Reclining Chairs

[deucykub]

I am back in the job market again. My previous job illegally forced me to retire on disability by refusing to provide accommodations (a 20 month battle). I am very blessed that as a federal employee my employer's pushing me out the door made me eligible for disability that is retroactive to the last day I worked.

Now that my day to day battle with them is over, I can focus most of my attention on finding new employment. I actually feel more free that I have felt in ages! I am so grateful to all of you at DINET who helped me through that harrowing experience.

Anyway, I would like to purchase a good reclining office-suitable chair that I can bring with me to my next job (ironically, I can afford this now because of being forced into disability...). The "zero gravity" chairs look really nice, but from what I can tell, they don't allow you to recline/incline the head and foot separately. Rather, it stays in a uniform position, and if the feet go up, the head goes down, and vice-versa.

I'd like to find something that allows for separate control of the feet and head so that I can raise up the feet but stay in a more upright position at the same time.

If you have experience with any of this, I would be most grateful for your input/advice.

Many thanks!

[flop]

My friend's Dad has a sort of reclining chair thing in his lounge. He is a retired bank manager and it is the chair he used to have a work in his office. It is a leather chair with a tall back and simple arms (looks a bit like a posh executive desk chair - well I guess it is one!). It has a single "leg" attached to a 5 point star base. The good thing about the chair is that the whole thing can be tipped back just by leaning backwards, and you can also use a leaver to alter the angle between the seat and the back. He uses a matching footstool with it. That way you can be upright with your feet up, leaned back with your feet down, or leaned back with your feet up too. (sorry I find it hard to describe things without drawing diagrams).

My Mum has an armchair that reclines. With that you can put your feet up without reclining back, but an armchair might look a bit odd in an office.

Flop

[deucykub]

Thank you for your reply, flop, and for the suggestions! My Dad uses one of those huge, overstuffed recliners (I call them Grandpa recliners)... can't you just picture that in an office setting?

You did a great job explaining the executive chair by the way. I knew exactly what you meant.

I'm hoping to find something that has an extendable leg lift - a one-piece kind of unit, so that my legs can tilt higher than my center of gravity (the nicest phrase I could think of to say "rump"). There doesn't seem to be much out there. The one thing I've found so far is this (picture below), and it's really pricey. (If I have to, I'll pay it so that I can get back to work, but if something less expensive is out there, that would be wonderful!)

Oh, I forgot to mention, I get really symptomatic just from sitting upright normally. I can last an hour, maybe two, before being too sick to stay upright. That's why I'm searching for a recliner, because I am much, much less symptomatic that way, and can stay in that position for ten to twelve hours without problem.

[flop]

Those pictures look like what I was trying to describe but with the added footrest part. I hope someone has seen something similar in the US with a smaller price-tag!

Happy chair hunting,

Flop

[mkoven]

That looks like a pretty cool chair!

My guess is that you wouldn't like my chair-- it's a zero gravity recliner --a "perfect chair" made by integrative health. I also have a desk chair.

My point though is not to convince you that you'd like the same chair as me! But, I find having a recliner at work really helps me to last. I use it for lightheadedness and my bad back. There are many work-related tasks I can perform from this position. It was expensive, and I paid for it myself (probably could have gotten work to pay if I'd been willing to wait to jump through bureaucratic hoops), but I figured that anything that lets me keep my job will pay for itself in the long run.

The only thing I don't do is work on the computer from it. I could use a laptop, but they strain my neck.

[deucykub]

Thanks for your reply, mkoven!

How do you like the "perfect chair" in a workplace setting? It looks like it reclines as a single unit, with the feet going up as the head goes down. Do you find this awkward at all? That's the other chair I've been looking at, but I'm unsure about that particular feature.

It's so incredibly encouraging to hear that a reclining chair has helped you work! I'm going nuts at home; working is my life, really. I don't have an "arts & crafts" or "gardening" bone in my body, so I pretty much just keep up on my field and watch movies all day. Your story makes me believe this is really possible!

I plan to buy my own, too. I've already been the route of asking for help, and that failed miserably. At the time, I couldn't afford to buy one myself because I had already lost so much from missed work (love those Catch-22s). My poor husband just about fell over at the price, but when I pointed out that, without the chair, we were losing my entire salary, he relaxed a little.

I've also been searching around for good laptop desks, too, and the best one I've found is the AirDesk. It's had a lot of good reviews. If you ever needed to work on a computer from a reclined position, something like this might eliminate the neck strain you experience:

http://www.airdesks.com

[mkoven]

I love my chair. Best money I've spent. I have my own office where I can close the door. It's cramped, but doable, and I'm the only one who the crampedness imposes on. I couldn't survive without the chance to lie down. My body quits on me harder and faster than my colleagues, but I still manage to work full-time. I searched on the net for the best price. I need an electric one, as the manual ones were impossible to get out of. (I sat in one at a relax-the back store.) I'd see if you can try the recliner out before you buy. Maybe find a store with several models and go hang out in several models for at least fifteen minutes. In the end I paid 1500 (ouch, I know), but that's better than the 2300 that Relax-the-back wanted to charge.

Hope you can find a solution that helps!

Michele

[EarthMother]

When I was able to work (sadly, I had to leave my career last fall after 23 years) ... I tried a reclining chair and it did seem to help. However, what I found most useful was a laptop that I could sit on the floor or on a loveseat in my office. That with a foot stool seemed to "feel" better and allowed me more flexibility on how my body wanted to move.

Good luck in your healing journey.

~EM

[DancingLight]

Wow! How do you find these amazing links! These products are amazing!

Emily

[deucykub]

Thanks again to everyone for your replies.

EarthMother, I don't do so well on the floor but can last a pretty long day lying in bed with my laptop. That must have been incredibly difficult to leave your career. I really feel for you. It's so difficult to not have control over that most basic (and fulfilling) aspect of our life.

Mkoven, great advice about trying out the chair first. I really should do that; although I think the closest store that actually has the recliner is in NYC, about 2 hours away. "Hi honey, can we go to NY?" "Why?" "Um, I need to try a chair." That would be interesting.... hee hee

DancingLight, that's too funny. I think I found those links because I am just that completely and totally bored! Although I did research products for a while for a dot-com company, which might have honed my digging skills a bit.

[mkoven]

Given the cost of the chair, I'd probably make any trip under four hours!

Our closes "relax-the-back" store in Chicago, 3 hours away. When I was up there to see doctors, we stopped there and I tried a bunch of zero-gravity chairs out. I'm on the short side, and wanted to make sure that the proportions fit me. and my back and neck are very sensitive. I"m like the princess and the pea.

The one thing that was really challenging was finding one where the neck support wasn't excessive, forcing my neck into too much flexion-- which causes pain pretty fast. What I do on the perfect chair is take the top part that is the head/neck support and put it on backwards (!!!) to get the amount of support I need. It looks a little funny that way, but feels better. (I've always hated that airplane seats push your head forward-- same strange concept. Maybe that's comfortable for some???)