Reviewing the 'Ergo Truly Perfect Chair' for One Month To Fix My Achy Breaky Back

This increase in gaming chair sales was odd to me, because, why in the world would a gaming chair be more ergonomic than a proper office chair made by people who have experience creating chairs that people sit on from 9 to 5?

Fun fact: DXRacer is credited as being the first gaming chair in 2006 and they did take inspiration from racing car seats. Legends say that they strapped wheels onto a car seat to make the first gaming chair and that's why, inexplicably, gaming chairs today still have holes for seat belts.

All these years and one pandemic later, people associate comfortable seats with gaming chairs instead of office chairs. Maybe the name conjures images of gamers slumped over their seats for hours on end without pain that gets people. In reality, you probably spend more hours sitting at work than you do while gaming. You also take care of your posture more at work compared to at home gaming where you're curled over like a prawn in front of your screen.

Not content to follow the trend, I reached out to Joseph Tan, the founder of Ergoworks, an ergonomics concept store, to find out what exactly should you look for in a chair and reviewed the Ergo Truly Perfect Chair to see if it truly was, perfect.

"We believe that prior knowledge on ergonomics and good posture habits are important in preventing or alleviating back pain," he said. Ergoworks' products are professionally endorsed and recommended by both The Chiropractic Association (Singapore) and the Singapore Physiotherapy Association so they know a thing or to about back pain.

"Spinal problems are often multifactorial, proven with the recent pandemic which led to overworking and burnout, leading to poor mobility in surrounding muscles, bad posture, sedentary lifestyle and sitting too," he continued.

"We wanted to raise the awareness of posture care and total awareness through our thoughtfully-curated products supported with leading science and technology meant for everyday living. By bringing Ergoworks’ presence to Malaysia, we get to share the same science behind our products with our consumers."

I visited Ergoworks' fllagship store at Pavilion Bukit Jalil and got a tutorial directly aboout how we should sit and snapped this handy guide.

What I noticed immediately is that the body is positioned at a 90-degree angle and most bucket seat gaming chairs cradle your back so you'll lean backwards in your chair, which isn't ideal.

I asked Joseph what he recommends when finding the perfect chair and he boiled it down to four aspects:

• Ensure the chair's dimensions are appropriate for your body size and proportions
• Check the extent of adjustability the chair offers to accommodate your needs
• Verify that the chair encourages active posture and movement while in use (movement is crucial to decrease the load on your lower back)
• Examine the chair's optimal configuration, taking into account factors such as gas cylinder distance, lumbar support firmness, and frame stability, among others.

All this points to the need for a chair to be adjustable and that's exactly what the Ergo Truly Perfect chair boasts.

Originally designed in Germany, the chair was developed over 3 years (according to Ergoworks) and the result is a chair with over 20 adjustment points and a proprietary mechanism that allows you to adjust the chair according to your height: S (150-165cm), M (165-180cm), and L (180cm and above). The minimum and maximum weight is 40kg to 150kg.

At first glance, it is an unassuming chair with little in the way of branding and is certainly doesn't have the stylings of a typical gaming chair. It looks like a full-sized office chair that you might find on IKEA. However, they recently won a Singapore Good Design award in the Product Design category so what do I know.

But where it shines is in the amount of aforementioned adjustments that can be made. When we sit down or stand still, we are constantly moving and shifting the weight of our body and the chair has the adjustment points to match however you're sitting or leaning at the time.

_{From left you can adjust the seat tilt, the tension of the back tilt, seat height, and back rest height. The mesh material is not as comfortable as plus leather but it's cooling}

I won't rattle off all the 20+ adjustments you can make but critically, what you probably need to adjust are the backrest, seat tilt (tilt downwards if your feet still can't touch the ground and upwards for a true 90-degree angle for your knees), headrest height adjustment, armrest adjustment, and the chair reclining tension.

Sitting on it, I wouldn't say you're enveloped in the chair and sink into it like you would a well-worn bean bag or a car seat, but you'll feel supported to sit upright. The head and back rests cradle your spine and the seat provides just the right spring to keep you sitting upright ergonomically.

After a month of using the chair for long hours of work (and play) I've found that I no longer need to massage my neck and do exercises to straighten my back after a long session of working. My lower back pain, which became prevalent after having children, also seemed to diminish as I put less stress on my lower back while working.

Your body weight during work is evenly distributed because you're seated properly and the Ergo Truly Perfect Chair helps you get into the proper position.

Nothing is perfect and the Ergo Truly Perfect Chair has some noticeable downsides.

Firstly, the price, at RM4,429, the perfect chair does come at a hefty price. It comes with significant warrnty on different parts though: 3 years upholstery, 5 years mechanism, and 12 years structure.

Some massage chairs cost less than that and comes in full leather... and a massage function. For RM4k, you get a really good chair, but its understated design and lack of other bells and whistles (besides the ergonomic functions) makes it difficult to fully recommend to everyone.

That said, these two downsides are honestly all I can think of.

This is a chair for a specific type of home or office worker and can be looked at as a medical purchase—an investment to the future of your spine—rather than a fashion purchase which is what most gaming chairs are.

Its price, build, and function makes this the kind of chair that you keep when you move, it's the kind you use from when you first purchase it, till the flying spaghetti monster redeems us all. Basically, you'll be using this chair well for a long time and it'll keep you well for a long time.

On this point, founder Joseph Tan added that "As a BIFMA-compliant product, the chair has successfully passed a diverse range of assessments, including impact, stability, swivel, and functional load tests, among others. In addition, rigorous material rubbing tests were executed more than 50,000 times, while the gas lift mechanism was assessed through over 1 million cycles."

I'd recommend it to all people above 15 years old, but I doubt there's a core market of youngsters clamouring for an ergonomic chair compared to a leather racing seat on wheels that lights up and is connected to Bluetooth.

Though I'd recommend it to all, you should probably only buy this if you want to avoid any back issues when you're older or you suffer from minor backpain now and you want to optimise your sitting to alleviate some pain.