Part 2 on Picking the Right Office Chair

In this month’s first blog we delved into three criteria you need to use when either shopping for a new office chair or lobbying for one with the company purchasing manager. This kind of attention to your chair and how it impacts your back is even more important if you’re one of the millions of people who suddenly are working from home thanks to this dumb virus. Yes, using that dining room chair for your office chair is a bad idea.

Let’s get to five more criteria for picking your next office chair.

It needs to be deep and wide enough

This seems obvious, but your chair needs to have the right amount of length from front to back to match the length of your thighs and bottom. Look for a deeper seat if you’re taller and a shallower one if you’re shorter. Here’s how to know: when you sit with your back against the backrest you should have between 2 and 4 inches between the back of your knees and the seat of the chair. It also needs to be wide enough to sit in comfortably.

Let it breathe and check the padding

If possible, the material covering your office chair needs to breathe. This used to be the domain of fabric, but this also lent itself to staining and discoloration. New materials allow durability and breathability. No one wants to sit on a wood office chair, but don’t go for an overly soft chair either. You need support.

Do you have arms? Then you need armrests.

Some trendy chairs don’t have armrests. That means your neck and shoulders never get a rest. Your office chair needs armrests, and they should be adjustable, if possible, so that you can fit them to how you like.

Easy controls = easy control

Any adjustments you need to make to fit your body should be able to be made while seated in the chair. Why? How else are you going to know when you have things such as the seat height right? Easy controls mean you’ll actually make adjustments.

Twist and shout

One big cause of back injury is lifting something and twisting at the same time. While you’re not going to necessarily injure your back by having to twist to get something off to the side of your office area, it’s better to let the chair do it. That means it needs to swivel. Also, for even more distant movement, casters are a necessity. Of course, you’ll want to match your casters to your floor covering. Or you could get a plastic floor mat.

OK, you’re now ready to start your hunt for the perfect office chair. You don’t need to spend as much as a month’s mortgage payment, either. Just follow the eight criteria we listed in this month’s two Summit Healthcare Pain Clinic blogs and you’ll be good to go.

In the meantime, if you have other issues with chronic pain, please give us a call at (855) 768-4968 and have Dr. Trujillo check out your problem.