We have nothing "but" Aeron. Must have at least 50 of em, and they are very nice to work in. I bought one for my home office on Ebay for $200.00, brand new.
The retail price can go from $650.00 to $800.00. They may be $1000.00 in some places. but I've never seen on advertized that high.
I've a bad back ... (tall + too much cad & windsurfing !) I've been using a aeron for the last 5 years - great chair, recently back got worse (due to forgetting glasses and straining at the screen - NOT recomended),
the aeron was OK, it releaved the pain, BUT the the chair that fixed the back and makes 10hour CAD sessions 100% ok again is kneeler chair - they are made by many people and 'make' the back work itself, with legs not too bent at the hip.
It sound to me like you have poor ergonomic policies. If you want to be able to work at your desk for 10 hours a day, you will need to get up from your desk periodically.
Also, you should look at the way that your chair is set up. I have seen people go from having sore legs at the end of the day to having pain free legs in 24 hours. The change was due to lowering the chair less than 2 inches. You can get a good ergonomic chair for less than $200 from any of the big office supply stores. The trick is properly adjusting the chair so that you are seated in a proper position. Circulation problems are usually due to an improper sitting posture or else personal health problems.
I don't mean to be rude, but unless you are over 7 ft tall, you may consider losing some weight. A smaller person, closer to the 50th percentile for height and weight is able to "fit" a chair better. Look up your height and weight on an ergonomic website and see where you fit. Typically manufacturers of chairs do not design for everybody, but try to fit in the majority. So, even if you buy an expensive chair, you may still have the same complaints.
I've been messing with the ergo around here, keyboard/mouse height, monitor height, posture, etc, with some success. You're right about the weight thing, according to the charts I'm ~50lbs overweight. =8oO
Thanks for the > It sound to me like you have poor ergonomic policies. If you want to be
I have had 2 of the Aeron chairs the first one was the -B for normal size butts but i always felt cramped in that chair I got the -C for the wide load butt and love it I would never plant my butt in another chair. BTW I am the same about 240lbs
Check out the SteelCase "Leap" chair. I had an Aeron for years (at IDEO) and one at home and then Steelcase responded with the Leap (a IDEO product). the Leap is superior to the Aeron.... but I think it is even more expensive. You might want to shop around.
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It's funny with the Aeron - "Poster Child of the dot-bomb", because about 5 years ago you could get them for less than $200 bucks because of the "Dot.com crash" that happened in Silcon Valley. I'll bet the bay-area is still the best place to by them.
BTW, the really had to first get an Aeron and then a Leap because back in 2001, I was developing Carpal-tunnel on my right wrist - these chairs literally saved my arm from surgery because of the four-way adjustment on the arm rests.
Blind adherance to the "average" or "upscale" solutions will not necessarily get the right choice for an individual designer at a CAD workstation. Be willing to experiment a bit.
In addition to everything else, if you look at what other options exist, you might get some understanding of the benefits of getting a table at standing height. Traditional drafting table height or slightly higher allows you to vary your working position over the day to relieve some of the issues of remaining in a static position for hours at a time.
I have done this with adjustable height drafting chairs for 4 decades and have not developed joint, hand, arm, shoulder, back or other pains. I can stand with various leg and foot positions, sit with one leg on the floor and one on the chair footrest or be all on the chair. Makes for good changes in positions.
Physiologically, some medical studies recently published have claimed the body should "sit", not at 90 degrees femur to spine, but 135 degrees. This was published in the popular press summary in the last
30-60 days.
There are companies that make workstations with variable height surfaces and chairs to match. Yup, they are not inexpensive, but getting productive without repetitive stress injury or positional injury over years and decades is something that is worth paying for.
If you did NOT want to pay the "new price" you can get 3 foot x 6 foot drafting tables used for a minimal cost. They sometimes have adjustable feet to let you raise their height. Some of the older fancy mechanical tables could be instantly adjusted, though they are hard to find now, as no one has made those in 30-40 years (I bought one at action decades back for $75 and still have it).
Suspa, Inc. make the gas cylinder assemblies which can be used for high quality drafting chairs or a chair you might want to retrofit to drafting table height. Last time I asked Hermann Miller, they didn't have a drafting height chair.
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If you want to look at a modular table with lots of options which actually makes good sense for an engineer-designer with all the crap we keep around, take a look at the lab workstations sold by Production Basics.
For adjustable height check their models under: ELECTRIC STATION, DUAL LEG "Use this workstation to improve ergonomics. Effortless height 30-45" adjustment with a push button travels the full range within 11 seconds. Store up to four height settings with a 400 lb weight capacity."
You could have a look at the Life Chair by Formway
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bought one a few years ago and it costs alot less than some of the other figures I've heard thrown around here. From memory mine cost $800 NZD which would work out to about $600 USD, if the licenced amnufacturers over there were not price gouging. Better still I believe it was designed using Solidworks.
I had a bad back for quite a while, looked at a lot of chairs, and was prepared to spend a lot on a chair. When I went around a lot of suppliers I made a conscious effort not to look at the price tags. I ended up only spending $400 on the chair that was the most comfortable for me. I tend to slouch, in a chair, I have been told to sit up straight many times but that just doesn't work for me, 135 degree incline is about right, for me at least, no matter what the experts say. Some of the most expensive chairs where the lest comfortable, they had lots of adjustment and looked great but I wouldn't want to sit on them for 10 - 12 hours a day.
The best thing for my bad back was to get to the gym, the more I exercise the less of a problem I have. Less weight and stronger stomach muscles are the best answer, I believe.
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