Ergonomic Office Chair – Points to Consider

By: Allison Thompson
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:41:54
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Many people who work in offices find a great deal of their time is spent sitting at their desk, which results in stress being placed on the spine. However if you wish to avoid developing any sort of back problems it is important that you look at purchasing an ergonomic office chair which provides you with good support for your lower back and thus helps to promote a good posture whilst sitting.

There are a vast range of ergonomic office chairs available on the market and not everyone is best suited to your uses. There are a number of points you should consider when looking for a good ergonomic office chair and one that will allow you to make the chair work well for you during your daily office routine.

First off there are a number of features that an ergonomic office chair provides you with compared to a normal office chair such as

The height of the seat on the chair should be easily adjustable and allows the user to have their feet flat on the floor.

The seat itself should provide you with enough width and depth to support you comfortably. The standard seat size of an ergonomic chair is between 17-20 inches wide and the depth of the chair should be enough that when sat on it your back is against the backrest and you still have approximately 2-4 inches between the back of your knees and the seat of the chair. Also the tilt of the seat it self should be adjustable as well.

An ergonomic office chair should provide you with good lower back support. Because the spine towards the lower part has an inward curve and when you are sat for long periods of time it is important that you have this support else strain will be placed on the lower spine resulting in a slouching position. Remember to make sure that the ergonomic chair you are looking to purchase has a lumbar adjustment mechanism (for both height and depth) as this will then help you to obtain the correct position for providing support to your lower back.

A good ergonomic office chair will also come with a backrest of between 12-19 inches wide. If the chair you are looking at has a separate backrest from the seat then make sure that it can be adjusted both height and angle wise. This part of the chair should be able to support the natural curve of the spine and therefore providing the necessary support to your lower back. However if the seat and backrest of the chair you are looking is one piece, then you need to make sure that the backrest can be adjusted at both forward and backward angles, with a locking mechanism that can secure it from moving too far backwards once you have located the appropriate position for yourself.

Other features you should also look at when purchasing a good ergonomic office chair are the material that the seat is made out of, this should have enough padding to enable you to seat comfortably for extended periods of time. The armrests on the chair should be adjustable allowing you to rest comfortably and let your shoulders be relaxed. Remember the elbows and lower arms should rest lightly on these and the forearm should not be sat on them whilst you are typing.

Finally you should look to ensure that the chair can easily rotate so that you can reach various parts of your desk without having to strain. I hope that you have found the information we have provided above to be of use when making an informed decision about the type of ergonomic office chair you wish to purchase.

Allison Thompson webmaster of a site providing you with the latest information and data on office chairs, which will help you to obtain an informative decision on what is the right type of office chair for you. If you would like to find out more please visit http://www.sitting-comfortably.com

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