Which Type of Ergonomic Office Chairs Are You Using Right Now?

For hours' sitting on an office chair or home task chair, it is really unpleasant experience. For maximum benefit of comfort and productivity, we need to use ergonomic chairs, which are now the basic desk chairs or computer chairs we can see in our offices. Ergonomic chairs come in different types, though they play a similar role as a lumber support to avoid possible back issues or circulation problems.

Ergonomic Chairs Differ Slightly in Some Features

The obvious difference in ergonomic chairs lies in some features. Some of the ergonomic chairs can be adjusted yet some are fixed in seat depth, arm height, or back height. Though slight difference, all of the design of ergonomic chairs means comfortable sitting. The choice of the office chairs for the fat, the skinny or the tall and short is usually different. We can see ergonomic chairs used in different working environments. Sometimes, the chairs used by a dentist differ greatly from those used by computer programmer. Now, let’s have a look at some of the common ergonomic chairs.

Ergonomic Kneeling Chairs

What's your idea about ergonomic kneeling chair? You may agree that such ergonomic chairs look a little bit strange. Unlike common office chairs, the chairs do not have the back, yet they offer an angled pad. We can rest our shins in front of the pad or below the seat of the chair. With the shins supporting our body weight, there is no pressure on the back. Another obvious difference of such chairs from common chairs lies in the knee pad. What distinguishes the ergonomic kneeling chairs most is that the tiled designed seat can keep us in a posture so that our spine can naturally remains erect. The chairs are great with the design concept that ensures maximum health benefit.

Executive Ergonomics Office Chairs

Just as the names suggest, the executive office chairs are often viewed as much higher end choice for executives. They are superb in some features. In some sense, they are much more expensive than other ergonomic chairs. Of course, besides some better features, the executive ergonomic chairs are also superior in that they are designed in such a style that impresses people by the power and conservative nature of the user. In the market, you can find such chairs custom made to cater to specific needs and typically they are made from leather or other nice materials.



Ergonomic Task Chair

Compared with executive ergonomic chairs which are tailor made, task chairs are very common desk chairs, without any innovative design. But, due to the fast development of advanced ergonomic chair design, the ergonomic task chairs still meet us needs of comfortable seat. The task chairs are typically the chairs designed with curved backs which can well hug our spine contour and offer us support that our lower back needs. Usually, the ergonomic task chairs can be adjusted to fit our height.



Ergonomic Swing Chair

Though similar to the common ergonomic task chairs in the look, the swing chairs move in a different way. If we want to sit in the chair and move whenever we want, the ergonomic swing chair is the option due to its special seat and back that can swings. The chairs can maintain evenly distributed support on our back and legs. Long hours' in a chair is boring, so the swing chair is such a chair that can bring us some fun. We can move to talk with colleague sitting a bit far away from us. Of course, the chair is great in other aspects, for example, relief of some of the soreness and loss of circulation caused by long time fixed posture.



Ergonomic Saddle Stool

The design of such chairs must derive from the fact that we ride seated on horseback yet still comfortable. The saddles are tested to be nice choice for us to sit on a desk. It's easy to understand such concept. We feel comfortable when we are sitting on saddle of horse. The saddle chairs offer us similar experience. The chairs have no back, and just has a saddle shaped seat which are sometimes falls into two parts. The main advantage of ergonomic saddle stool is the erect posture it keeps us when we sit at the chair. In this sense, it can reduce back pain.



Recliner Chairs

The recliner chairs have much to do in dealing health problems. Such chairs are often chosen by those who suffer from degenerative disc diseases or lumbar spinal stenosis. Recliner chairs are designed with reclined seat that can prop up the footrests. We can feel more comfortable on the recliner chairs.

Is Your Office Environment Ergonomic Enough?

We may all have heard of the ergonomic workplace policies adopted by some giant businesses to ensure maximum comfort, health and efficiency to office staff. We shall all try to make our workplace ergonomic by introducing ergonomic chairs, ergonomic screen stand, mouse, etc, and convert a health-obsolete office into an ergonomic one. Ergonomic office is meant to help us achieve better productivity and health. It is worth investment.

What is office ergonomics?

Ergonomics in the office means upgrading the workplace to a new and higher level which can maximize health and efficiency. Our workplace needs to be set up in a way that best fit us. Ergonomics transforms our work environment into a place to be more human friendly, comfortable and natural and finally, office staff improves productivity there naturally. Setting up an ergonomic office does not have to be difficult or costs too much. Instead, an ergonomic office environment in the strict sense, is the place that fits every individual office staff and lessens the pressure on the human body. The priority of ergonomic office is to break the concept of one-size-fit-all.

Like most office staff who are seated in the chair before the computer all day long, we may get a aching shoulder, eyestrain, back pain, etc. If we feel pain in the back or stain in the eye after several hours’ sitting in the office, we need to familiarize ourselves with ergonomics and we may need to update the office chair, the screen stand or the lighting in the office. We all know in the office there are a lot of factors that might affect our health or mood, from sitting posture, lighting, exercising, etc. These are all things that have much to do with how comfortable and efficient we are, and thus have to be upgraded to ergonomic level. To improve our work office ergonomically, we need to invest in ergonomic office supplies, such as ergonomic furniture, keyboards, mice, etc.

Ergonomic office, is it worth the cost?

Every once in a while, we may have the experience when everything just goes wrong. Our boss exerts pressure on us, we feel uncomfortable sitting too long in the office, etc. We can actually make some changes. One of the changes is to invest in ergonomic office supplies and to create an ergonomic work environment. Ergonomics in the office is not a trend or new concept actually. It has been proven to bring a lot of change to many companies. Then is the ergonomics worth the investment. The fact is ergonomic office does good for our work efficiency, and more importantly, ergonomic office is great for our health. Then what are the benefits of ergonomics we can obtain?

Ergonomics increases productivity. The best ergonomic solutions in modern office can help enhance productivity. We tend to fail to make better progress in the work once we feel uncomfortable. Yet most often, the discomfort of office staff is caused by poor sitting posture, poor lighting in the office. The back pain, shoulder ache or stiff neck have become the main point of our concerns whenever we walk into the office and bury ourselves in the work. By designing an ergonomic workplace, our body can get the maximum support and our job can be well done.
Ergonomics is about better health and safety

Many people do not realize the main benefit ergonomic office brings us. That is, ergonomic elements in the office can help keep us health and eventually contribute to our longevity, preserving our spine and joints even though we have to work for very long hours in the office every day. Yes, sitting in the office chair just takes a toll on our health. We stressing our body in every day. But the ergonomic office supplies such as spine friendly chairs, wrist pads, etc can help us feel better. For example, after we are seated in an ergonomic office chair, our body will hardly suffer from pain because of the support the chair offers us. The ergonomic office supplies can keep us more healthy and productive while we are working.

Ergonomics betters company image

Ergonomics can show the great health concern of the company to the office staff. A lot of giant companies have made great efforts to ensure the safety of the staff and one of the best practice is to add ergonomics elements to the workplace. Safety and health seems to be a core value and enhancing the health of office staff in the office will help contribute to a human oriented office culture and realize human performance for the whole company. This eventually is beneficial to the employee engagement as well as attracting more talents to the company.

Keep up with Trends

Ergonomics is no longer no concept and it has been a trend in modern office. Ergonomics has positive effect on the office performance and health of the staff. It is necessary to furnish the office with ergonomic elements so as to make it a modern company.

Ergonomic Supplies for Modern Office

Ergonomics presents an even larger time-based optimization opportunity. With a certain monetary investment in the ergonomics furniture or products, we can greatly improve all of our remaining working hours. Spend more on ergonomics, and we will be more productive and healthier into the later years of our life. Here are some of the ergonomic products that are well recommended to be introduced to our office.



Ergonomic Office Chairs

The average people now spend 50-70% of the day sitting in the chairs at work. Over time, this can cause very nasty effect to our back or shoulder. Develop a right sitting posture and more importantly, invest in a good chair For a good sitting posture, we need to keep our PC monitor at our eye level and avoid any pressure on our spine. Keep our knees at a 90 degree angle. For a good office chair, we need to get a chair that actually fits our body enough to let us sit in a proper ergonomic position. The ergonomic chair is usually the one adjustable in height and has other ergonomic functions that can reduce the problems associated with static positioning.



Ergonomics in Computer Accessories

Keyboards and mice should be as close to the body as possible so that we will not have to rest our arms on the computer desk edges or our wrists will not have to extend forward. Ideally, the keyboard and the desk need to be well adjusted so that the keyboard can be brought to a level that allows our arms to be level with the floor when shoulders are in a relaxed position. Monitors should be positioned at or near our eye level. Otherwise, we will have to stain our neck to view the monitor.



Lighting

The proper lighting can bring us a big difference. A lot of people might suffer from headaches, fatigue or fail to focus on the work because of the poor lighting in the office. The overhead lighting fixtures are not enough actually. Try to add some personal lighting to our workplace. Adequate lighting can keep us focused while not staining our eyes.

Innovative & Unusual Office Chair Designs for Lessening Aches

Chairs are very common furniture at home or in the office. Almost every home has a few chairs, of different fabrics, different colors or even for different uses. In the past, the chairs were designed to convey power and status in the workplace. There was very little change to the chair design. But now, the chair has undergone a big change in their design, especially due to the requirement of ergonomics. Now, the chairs, especially the ones used in the office are not just a piece of furniture for us to sit on any more. They are decorative and functional furniture and come with some unusual designs that are meant to alleviate aches in back or correct poor posture.

Unusual Chair Designed for Better Posture

What types of chairs are you using right now in the office or at home? If you sit on a traditionally wooden chair that has no back support, nor height adjustment is possible, you will feel tired or have problems such as ache in the pack or neck. Sitting all day is harmful. But when prolonged sitting on the chair for work can not be avoided, sitting on a poor chair is even worse which easily cause or worsen various back and neck problems.

There are some solutions. Some of the solutions require us to to maintain good posture when we have to sit in an office chair for long hours by ourselves. But, a lot of office staff tend to hunch forward to get closer to the computer screen. Better sitting posture is sometimes not that easy to maintain for a whole day. The change to the chair design is one of the effective solutions that can keep us well positioned during long hours’ sitting on the chair.

If you can hardly keep a good sitting posture by yourself during work time or easily feel very uncomfortable in the office chair, there is some new options for you, office chair alternatives. Here I would like to share some unusual office chairs with the design concept of improving sitting posture or alleviating backache, neck pain or other health issues.



Ergonomic Exercise Ball Chair

Everyone knows it is really bad to sit at a chair all day. Then will it be better to sit on an exercise ball chair? It is a chair with unusual design that seems to engage our muscles constantly when we are sitting on it. Obvious, sitting on such chair, our body will be make constant adjustments so as to keep balanced on the ball. From the chair design, we see no back there. It's hard slouch. From this sense, we have to well balance our muscles to sit safely on it. Of course, it is never advised for the old to use the exercise ball chair because it has potential for air collapse and the instability.

I am using an exercise ball chair at home. I find it enjoyable. The ball chairs, whether you use it while studying at home or working in the office can help you in various ways. Sitting on the unstable exercise ball, our body will automatically align itself into the right posture and over a long time, it will help reduce the back pains. Sitting on the chair, we will unconsciously change our position for keeping balanced. That will improve our sense of balance and even the reactions of our body. We can even do some mini workout on the chair, without standing up. Our blood circulation will be in better condition. Besides, for those who want to lose weight, the exercise ball chairs seem to be good choice, because the movement while sitting on the chair can help us burn about 350 calories per day, that is, losing one pound of fat every 10 days.  

 

Ergonomic Kneeling Office Chair

Kneeling chairs are also called posture stools. In recent years, the kneeling chairs have become popular chairs. We can sit with our legs underneath us rather than in front of us. In that way, our back can be positioned at a natural angle. Instead of kneeling on the chair, we are actually seated on the chair with our knees dropping forward at a certain angle, which allows some of our body weight are supported by our shins. Exactly, we are still sitting on the chair, not kneeling on it.

Sitting on the kneeling chair for a long duration, we will not feel uncomfortable since there is a tilt of our pelvis. Instead, the chair can help reduce the strain caused to our lower back and leg muscles. The design of such chairs means much about eliminating back pain while improving posture. For those who are suffering from back pain or attempting to get recovered from a back injury, a kneeling chair is worth an investment and is certainly an effective solution for correcting back issues.

Recliner Chair

There is nothing like sitting in a comfy chair after a day’s work. For those with back ache, the specially designed recliner chair is a great choice for it allows a reclining sitting position rather than upright sitting posture. When seated in recliner chair, we can feel much better after sitting in such chair for a long time. The design of the recliner allows us to keep our feet propped up on the footrest. The recliner chair design enables a much more relaxing and comfortable sitting.

Top Reasons To Use Ergonomic Chairs in Modern Office

For modern office life, most of us will spend more than six hours by the work desk. Sitting in the same posture for a long time a day is a killer. We will easily experience pain in the neck, back or shoulder at the end of the day. The prolonged sitting in the office just exerts too much stress on our spine and situation will be worse if the chair we are seated in has nothing to do with ergonomic design. An ergonomic chair will make a difference compared with the traditional chairs we use at office. For modern office life that involves too much sitting and working by the computer, the ergonomic chairs are especially necessary to offer rest to the main parts of our body which are easily under stress while working.

Time to Use Ergonomic Chairs at Office

How many hours do you spend at office? If you are housewives, how much time do you spend while seated in the chair then? If you have such experience of neck pain or backache and if the chair you use is still hard wooden one,, maybe it is really time to change the chair to ergonomic ones. Usually, we can see all different kinds of seats in various places, like the places where we wait for buses, the public seats in the park, etc and sitting in our opinion is about relaxation. Actually, sitting is also harmful, especially if the sitting time is long. Sitting can cause great stress to our back by transferring the weight of our upper body onto the lower parts of our body. Long sitting will exert pressure on all the shock absorbing parts of our spine. But it is not practical if we stop sitting. Our modern office life requires a lot of sitting. To do our body a favor, we can use ergonomic chairs, which can bring us benefits.



What are ergonomic chairs?

The word ergonomics derides from the Greek word of ergo. The design of ergonomic objects is mainly about a balance between the human body and the workplace design. They are the special objects designed to offer the maximum comfort or convenience by improving the fit between us and our surrounding. As for the ergonomic chairs or furniture, the ergonomic designers put more emphasis on the personal workplace to keep people properly aligned and alleviating office related injuries. Ergonomic is now a buzz work in the field of modern office furniture. Ergonomic chairs are chairs designed with the goal of lessening discomfort and increasing efficiency. Different from traditional chairs, ergonomic chairs seem to pursue the effect of fitting the workplace to office staff, not the office staff to the surroundings. In other words, they are the chairs that offer us the maximum concentration on work as well as comfortable sitting. Ergonomic chairs now come with the purpose of a more productive, more healthier and more comfortable sitting. The proper sitting posture, or exactly ergonomic posture promised by the ergonomic chairs will mean a better solution to various neck, shoulder strain or back pain.

Ergonomic Office Chairs versus Traditional Chairs

Now ergonomic has just taken over the home or office supplies as ergonomic chairs, cushions, desks, etc have just boomed in the furniture market. We can see a lot of furnishings upgraded with the design concept of ergonomics. The substitution of ergonomic chairs for traditional office chairs seems a trend, especially when the ergonomic chairs are designed to offer us necessary support, and help keep us in proper posture. As we all know, while we are seated, we need to maintain the natural curvature of our spine. That is how ergonomic chair helps us. The chairs are designed to offer the essential support to our low back and do good to our spinal cord. The traditional chairs are designed to fit all, but actually hardly chairs can fit all in aspects of seating. Ergonomic chairs can be adjusted to cater to individual physique. The adjustable height mechanism, adjustable arm rests, adjustable tilt options , full swivel or lumbar support are all what the traditional chairs seem lack. Traditional chairs mainly offer us a static sitting posture. In this sense, our legs, back or thighs will have to bear more pressure if we sit on the chairs for a long time. The ergonomic chairs yet can allow us flexible movement while sitting on them, thus better boosting blood flow and reducing the risk of injury.

Benefits of Ergonomic Chairs

As long as you see the benefits offered by ergonomic chairs, you will find it necessary to change to ergonomic chairs. Then why we should use an ergonomic chair at home or in the office then?

Comfort: Why we sit? Of course we want the maximum comfort. But after we find it uncomfortable to be seated in the poor chair for too many hours a day, will you still have no idea of change? When we choose to use ergonomic chair, the prolonged sitting will not be terrible. The chair supports our posture. We can adjust the height or the width of the chair. Compared with other normal chairs, the ergonomic chairs are more user friendly and we will feel much comfortable at the end of our office life.

Custom Fit: Most of the normal chairs in the office offer height adjustment. Besides that, we can do nothing to make the chair best fit our physique. Yet the ergonomic chairs allow us to adjust the width, depth, armrest, etc for best fit. We can sit on the chairs with our elbows at a 90 degree angle, feet just reaching the ground, etc. The ergonomic chair is a chair allowing custom adjustment for different sizes.

Health Benefits - The ergonomic chair can help us avoid neck problems. With the neck support, stiffness will not likely happen in our neck. It can support our back and reduces strains on our hips. The traditional chairs usually have a very hard surface while the ergonomic ones offer very suitable seat depth that can well support our buttocks.

Improving Efficiency: Ergonomic chairs are designed to make the surroundings better fit us. They can be adjusted to meet our needs when we do the job by the computer desk. For the ergonomic chairs with swivel, we can easily move from one desk to another without even standing up. That makes office life much easier. When we can concentrate us on the work without feeling any uncomfortable while sitting in the chair, our working efficiency will surely be improved.

Features of Good Ergonomic Chairs

Prolonged sitting is harmful to our health. The ergonomic chairs are to a great degree a way of reducing the harm, though we still have to sit on the chairs. There are a lot of ergonomic chairs in the market now, but not all of the ergonomic chairs really can help us. Then, let’s have a look at the features of good ergonomic chairs so that we can invest on the right chairs. Here are some of the most important features that only an ergonomic chair can offer us.

The ergonomic chairs are usually designed with appropriate height. We can put just our feet on the ground. The proper height allows for right blood circulation and proper distribution of weight. If the ergonomic chair is so tall that we have to add an extra footrest, that is really not wise purchase. Since individual sizes are not the same, the ergonomic chair usually allows for pneumatic adjustment in place. Besides, the good ergonomic chair has adjustable armrests, which can help us lessen arm fatigue. Usually, the armrest of the chairs can be positioned in such a way that allows our elbows to be placed in relaxed position. Ergonomic chairs also consider the support to our lower back. The lumbar support of ergonomic chairs can ensure comfortable long time sitting. The ergonomic chairs also allows right weight distribution with the tilt feature. We can change the forward or backward angle of the chair as we like. The seat of ergonomic chairs consider the body dimensions of different users. That is, we can adjust the width and depth of the seat so that the chairs will just offer the best level of comfort for any intended user. Moreover, ergonomic chairs are made from materials that allow for better sweat absorption, breath-ability and comfort. They are usually made from leather or velvet. The swivel is not an indispensable feature of ergonomic chair. But if you would love to move the chairs to any area in your office, consider such feature.

Ergonomic & Stylish Office Furniture Can Better Modern Office Life

If you are manager, have you ever thought about the ways to improve your staff’s productivity? If you are office staff, have you thought about why you are now poor in the efficiency? For those who work at home, productivity is also a concern. Sometimes, the office furniture can influence our efficiency, especially in terms of the aesthetics and performance of the furniture.



It is said that ergonomic and stylish office furniture can increase the productivity. Is that so? Is your productivity decreased because of the fact that your office chair looks ugly or the chair is not comfortable? Here take a look at how the ergonomic chair or stylish chair influences our office life.



Ergonomics of office furniture

Most of us have to sit in the office chair for at least eight hours. Sitting for a long time is not pleasant experience. If the chair is not comfortable enough, we would suffer more over a long time. It is easy to understand comfortable chair is really great bonus for office staff, especially for those who have back or neck issues. When chairs are ergonomic, we can fix our focus on work and eventually, efficiency is improved. Besides the chair, other office items such as computer, screen, the desk, keyboard or even mouse also need to be ergonomically designed. Ergonomically designed office furniture just free us from serious wrist stain, eye stain, back pain, etc. Ergonomic furniture allows us to do our tasks more naturally and decrease the time we take off caused by a stress injury.

Look of office furniture

Apart from comfort of office furniture, the look of office furniture also has effect on the productivity of office staff. Most of the office furniture, especially the office chairs come in all black colors. They are leather chairs. That just makes the office boring. Boring furniture has little help in inspiration. Boring and dull working environment may sometimes just make office workers feel stuck in a space like a hospital. However, stylish furniture can change the atmosphere of the office and inspire office staff to be creative or passionate in daily work. That is why most of the companies in pursuit of creativity use the office furniture which is aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

High productive office life requires the office furniture to be comfortable and stylish. Interesting office can be more likely to encourage the office staff brain to think about challenges in a new way. It may make one feel just at home. A feeling of comfort and style helps inspire office staff to perform up to their potential.

Chair Choice: Ergonomic Office Chairs for Petite People

Whether you are tall, short, overweight or very thin, you will suffer from back pain for prolonged sitting in the office chairs, or even worse if the chairs are of poor quality or wrong size. Back pain does not care what your size is. Sitting in the office chair for a long time every day takes its toll on anyone. But if we choose the right chair, things can be much better.



Just like shoes made with different sizes for different feet, chairs that fit some people may not be suitable for others. If you are more petite than others, the common chairs used by most individuals may not be comfortable for you. Sitting in the chairs that are much bigger, we may tend to sit too far forward on the chair seat. In that way, we get very little support from the chair to our back. Over the time, our back may suffer from pain. For petite people, we may no necessarily need special weight requirements from the office chairs, but the chairs have to be adjustable in height of the arms, back and seat. Here are some office chairs that are nice for petite people.

VIVA Mid-Back Ergonomic Office Chair With Armrest

This green chair is attractive furniture for modern office. It is easy to sit in the chair for eight hours, because it has ergonomically comfortable mesh, and boasts exceptional back support. Sitting in the office in the winter when it is warm inside, the chair is still right choice. It is even excellent chair for summer when it becomes very hot.



The chair just prevents body heat and moisture. The adjustable tilt tension and seat height ensures maximum adjustment and comfort for the back, head and more importantly, such features just make the chair perfect for medium or petite users. Now this office chair is available at $99.00 & FREE Shipping.



Humanscale Freedom Task Chair

This is a chair designed to offer the maximum ergonomic benefit to the users with a lot of adjusted controls that can be easily done with our hands. The feature of the self adjusting counter-balance weight sensitive recline mechanism ensures the best performance of the chair and brings us proper support realized by the recline motion, whether we are tall or petite. For shorter guys, its shorter cylinder size is just a bonus. Once the chair is fitted, there is no need to do any further adjustment.



ErgoCentric Mycentric Task Chair

This chair is a petite office chair that features serious back support, and seat sizes based on individual sizes. Its ergonomically contoured backrest can bring our back maximum support, which is really beneficial for those who have lower back pain. The chair has adjustable arms option, which allows us to move ours to a comfortable position.

Choose Ergonomic Office Chairs of Right Size for Petite Office Staff

Are you a bit shorter or petite than most of the office staff? Is the office chair that suits others also comfortable for you? Just like a pair of shoes, office chairs can never fit all of us and the wrong sized ergonomic office chair can easily cause back pain.

Purchasing an office chair is to some degree little different to buying shoes. We will never purchase a pair of shoes sized 10 if we only take size 6. Similarly, we need to ensure the chair to be a good fit. The wrong sized shoes can never give us comfort. The wrong chair also will bring us negative effects. If the chair we use is much suitable for bigger size, we can tend to experience back pain from sitting too far forward on the bigger chair's seat, because there is just little support on our back from the chair.

Unlike the shoes which often come in various sizes, office chairs, though adjustable, hardly come in set sizes. We can see office chairs with low, medium or high backs. The difference in the back is just a feature of the chair, yet hardly can be a standard for a good fit or not. For petite staff, choosing a one-size-fit-all chair only ends up with disappointment and discomfort.

Ergonomic chairs are now adjustable. But chairs are designed to suit the 5th–95th percentile. A 5'2''female is technically right at the 5th percentile yet may find most of the chairs just not fit properly. For a chair with overly deep seat, petite persons may end up with circulatory issues for the lower legs. For a properly sized chair, its seat usually allows width of two or four fingers between the front of the seat edge and the back of the knee. If the chair is just not suitable in its height, an easy way to fix it is a foot rest.

Besides the seat height, the arms of the chair may also be a factor that decides whether the chair is suitable or not. If the chair has arms which are too far apart, it will offer little support to our arms and shoulders, which may lead to arm, neck issues. When the arms are very high, they may easily stick into us if we are shorter. If the arms of the chairs can be adjustable, that will not be a problem.