chair for a bad back

June 14, 2007 3:05 PM

I have a bad back and I am looking for chair recommendations. Further specifications and

I just have a bad back, simple as that. It's hereditary, and I've had serious injuries to both of my shoulders and my lower back. As I hit my mid to late thirties, this kind of thing is becoming more and more important! Finding a good chair is long term, but serious project.

What I would like is essentially a desk chair that reclines significantly. A lazy-boy on stilts would be excessive, but along the lines I'm thinking. Obviously, good support is important. This is going to be my primary use chair when I'm at home. I would prefer no wheels, which is probably a given with the kind of reclining that I'm thinking about! My personal tastes tend to run towards early modern, like Craftsman, Greene and Greene, and Nakashima, but I'm not glued to how it looks. Function is far more important.

As a final note, I am a not-half bad carpenter, so building something myself is not at all beyond the pale. I'm just not sure where I would find the hardware or design something truly ergonomic. I would be happy to find about ways around these problems, if anybody has any ideas...

posted by schwap23 to shopping (2 comments total)

Maybe something like the Stokke Gravity?

Please watch out for carpal tunnel syndrome et al, as reclining is not the posture most ergonomics experts seem to recommend for typing.

Stokke makes good stuff. I haven't tried this chair, but I have one of their kneeling chairs and it's top-notch.
posted by callmejay at 3:46 PM on June 14, 2007

I bought a 'gravity chair' for the yard recently, loved it, and went looking for an indoor version -- and just stopped in to say, uh -- Stokke Gravity. If you have a bit of money to burn, of course.
posted by kmennie at 6:19 PM on June 14, 2007