My back is mad as hell and it's not going to take bad chair design anymore

I spent last Saturday at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. There's nothing I love more than being out in nature, on a fine summer's day, enjoying home-made music. But alas, I'm getting older and after several hours sitting, I was pretty crippled up.

I've known for a long time that your standard, fold-up chair bends your spine the wrong way. That was never comfortable. But as I age, what used to cause a little soreness, now renders me barely able to walk.

Now, an insidious thing about modern society is standardized design, produced in enormous quantities without ever consulting you or me, the end-customers. We buy everything pre-made, off-the-rack on the presumption that the stuff will mostly meet our needs. Except when it doesn't, like my stupid, back-breaking folding chair. But there's not much we can do about that, right? Because they're all designed that way. If the hurt gets too bad, we'll just have to pop some pain killers. Or have an operation--get a couple vertebrae fused together.

Well, to hell with that. After the Folk Fest, I searched online for a more humane folding chair with decent lumbar support. These aren't common but there are a few good ones out there. In my searches, Strongback chairs came up most often, so I focused on those. I considered buying online but then you have to wait and pay for delivery. I searched for a local retailer and found Mark's Work Wearhouse carries them.

Fifteen minutes later, I had one, the Strongback Guru model, perfect for contemplating life while digging folk music. It's a beauty--sturdiest frame I've ever seen in a folding chair and a wonderful lumbar curve that matches the natural shape of my spine. Ah, sweet relief.

So, now I'm good. My only puzzlement is, how are so many chair makers, folding and otherwise, getting away with so much back-destroying design? We need to demand better!