Sitting Pretty.

MASSAGE equipment; CHAIRS; PULMONARY circulation; ACUPRESSURE; PHYSICAL therapy; PHYSIOLOGICAL therapeutics; VIBRATION therapy

UNITED States; JAPAN

It sounds like a cheap horror flick: you're sitting in this weird-looking chair when suddenly it grabs hold of your forearms and starts kneading them like cookie dough. It's the Inada D.1, the ultimate in high-tech massage chairs. It uses a system of computer-controlled rollers that firmly and methodically press into your back. While that mechanism lulls you into bliss, inflatable air bags squeeze your hands, forearms, feet and calves to release tension and increase blood flow. Developed in Japan and coming to the U.S. next month (see inada-chair.com for store locations), the D.1 feels like a professional shiatsu massage, but with greater privacy and convenience. When I sat down in the luxurious D.1, I was startled at first by the heavy-duty rollers--hidden beneath the chair's black leather exterior--that began slowly gliding up and down my back.