All posts by Office Furniture Specialist

Ergonomic Office Chairs

Choosing an ergonomic office chair can be difficult due to the complexities associated with the functions and features available.

Sitting in the correct posture while you are working is paramount and will help in the short-term and more importantly in the long-term. Once you have accepted that posture is important for a healthy back, the right chair should go further than simple ergonomic by training your body to sit correctly. Some ergonomic chairs provide ergonomic features but if you keep sitting with the wrong posture you will have the same problems prior to using an ergonomic chair.

There are 2 examples of bad practices that instantly come to mind: having a pad between you and your keyboard will force you to lean forward and you will lose the back support of the chair. Some people will even sit with one leg folded on the seat pan. Nowadays ergonomic engineering and technology is pushing new boundaries and some of the most recommended ergonomic chairs will promote a good posture simply by not letting you sit incorrectly. How do they do that? Basically, you will feel very comfortable and supported if you are sitting correctly. However if you are sitting in the position which gives you no back support, for instance on the edge of the seat, within seconds you will feel like correcting your posture because of the lack of comfort.

Enjoy Elite Mesh Office Chair
Enjoy Elite Mesh Office Chair

Once you get used to the chair, you will soon feel the benefits. After a few weeks you may also feel that the chair helps to strengthen your body. This would come from the back-rest of the chair pushing gently against your back giving you support. As a natural response your body will push back against the back-rest of the chair using your back muscles – in essence working out the muscles in your back and strengthening them.

If you suffer from back pain a good ergonomic chair combined with regular gentle/slow stretching exercises to loosen your back will go a long way.

If you had back pain treatment from a physiotherapist you would have been given treatment for the problem and probably a sheet of recommended exercises to strengthen your back. For some people, when the weather gets cold and damp, aches and pains start to appear like clockwork – as if they were by direct debit. If such is the case, you should make sure you do the stretching exercises especially during that time of the year.

Ergohuman Plus Luxury Office Chair with Leg Rest
Ergohuman Plus Luxury Office Chair with Leg Rest

Then it’s back to being conscious of your posture again, key to this is the ergonomic chair. So which is the best chair for you? What else do you need to complete you ergonomic office configuration to create the perfect ergonomic working environment whether at work or at home?

Once you have the right ergonomic office chair, and the right ergonomic desk, the items you use on your desk need to come to you rather than you reaching out repeatedly all day long. Try and pause for a moment and plan how to rearrange your desk so that what you use the most is easily reachable. Do you have to reach out in an odd position to grab a pen? Do you have to twist yourself downwards to target the bin? Is your phone close enough and on the right side of the desk? Is your monitor at the right height or do you find yourself looking down and tensing your neck muscles over time? All these are considerations that will need to be addressed to create the perfect ergonomic set-up. There are also a range of ergonomic accessories which will perform these necessary adjustments to get everything just right!

Some Ergonomic Chairs for consideration

BMA Axia Plus

Ergohuman

Okamura Ergonomic Chairs

Ergonomic Office Chairs UK

Ergonomic Office Chairs

Mirus Office Chair

The Mirus Office Chair has a lot going for it in more ways than other office chairs. Like its cousins in the Ergohuman chair range, it has the single lever that controls seat height, seat depth and back tilt. The seat height means you can make sure that your feet comfortably touch the floor: if you have long legs, the seat will be higher than if you have shorter legs, where you will need to lower the seat to assure that you feet are touching down perfectly. If your chair is adjusted to the height of your desk then you may require a foot rest so that your legs don’t dangle. If your feet are not firmly on the floor, the chair could swivel a little to either side and this could pull a muscle in your back as you try to adjust yourself to the new and unexpected chair position.

Mirus Office Chair with Leg Rest
Mirus Office Chair with Leg Rest

The seat depth means how close the seat pad is to the chair back and, depending again on your height, you might want these two parts close to each other or further apart, as the idea is to make sure that your legs bend just after the seat pad ends, rather than trying to bend before hand, which would stop your feet touching the floor and could impede blood circulation.

The back tilt makes you feel comfortable in this ergonomic office chair and helps create the right distance needed for your extended arms, when you are working at your computer or desk.

The back height adjustment allows you to get the lumbar support exactly where you need it. This really is important, as a lot of sickness is caused by bad backs and that bad back will affect quality of life, so making use of that lumbar support facility can both reduce and prevent future discomfort.

Mirus Office Chair
Mirus Office Chair

If you’ve ever been working from a chair that doesn’t have armrests, you’ll know that strange ‘elbows in the air’ feeling and be able to appreciate that resting your lower arms on armrests reduce tiredness in your arms and make work a lot more comfortable. The armrests on the Mirus cater for height, angle and depth changes, so an adjustment can be found to meet your personal needs.

That leaves only the upholstery to think about and, with all adjustments in place, the Mirus should fit you perfectly and make long days more fruitful. I know mine works for me. The Mirus chair has a Zero Pressure seat cushion helps to distribute weight evenly across the seat pad to provide maximum comfort and support.

Mirus Office Chairs
 
Mirus Mesh Office Chairs part of the Ergohuman Range of Office Chairs from ergohuman.net