I am so used to the feeling of being slightly uncomfortable in my chair that there is a running commentary going constantly in the back of my mind like a bass to the rest of my thoughts. It goes something like this ‘neck is hurting to the front left, shift weight slightly over to the right, back is aching, lower seat when you get a chance, shoulders feel like you’ve walked 4 miles with your food shopping, have a bath when you get home…’
Last week I fiddled with one of three big levers underneath my chair. I knew it was probably wrong because when I moved one of them, it was unnaturally difficult and once it moved it stayed there like a switch. I sat back down and the chair was now more like a chaise longue but I got side tracked and forgot to change it. I then spent the rest of the week like this after having forgotten I had done anything to it in the first place (it had been a busy week in my defence), in the end, I had to shout for help when I could bear the pain no longer and a passer by kindly switched it back for me.
Back injuries relating to office chairs are the most common complaints for office workers. Sitting on a bad chair is like sleeping 8 hours with your head dangling freely over the side of your bed and considering so many of us spend our days sitting at computers, it is a wonder that the high divorce rate hasn’t been attributed to this; who is going to be one of a loving couple when everyday they can’t turn their neck without turning their entire body, something that won’t put you in the best frame of mind nor remind anyone of how attractive you are- when you look like you are doing a brilliant impression of a Mummy.
The saying used to go ‘You should spend money on good quality shoes and a comfortable bed because if you are not in one, you’re in the other.’ But it should be ‘Forget about the shoes- everyone else has (see Victoria Beckham, Gwnyeth Paltrow etc) , it’s a good chair you should be worried about .’ (I couldn't squeeze in anything about a bed without ruining it but a good bed goes without saying.)
With this sentiment in mind, it is not surprising that a number of companies have created whole ‘chair aware’ product lines. Orangebox, one of the UK’s major developers of furniture, released the Spina Chair in February 2008. The Chair, available from ‘Interiors For the Office’ was awarded the Gold Prize at Japan’s prestigious Good Design Award along with Honda Jet…and the Nintendo Wii.
The Spina Chair has a ‘form following function’ designed to make the person comfortable from the moment they sit down and it’s The Spina’s Passive Seat Slide mechanism which makes this achievable; allowing the seat to sink backwards, bringing the sitter’s body towards the lumbar. The Active Lumbar Support then automatically moves forward, triggering a feeling of comfort in the lower back, hips and pelvis no matter the size or shape of the person sitting on it; I couldn’t think of a happier marriage. |