Ypsilon Office Chair

The boys at Gadgetizer wrote in about a scoop on a new product that could start turning up in swank offices everywhere. The Ypsilon Office Chair—I assume it’s pronounced “Epsilon,” but I feel compelled to say “Yip-silon”—offers 10 adjustable settings including height, depth and pressure for the seat, backrest and headrest. In addition to its therapeutic functions, it looks from slick.

Appearance-wise the Ypsilon sort of reminds me of a dentist’s chair. It is clearly aimed at the Aeron market, but I dunno if it’s enough chair to dethrone the king. Wouldn’t mind trying one out though.

Workspace Roundup: Ergonomic Chairs

Steelcase Leap

Price: $900 shown—$800 base

Topping out our list is the Leap from Steelcase. Widely touted as the Aeron killer, the Leap features everything one could possibly ask for in an ergo chair. Featuring ten adjustable points, it’s easy to situate this chair precisely to personal demands.

Those controls allow you to manipulate seat depth and height, lumbar height, lower and upper back firmness, tilt and various options for the arm pads. It comes in leather, but I demoed a cloth version, which appeals to me more than leather.

From a build perspective, it feels like something from the ’50s. It’s heavy-duty and quite heavy—in my excitement to remove it from the boxes, I pulled my back and spent the next several days limping around, sweet irony.

The sheer quantity of ergonomic options on the Leap can be a bit daunting to start. It definitely took me a few days to finally get it situated in an agreeable fashion and then a few more days to tweak it to perfection.

But after sitting in it for about two weeks, I’m curious how I lived life before it. My entire body feels a good deal happier.

Let’s face it, everyone is vastly different, and a chair that works for one person might not work for another. Steelcase covered its bases here. By allowing users to fine-tune all of the chair’s functions, it has essentially created a chair personalized to each sitter.

The downside? Cost. It’s not cheap, but it’s oh so worth it. You might have to sell a kidney to afford one, but your neck and back will thank you (at least after you finish healing from that kidney extraction). - BR

HumanScale Liberty
Price: $885 and up

VIA Swopper
Price: $500 and up

The Swopper from Via is the perfect choice for those that want the health benefits of an ergonomic chair without all the maddening back, seat and arm adjustments. And if you’re into training your core muscles, its “sitting in motion” design concept will help you do that, too.

The build of the stool is pretty basic: a cushioned seat on a giant spring. You adjust the tension of the spring by twisting a collar on the stool’s post at the bottom of the coil. This dictates how much movement the chair will have. There’s another pneumatic height adjustment, but that’s it.

So the idea is that once you’ve properly adjusted the Swopper according to your height and weight (the included instruction pamphlet lays it all out) and you sit in the proper position (yeah, it’s detailed in the instructions as well), all of your back and stomach muscles will go into action, helping you balance on the stool while you work.

The Swopper is overall comfortable. However at first, while you’re getting used to sitting on it, it can get uncomfortable if you stay on it for longer than 30 minutes at a time. Simply standing up for a bit cures this though, and after using the Swopper for a while, you won’t need to do it as often.

Its compact size is one of the Swopper’s biggest benefits. Those in cramped cubes or tight working spaces will enjoy not having a big, bulky ergonomic chair. And because you can easily swivel and turn any direction, it’ll work well for anyone that’s constantly reaching for things around their work area or frequently standing and sitting.

If you’re the type that likes to lean back in your chair when you’re on the phone, this is not the chair for you. Also, if you like arm rests, skip the Swopper. But it’s a great stool for training your muscles to do without the multiple stationary comforts of most all ergonomic chairs. - JG

Herman-Miller Mirra Chair
Price: $550 and up

Available in basic and full-featured models, the Mirra Chair is a good blend of modern office looks, ergonomics and price. Yes, there are plenty of similar-looking chairs on the market and at lower prices (the Mirra starts at about $550 for the basic model), but the superior comfort and quality construction are worth the cost, especially if you spend all day sitting.

The basic model is well, basic, with only a pneumatic adjustment for height, standard tilt and fixed armrests. Step up to the full-featured model and you get a tilt-limiter, adjustable arms, a FlexFront seat that lets you add or remove a curve to the front of the seat pan and—probably the best feature—a lumbar support. The lumbar support can be easily moved up and down the back of the chair, so putting it in the perfect position for your back is a snap, and you can adjust the amount of tension on it as well.

The seat is extremely comfortable for extended work sessions considering it has no cushioning. Both the backrest and seat pan are made from taut, breathable mesh allowing for good support and air circulation as well as a more individualized fit as it shapes to each user. All the adjustments are simple to operate and stay locked into place.

One of the nicest parts about the Mirra is you can pick different colors for the backrest, the seat pan and the frame. There are eight colors for the back and seat and two for the frame. Depending on where you buy it, you can also get a number of caster options for different flooring surfaces. True, coughing up nearly $800 for a desk chair is a tough thing to do, but your body will thank you for it.

Is Your Work A Pain In The Neck?

Ergonomics has become a buzzword in occupational health, and many companies have whipped out their chequebooks to invest in state-of-the-art equipment. But this isn't the smartest move, says Guy Clapperton

There are two extreme schools of thought on ergonomics. One says if you're sitting comfortably, you probably don't have a problem. The other says nonsense, you'll be doing all sorts of damage - and what you need is a custom- built ergonomic chair ... here's one for only £600 just in from America. Neither is absolutely right. The good news is that the way in which the £600-a-shot brigade has it right is that it needn't cost a lot of money every time. "Many people do spend a lot of money on chairs that are labelled ergonomic, but the actual guidelines on what makes an ergonomic chair is just that you can adjust it in terms of more than height," says Paul Godfrey, director of ergonomics specialist Health and Fitness Solutions. "You get one or two companies spending a lot thinking the more they spend, the better the chair will be, but it's all about adjustability."

Essentially, what's ergonomic for one person isn't necessarily going to be ergonomic for someone else. "You're not going to be able to find one chair to fit all. When you take all the heights and sizes and body frames you'll find in a company and try to fit it into one chair, you realise that even if various components of the chairs adjust, it still won't fit the individual," says Godfrey.

It's worth taking a step back and considering what is meant by "ergonomic" in terms of chairs. The hollow of the back should be supported and the feet should rest comfortably on the ground or else on a footrest. The elbows should be about level with the keyboard for comfortable typing and the top of the monitor should be at eye level. And that's just about it for beginners. It should be apparent from those comments that the chair is only one element of the deal.

"A lot of people pay attention to the chair and forget that you need a good marriage between the chair and the desk," says Godfrey. "Most desks are made to 700-720mm high. Unless you're 5ft 4in or shorter, 720mm is going to be too low for most people." So you have a new ergonomic chair at the right height but sit too high and lean forward, or compromise your sitting position by dropping the chair height.

The result can be complaining employees, which gets difficult because the people making the decisions about spending feel they've "done" ergonomics and it didn't work. "When directors spend money on furniture and don't get the return on investment that they'd hoped for, their perception of ergonomics becomes negative," says ergonomist Herman Bynke. "They are removed from the subject matter and they really don't believe in ergonomics afterwards." Bynke believes it isn't enough to spend a lot on state-of-the-art chairs. "Ergonomics is all about the fit between the human being and the equipment. It's a big picture, and ergonomics in the office environment is still focused on the chair."

Godfrey agrees that people need to look further than the furniture. "People expect that good ergonomics are going to take their aches and pains away," he says. "They need to understand that even when you're sitting properly at a chair that's been designed for you, with the right desk height and so on, you're still sitting. We're hunter gatherers, and the whole office environment has evolved over the last 20 years, while we haven't evolved for many thousands. We like to be upright, we like to move about and the fact that you're sitting well doesn't take away the fact that you're sitting." People still need to understand that they should get up for 10 minutes an hour, and that staring at a screen for ages isn't going to be a good idea, he says.

There is a lot that can be done without spending a lot of money. People make the mistake, says Bynke, of putting screens to the side of the desk rather than looking straight at them - crick in the neck anyone? Then they put the documents on which they're working on the desk rather than at the same height as the monitor. Notebook users often seem to think the monitor height rule doesn't apply to them: stands for notebook computers are available though, for example the NotebookStation USB from Kensington.

"People forget that these products were designed for working on the move, not for sustained use, and therefore they sit hunched over their laptop for far too long," says Phil O'Neill, director and business manager for Kensington Europe.

Lighting is also important. The Verilux Happy Eyes range is among those that imitates daylight, which is whiter than the yellowish artificial light to which most people will be accustomed. Overall, the way people make mistakes appears mostly to involve overlooking the basics. If you're sitting badly, the chances are you know you're doing so, and if your staff are doing so you'll be able to spot it.

If you're embarking on investigating the ergonomics of your environment for the first time, consider asking your staff whether they're comfortable and educating them about the correct use of their equipment before spending a fortune - a high spend might prove unnecessary.

· Spend a fortune on chairs without finding out whether the existing furniture is causing a problem.

· Buy footrests for everyone in the office when their feet already reach the ground comfortably.

· Spend a lot of money on monitors because the most costly ones must be low-radiation. There may be good reason to invest in an expensive monitor, but all modern monitors are low-rad.

· Focus exclusively on the chair.

· Fail to educate staff on how to use ergonomic equipment. Slouching in a chair for hours on end will hurt your back no matter how brilliantly designed it may be.

http://www.guardian.co.uk