What Makes A Good Office Chair?

by Thomas Joanas

I've gone through a number of stools over the years, as I ,usually am working very long hours at my desk, so comfort is critical for me and I'm sure you too. The comfort of my workspace has a lot to do with the comfort of my stool that I have to be on for hours.

Since we sell office chairs, I am habitually asked by my clients about office chair designs and what position is the best for sitting when working all day in a chair.

Some of these people have been given very good quality high end leather custom made chairs at their office and are wondering if there is really any discrepancy between it and your standard office chair. Some people complain about the shape of some guest or reception lounge chairs at some work places, these folks often find themselves uncomfortable when having only sat for only a short period.

It is definitely true that some seats can feel much more comfortable than others. Some chairs make it a easy to maintain a improved upright posture, while others can stand between you and good ergonomics.

You need to remember however, that it is our body that sits in a chairs, and in order to increase on our own comfort , our awareness should be focused on improving our own work place comfort and what we do with our body when we are in our chairs working hard.

So what advice can I give concerning posture and the typical office chair? First, I would recommend very plain, basic type designs with fairly level and firm seat bottom and with backs to not force your torso into any specific shape.

I would also suggest good back support and a high-quality tilt system for proper reclining and movement while moving throughout the tasks of your day. But, you need to take into account that you cannot look to your chair as the primary solution to poor posture. It�s your posture that needs to be trained how to change itself and find that comfort zone.

So a quality office chair can mean different things to different people, some might feel better even on a conventional type seat vs. a fancy mesh chair. Other people may never find real comfort while sitting, and esp. larger people, or people with injuries or illnesses, for them this can all lead to increased exhaustion, tenderness and discomfort while sitting.

One of the most important things to look for in a high-quality chair is the foam, this is something that the cheap office chairs you often find at the office supply type stores are lacking in, the lower quality chairs are made with foam that might feel good when you "assess" the chair out in the store but it quickly starts to breakdown and compress and lose the foam's memory and after a a short time it feels like you're sitting on a chair with little if any padding once the padding becomes loses it's "memory".

The second most essential thing to look for in good quality office chairs is the seat mechanical workings, you want to check the chair is fully adjustable, a good chair will have about six to seven adjustments, where a nothing out of the ordinary low quality chair will have at best 3-4. Having those extra adjustments is very valuable to get an best working posture. A quality office chair will adjust up and down, you'll also have seat slope, back lean, seat slide in and out away towards the back rest, and the back can adjust up and down. Some chairs have additional adjustments, i.e like headrest adjustment and or armrest height and width adjustments. Usually the more adjustments the better, but none of that matters if the foam is inferior and falls apart and becomes uncomfortable only after a couple weeks of use.

Another feature to mull over about is that most office seats are scored for the amount of daily hours is planned for, more often than not the higher the hours rating the more substantial and quality the chair is ,but not always as everyone fits on a chair differently, you have to take into account your own dimensions. Speaking of seat size, a number of chairs esp. the good chairs, will occasionally come with separate size seats, small, medium and large seats. If you realize that most office chairs are either too small or too large then perhaps a specially sized chair give you the most comfort.

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