Hey Everyone,
Simon Freedman here. The retailers told us we should pitch them at $2K! Eric is right, I'd love to bring the price down. If I can make them cheap enough for schools to buy that would be great, but we've got to go high(ish) to start. Also, we want to make a low -price wheelchair. I've been talking to the President of the International Paralymic Committee and am very excited about the possibilities!<p>Pravda, please contact me about that bullshit detector. I'm applying for my PhD course at the University of Huddersfield. Do you think we've evolved to the point were we're meant to farm or sit? That's 10k years of agricultural life and 15-20 years of widespread computer use...I'd be really happy to talk more if anyone has questions. Getting late over here in London though. Back in the am...
My bullshit detector is going 'ting..ting..ting..'<p>Speaking of magic chairs, I remember when the kneeling chair was all the rage. Whatever happened to the kneeling chair?<p>Oh, I guess they are still out there:
<a href="http://www.ebay.com/bhp/kneeling-chair" rel="nofollow">http://www.ebay.com/bhp/kneeling-chair</a>
This chair is expected to sell in retail for $1,300 USD.<p>It would be nice if someone could produce an innovative but affordable solution for the 'rest of us' working poor, since we have to sit also for long periods of time.
Interesting, I'm in the market for a new chair. However, I've read even standing for long periods can give similar back pain (I've experienced this myself), with regular <i>movement</i> being the optimal thing to do all day. So what's the truth? Will this chair really solve my back pain?<p>I'm so tempted, but that's a lotta money for this starving coder.
Backed. Eager to see innovation in the sitting market. When I worked for ITA Software we had an ergonomic consultant available, and it took half a dozen chairs until we found one that worked for me. After I left I tried without the chair for a few months, and back pain persisted. Ended up buying the chair ( <a href="http://lx.tc/chair" rel="nofollow">http://lx.tc/chair</a> - note: Amazon referral link ) for myself, and things have been pretty good since.<p>But I still believe things can be better. I see colleagues struggle, going between standing desks, different chairs, seeing massage therapists. As a nation many jobs are shifting to knowledge-based work, and people are spending more time in chairs. We can't leave everyone with back problems as a result.<p>Even if this ends up not being the ultimate solution, I think its great to see work and innovation to move things along and encourage others to spend time looking for answers.
Hey Pallandt,<p>Apologies for the delayed reply. Our Kickstarter launch has been nuts. The FreedMan Chair is a paradigm shift in sitting theory. Osteopathy in the Uk is a real medical science with a four-year full-time course and in the US the study results in Osteopaths being Doctors. I myself have been an osteopath for 26 years and have dedicated 18 years to the study of sitting ergonomics and chairs. My Phd thesis at is "We are not meant to sit" and my PhD supervisor, an international authority on ergonomics and spinal research considers me one of the most knowledgable people in the world when it comes to sitting ergonomics.
I disagree about your idea that the best way to prevent back pain is to exercise. Sure exercise is great but there's actually very little robust evidence to show the best way to do it to prevent low back pain. This is a good paper to start with <a href="http://www.backpaineurope.org/web/files/WG2_Guidelines.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.backpaineurope.org/web/files/WG2_Guidelines.pdf</a><p>To be honest I think The FreedMan Chair may well help you with your back problems. Someone could buy both a cheaper chair and an exercise bike too, but this seems a bit excessive.
I am working on a quadruple blinded randomised controlled trial of the chair, but this is a long and expensive process-we'll get there. And, yes I'd agree that most of the claims other chairs make are nonsense.
Your bed and the chair you spend many hours sitting on should be the most expensive pieces of furniture you own. You really do get what you pay for and this is the most sophisticated chair in the world...and considering that it's reall not expensive. I'll get to cheaper versions but this is as cheap as we can get he first one.<p>This is a true, real-life disruptive technology.<p>I've dedicated 26 years of my life to looking after people and improving their lives. Sometimes people do things because they truly desire and believe they can make the world a better place.<p>Best wishes,<p>Simon
This is very hard to judge without trying one out. Are there any testimonials of people who have used this for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week? I need a new chair and anything over £150 will be a serious decision for me.
Probably not the best criteria to judge a posture perfect chair - but boy is that thing fugly. Throw in the outrageous retail price and I'm guessing it will be a hard sell.
I should also add that our kickstarter campaign <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/929020713/the-freedman-chair-a-better-way-to-sit" rel="nofollow">http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/929020713/the-freedman-c...</a> has raised over $390k and you just 7 days to save $800 on the future retail price.
I hope you get one.
Cheers,
Simon
I always wondered whether a chair that would put you into an almost lying position would be best for your health - I believe you could easily fight sleepiness, while the reduced load on your back and knees would make it possible to work very long hours with minimal health effects...<p>Kind of like the Emperor 1510 - maybe we could team up to develop something like this :-)
This is interesting use case for Kickstarter. It's the kind of product that would normally be <i>very hard</i> to find an investor to, questions would be raised about market acceptance of a chair so different, or not being backed by a famous design studio but rather a physician.
If you missed it, the "animation" video is spectacular:<p><a href="http://vimeo.com/74490099#" rel="nofollow">http://vimeo.com/74490099#</a><p>I've been looking into creating a video for my own project and after looking at dozens of ways to do it this one was hilarious.
Damn, I'll have to see if I can convince someone to give it to me as an early Christmas present. I really need a new chair, and this looks like just the one for me.<p>They'll even give you a full refund, if you don't like it.