Selecting a Good Office Chair

In my San Diego chiropractic clinic we help patients each day with neck pain and back pain. Many of these patients indicate that their neck pain and back pain are worse after the end of a long day at work. Most of these patients do some kind of computer work for a good portion of their days.

When I talk to these people about their work environment, most of the time the topic of ergonomic office chairs comes up and the effect of a bad chair on their neck pain and back pain.

Anyone who has gone to an Office Depot or Staples or any of the other countless office supply stores has seen how many different office chairs that are available.

The question is, which one should you choose? One thing is for certain, as far as your back and neck goes, the color doesn't matter. However, plenty of other features do matter and can determine how your back feels at the end of your workday.

There are specific brand names that manufacture high end chairs that cost in the thousands of dollars. If you decide that a chair like that fits your needs by all means buy it.

On a regular basis I hear patients comment in a negative way about the expense of ergonomic office products. My response usually draws a correlation between the costs of their vehicle versus the cost of a good chair. Very few of us spend more than 8 hours per week in our cars that we spends tens of thousands of dollars on yet we often scoff at spending more than a few hundred bucks on a good chair that we sit in for 8 hours per day. That is some backwards logic isn't it?

That being said, you don't have to spend a small fortune on a good office chair. My chair fits all of my needs and I found it at Costco for about $100.

What features does a $100 chair need to have in order for it be the right chair for you?

This is a short list of general features that should be present in a good ergonomic chair.

1) It should have a high back
2) It should have arm rests
3) The backrest should recline and be slightly concave and include a 5 cm lumbar support
4) The seating surface should be able to tilt from front to back
5) The height of the chair should be adjustable
6) The armrest height should be able to adjust
7) You must be comfortable in it. A chair with all these features is worthless if you don't find it comfortable.

I hope these guidelines help you with your next chair buying endeavor.