general rule of thumb is for these kinds of chairs is that the more adjustable pieces that the chair offers, the more important it is to have them properly configured for your body and how you sit. Example: the Aeron is a dream but it sucks royally if you don't tune it for yourself. I would see if there is any assistance from Office Depot or the manufacturer in getting the chair setup right before giving up on it. Otherwise I think you will be in the same boat later down the road.
posted by mmascolino at 10:16 AM on March 1, 2007

Not all ergonomic chairs fit every body, as an example, Aeron chairs come in three different sizes (in addition to all their myriad points of adjustment). It's quite possible the chair you purchased is not for you and given the short timeline you have to test it out, I'd return it to the store and look for another chair, preferably from a retailer with a longer return window.
posted by jamaro at 10:18 AM on March 1, 2007

Also, you might want to consider trying a retailer where the help knows more about ergo chairs than paperclips. I've been happy with the advice I've received from the staff at various Relax the Back stores.
posted by jamaro at 10:22 AM on March 1, 2007

mmascolino's post reminds me of an invention I thought of a couple years ago: The Programmable Chair. Basically you'd take an Aeron or similar and attach servos to the adjustment knobs. It would also have a bluetooth/USB/whatever interface. You could type your parameters (height, weight, etc) into a program and it would beam the settings to the chair to ensure optimal sittage. AND you could save the settings on a keychain drive so you could visit someone else's office and still get a perfect ass-resting with no discomfort.
posted by DU at 11:06 AM on March 1, 2007

Check that your TABLE isn't too high for your keyboard and mouse; generally people use these way too high up. Monitors generally need to be raised to eye level.
posted by DenOfSizer at 12:12 PM on March 1, 2007

Something about the chair isn't adjusted right. At a guess I'd say either you're sitting too far away from the keyboard or you don't have the elbow rest height correctly adjusted.

Keep fooling with it. Takes me a couple of days to get a new chair dialed in.
posted by ikkyu2 at 1:35 PM on March 1, 2007

I'd return the chair for now. It seems to me you have pain from, as you say, leaning forward (as I did). Your muscles and skeleton are habituated to a screwed up position and until you retrain it back to normal, you're going to have lots of pain, even if it migrates. I'd say work on getting your form sorted out (infinite realizations you're leaning forward and then consciously going to correct position) and do some strengthening muscles for neck and back gradually (shoulder presses, bent over rowing, bench presses, etc, all of which may currently hurt done with NO weight.) Then pick a chair. If it's the right kind of chair for your work, it's probably fine, but I don't like to feel uncomfortable with a purchase so I'd get rid of it for now. Note: I'm not saying to exercise hard if it hurts. I'm saying be very cautious and ultimately you need to carefully strengthen the out of whack muscles, after gently flexing them into proper position.
posted by Listener at 1:50 PM on March 1, 2007

I find that the chair is much less important than taking stretch breaks, and getting exercise. If the chair isn't working out, take it back. My favorite chair is an old heavy-duty swivel chair with arms.
posted by theora55 at 2:33 PM on March 1, 2007

I guess if that was my chair, I'd take it back for now. The nationwide chain I got mine from I think had a 30 day policy, and I think you could buy an "extended warranty" that gave you longer return privileges.
posted by unrepentanthippie at 10:23 AM on March 2, 2007