There are multiple reasons why I’ve continually had lower back pain:
1) Genetics (my dad has suffered with serious back problems his entire adult life).
2) Sitting at a desk all day.
3) Frequently overdoing the elliptical machine on the hardest possible setting for the maximum time allowed.
4) Stomach sleeper.
I’ve been using the garden-variety Costco desk chair for several years, and though nothing is wrong with it, its lower back support leaves much to be desired. Though I’m amongst the cheapest people you might come across, I figured that it was about time that I spent the necessary money to get the best possible office chair.
I’ve heard about Herman Miller chairs for a while and knew they were connected with the iconic “Eames Chair” which was my television chair of choice while growing up in the 70’s. I knew they did high-end office chairs but when I tried to examine the differences between the Mirra, Aeron, Cella, etc., I quickly grew confused. And, it wasn’t as if I could go to the store and try them out…it’s not going to be comfortable in the first few minutes…the value will be determined over days / weeks / months/ years.
Then, I read about the new Embody Chair. For about $300 more than the alternatives, I could get a chair described by multiple trusted sources as the “best chair ever”.
So, quoting Risky Business, sometimes you gotta say “What The F***”.
I threw down 1K for the chair, buying it from Smart Furniture (at a bit better price than they seem to be offering it later). Took 1 week for the chair to arrive and I can’t talk about putting it together because we had a handyman working at our house the day the chair arrived and he took care of it. I started using it and here’s my initial reaction:
Yeah, it was that good. Not only did I not have any back soreness from sitting but the soreness I was then feeling actually went away (and has yet to return).
On the back of the chair, there was a sticker directing me to this web page so that I could optimally adjust the chair for my needs. One of the settings was for “backfit” and allowed me to dial the chair so that the lower back of the chair would align with the very curved lumbar area of my back. The results were astonishing…while sitting, it’s as if my bad back genetics were being precisely corrected orthopedically.
Sitting on this chair all day now makes me appreciate how f***ing bad cheap chairs are for your back and I now feel really stupid that I was too thrifty to invest in something of great utility and value. I can’t give any stronger possible recommendation to anyone of my fellow computer desk jockeys than investing in this chair. The positive benefits will be apparent immediately. It will be the best expense you’ve ever incurred.
