Ergonomic Office Chairs
A good ergonomic chair is the most important component of your workstation set up and a genuine investment in employee health and productivity. The reason for this is that the average office worker spends around 1,680 hours sitting at their desk each year. This is a long time to be sitting in a prolonged posture if your office chair is not suitable for you, or is not set up to correctly support your spine for the task at hand - that being working. Further, in our experience having performed over 2500 ergonomic assessments on employees all around Australia, even those who have a standing desk will still sit more than they stand, so the importance of a good ergonomic chair cannot be understated.
Assessing so many office workers around Australia has enabled us to see all sorts of office chairs, some of which were great, and some not so great. What is clear to us is that out of all of the ergonomic products available today, purchasing a high quality ergonomic chair is the most difficult product to buy. The reason for this is that there is so much choice available and every chair seems to be "ergonomic".
We hope that by sharing with you the ergonomic office chairs that we recommend to our own clients, we can help you to purchase with confidence, knowing that these chairs are truly ergonomic office chairs and will help to improve the comfort and efficiency of your workforce.
If you would like any assistance choosing the correct office chair to suit your requirements, or would like to arrange a trial of chairs at your workplace, please email us at info@theergonomicphysio.com.au. Alternatively, please feel free to make an appointment to come in and view our demo office to get a better feel for the ergonomic chairs that we recommend (highly recommended if you are looking to invest in new chairs for your office).
Assessing so many office workers around Australia has enabled us to see all sorts of office chairs, some of which were great, and some not so great. What is clear to us is that out of all of the ergonomic products available today, purchasing a high quality ergonomic chair is the most difficult product to buy. The reason for this is that there is so much choice available and every chair seems to be "ergonomic".
We hope that by sharing with you the ergonomic office chairs that we recommend to our own clients, we can help you to purchase with confidence, knowing that these chairs are truly ergonomic office chairs and will help to improve the comfort and efficiency of your workforce.
If you would like any assistance choosing the correct office chair to suit your requirements, or would like to arrange a trial of chairs at your workplace, please email us at info@theergonomicphysio.com.au. Alternatively, please feel free to make an appointment to come in and view our demo office to get a better feel for the ergonomic chairs that we recommend (highly recommended if you are looking to invest in new chairs for your office).
What makes a good ergonomic office chair?
Ergonomics refers to how equipment and furniture can be used to help you perform your work more efficiently and comfortably. These two criteria go hand-in-hand, as being more comfortable leads to great efficiency and productivity, as you are not constantly trying to find a comfortable position or feeling the need to stop work due to discomfort or irritation. For the majority of office workers, "work" consists of sitting at a desk using a computer, keyboard and mouse. Even if your role includes meetings and work away from the desk, the majority of prolonged periods spent working will be sitting at your desk. So your chair must be able to make this task easier and more comfortable to be truly classified as an ergonomic office chair.
Many high-end ergonomic chairs are marketed as being "synchronised" or "self-adjusting" chairs. The thinking behind these chairs is that they try to move with your body when you move. This sounds like advanced technology and should therefore be a more ergonomic chair, right? In our experience, many of these chairs are not suitable for the majority of the workforce, because they do not allow for individual adjustments to be made to suit various shapes and sizes, or any musculoskeletal variances that the user may have. Further, a lot of these style of chairs are more comfortable when lounging back into the backrest whilst having a chat on the phone, as opposed to sitting at the computer and actually working. In our opinion, this makes many synchronised or self-adjusting chairs unsuitable for typical office work.
In our experience, the best ergonomic office chairs keep things simple. They allow for independent adjustment of the seat height, seat pan angle (the cushion you sit on), backrest angle and backrest height. The armrests should also be able to be removed or at least moved out of the way. Some ergonomic chairs may also allow you to change the strength of the lumbar support independently. This is a good addition, providing the reinforced lumbar support does not cause an uncomfortable build up of pressure in your lower back.
One of the most important parts of an office chair is the depth of the seat pan. If the seat pan is too big for the user (which is very common in Australian offices), the user will not sit back into the backrest, and is likely to lean forwards instead, leading to a whole host of problems. The importance of the seat pan depth is why we offer four different seat pan sizes in our fabric chair range. The mesh Hero chair and fabric Magic chair also come with a small or large seat slider, which helps to capture the majority of employees.
Many high-end ergonomic chairs are marketed as being "synchronised" or "self-adjusting" chairs. The thinking behind these chairs is that they try to move with your body when you move. This sounds like advanced technology and should therefore be a more ergonomic chair, right? In our experience, many of these chairs are not suitable for the majority of the workforce, because they do not allow for individual adjustments to be made to suit various shapes and sizes, or any musculoskeletal variances that the user may have. Further, a lot of these style of chairs are more comfortable when lounging back into the backrest whilst having a chat on the phone, as opposed to sitting at the computer and actually working. In our opinion, this makes many synchronised or self-adjusting chairs unsuitable for typical office work.
In our experience, the best ergonomic office chairs keep things simple. They allow for independent adjustment of the seat height, seat pan angle (the cushion you sit on), backrest angle and backrest height. The armrests should also be able to be removed or at least moved out of the way. Some ergonomic chairs may also allow you to change the strength of the lumbar support independently. This is a good addition, providing the reinforced lumbar support does not cause an uncomfortable build up of pressure in your lower back.
One of the most important parts of an office chair is the depth of the seat pan. If the seat pan is too big for the user (which is very common in Australian offices), the user will not sit back into the backrest, and is likely to lean forwards instead, leading to a whole host of problems. The importance of the seat pan depth is why we offer four different seat pan sizes in our fabric chair range. The mesh Hero chair and fabric Magic chair also come with a small or large seat slider, which helps to capture the majority of employees.
