Quest for the Perfect Chair
I have always strived to have an ergonomic workstation. Even when I didn’t work from home full time, I would spend my own time and money trying to achieve a workplace that was efficient, ergonomically correct, and of course, stylish. Not all of my attempts worked out however.
The first chair that I purchased several years ago was a black leather executive type chair. While it was very comfortable, and very stylish, it didn’t have any back support. After working in that chair for a year or so, I started to develop pain in my legs. I didn’t realize that it was due to the chair until I started trying out other desk chairs. The ergonomic department at the company that I worked for set me up with one of their ergonomic chairs. It had many adjustments and controls, and a lot of lower back support. It wasn’t, however, stylish.
I used this chair for several months and my leg pain did subside. Unfortunately, I started to develop lower back pain. It took me a while to figure out why. I had a good ergonomic chair with lots of adjustments. I thought that would be sufficient. To figure out the problem, an all out chair shopping trip was in order. I researched the web to see what the most popular ergonomic chairs on the market were and set out to evaluate each one.
The front runners for best chair were: the Aeron chair by Herman Miller, the Liberty chair by Humanscale, and the Leap chair by Steelcase.
The first chair that I tried out was the Aeron. This chair is famous for it’s popularity during the dot-com boom in the late ’90s. One thing that attracted me to this chair was the mesh seat and back. I work in a hot climate, and anything that can make me cooler while working is a plus. I went to a local store (actually about an hour away) that carried the Aeron to try one out. Boy was I disappointed. Maybe my expectations were just too high, but I found this chair to be very uncomfortable. In particular, the lumbar support felt like a 2×4 being strapped across my back. This would certainly not do.
While at this store, I also tried out the Leap chair. I was pleasantly surprised by this chair. It was very comfortable, and was nicely adjustable. The Leap chair did have an upholstered seat, but featured a mesh back. I was very impressed with this chair, but it had a problem similar to the Aeron, the lumbar support felt harsh. The amount of lumbar support could be adjusted, but it still felt like a hard object strapped across my back.
After trying out these two chairs, I realized what was wrong with my existing chair. The lumbar support was just too extreme. While you could adjust the position of the back support, the amount was not adjustable and it was just too much. It was like I was trying to brace my back into an unnatural position with the chair back. With these other chairs that I was trying, the position of support and amount of support were adjustable. This change made an immediate improvement.
The Liberty chair evaluation came about a week later at a different store since the first store I went to didn’t carry them. Luckily, this store also carried the Aeron and some other chairs that I hadn’t considered yet. The Liberty chair is a very nice looking chair; probably the best looking of all of the chairs that I looked into. This is mostly due to the fact that Liberty has a minimal number of adjustments. Sitting in the chair showed that the seat was definitely comfortable. I also liked the mechanism used for the arm adjustments. However, the seat back didn’t have enough tension in it for my tastes. The chair back would recline too easily with just minor pressure. It also didn’t have any upper back support whatsoever.
This store also had an Aeron, and I thought I would give it another try. How could a chair that was so popular be as uncomfortable as I had found it? Well, the second try didn’t change my mind at all. However, there was another chair there by Herman Miller called the Mirra. It was definitely a unique looking chair. The back was very tall and wide, and made out of a slotted polymer. The mesh seat was very similar the the Aeron. Sitting in the Mirra was very comfortable. The back molded perfectly to my back and was supportive from the lower back all the way up to the shoulders. The Mirra wasn’t as adjustable as the Aeron, but I consider this to be a good thing. The number of controls was enough to fit it to your body, but not enough to be confusing.
After sleeping on it for a couple of nights, I decided to purchase the Mirra chair. It was a difficult decision between the Mirra and the Leap chair, but my wife really liked the Mirra, and the store was 30 minutes closer.
The store that I bought it from was only a showroom, so it had to be delivered. A few days later it arrived. I decided to get the Citron finish because I’m tired of the typical black/gray office chair. The style and color of the chair fit perfectly into my office decor. I haven’t tried the chair out for a full day yet, but the little bit that I have used it, it has been quite comfortable. The only concern that I have is that the pressure on the bottom of the legs isn’t even. The back of the seat is only mesh, but the front does have some foam to protect against the hardware underneath. The seam between the two seat materials sat right across the point on my legs where I had previously had some leg pain. I’ll hold off any real judgments on the chair until I get more time in it. I’ll let you know my final evaluation at that time.
