I’ve been thinking for a while that I needed to get a new chair for my home office – the one I have now is 15 years old and doesn’t even have a lumbar support (so I supplement it with cushions). However, good chairs are expensive, and I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted – I had a more modern chair when I used to work in an office, and that still didn’t stop me getting back problems, and most recently I’ve had thorasic-region problems which aren’t directly addressed by a lumbar support anyway.
The issue is that sitting places far more stress on the back than standing/walking, and most back problems are made worse by immobility. I can definitely attest to both of these assertions from my recent experience, it’s just that addressing those issues has meant interruptions to my work schedule, a general loss of productivity, and some frustration at not being able to do all that I want to do.
I want to thank Martin for triggering off a thought chain last week about stand-up desk set-ups, which I hadn’t heard much about before. People like Churchill used these all their lives, where you stand at the desk most of the time, or perhaps use a tall chair like a draughtman’s stool if you want to take the weight off your legs for a while. As well as the general position being better for the back, you’re more likely to move about as a matter of course while standing up, and many people have cited productivity gains because the posture makes them more alert.
Finding these set-ups is another matter though. Most of the dedicated set-ups are rather old-fashioned, podium/writing desk sort of style, and not really the configuration I’m looking for, but a number of people around the internet have built their own, either by modding existing desks or going the whole hog. There are also height-adjustable desks that you can buy, a small number of which go up to the sort of height I need to stand at (about 1m), but unfortunately no-one I’ve talked to so far seems to do them over here; the best I found so far locally was an adjustable one to 85cm, which is still too low for standing at, and a mainland UK provider that won’t ship to the Channel Islands for fear of the mechanism being damaged in transit. I’ll keep looking, but I think I’m going to try retrofitting my existing desk instead, perhaps starting with a rough setup of a few bits of wood to make a raised surface on top of what I have, and refining it later if it works.
I still want a better chair though, since I don’t want to stand all of the day. The draughtsman’s stool idea isn’t bad, but I thought I could do better. Then I found lots of good reviews of the HAG Capisco. It’s pretty odd looking, compared to more traditional ergonomic chairs like the Herman Miller Aeron and will undoubtedly take some getting used to, but the key thing about it is that it’s a ’saddle seat’ - your legs are much more vertical, which puts your spine in a far better position than regular sitting does. The other nice thing about the Capisco is that you can reverse it and sit backwards if you need to lean forward with extra support (that’s why the back is such a weird shape – it’s a combination of back and arm-rests for both set-ups. The seat design also makes you use your muscles more actively which encourages more mobility. Back sufferers seem to be raving about it, which is what attracted me to it. Finally, it has the option to go high enough that you can use it with a standing-height desk as well as a regular height desk, which ticks the final box if I intend to turn my desk into a standing area too.
Anyone had any experience trying stand-up desking or the Capisco? Unfortunately again there are no places locally I can try out the Capisco, although reports from users on the web suggest that’s not a good way to evaluate it anyway, since it seems weird for a few days until you get used to it, so I’m probably going to have to order blind.
January 15th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Have you read this?
Investing in a Quality Programming Chair
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001146.html
January 15th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Thanks – I hadn’t seen that particular post but I have looked at most of the chairs contained in it. The main issue is flash or not, they’re all regular ’sitting chairs’ – no matter how good your chair is, you’re still sitting IN it, and even the best sitting posture adds more stress to the back than standing (some say 40-70% more stress). Like I say, I had a decent chair in an office previously, and while it was no doubt better, it didn’t stop me getting back problems. Sitting for too long screws your back up, period – no matter how swanky the chair is it’s just changing the degree of damage, not the presence of it. Once you’ve passed the ‘tipping point’ (and I’ve done that twice now) you’re in a position where half-way solutions aren’t enough.
What attracted me to the Capisco is that the overall posture is more like standing than sitting, while still allowing you to rest your legs. It also goes high enough that it can be configured to work with a stand-up desk too, which most regular chairs do not. My main aim is to do less traditional sitting while still being able to work.
January 15th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
I like how the Capisco Summary says “new natural sitting positions”.
Have you considered ergonomic chairs like this?
http://homedecorators.com/images/items/large/l32369.jpg
I have a similar chair at home and love it. I don’t have any back problems, but I think it helps my posture some.
At work I’ve seen a lot of people using stand up desks, I’m tempted to try it out one of these days. Our desks have a crank that allows it to rise fairly high off the ground.
January 16th, 2009 at 12:39 am
Thanks for sharing this one. Standing up, what a fantastic idea. I can’t wait to try it: http://ciarang.com/posts/standing-up
January 16th, 2009 at 10:25 am
@KungFooMasta: yeah, I saw one of the kneeling chairs in the office I used to work in – better in terms of key posture but it still doesn’t encourage you to move around, and doesn’t allow you to work standing up too. The manual crank desk was what I was originally after, but they seem very scarce around here.
@Ciaran: glad you’ve found it interesting – I know you don’t have a bad back now, but believe me, you will if you carry on like you are!
I used to have terrible posture too and didn’t think anything of it, until my back decided to give up the ghost. I did probably more bad sitting than most, on account of working long hours plus open sourcing in my spare time – 10-12 hours a day in a chair is definitely a no-no. But yeah, you should get the alertness benefits anyway and just get the back benefits as a side effect.
I’m going to order a Capisco and I’ll let you know how it goes. I’m also going to try to find boxes / planks at the weekend to set up an experimental stand-up desk.
January 17th, 2009 at 9:50 am
I’m glad I could help with my idea…just please don’t get hurt while moving around all your new furniture
January 17th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
[...] following on from my thoughts last week, I spent a little time today rearranging my main work area to accommodate working standing up. [...]