Recommended: 3 Bedroom Desk Chairs For Back Pain

I’m a man with arthritis. If you could all please gently weep into your pillow then that would be great.

Once you’ve done that I’ll be able to continue.

Is the pillow damp now? Brilliant.

It’s not just arthritis, I suffer from other irritating ligament soreness too.

A prime example is when I used to lean over my desk whilst writing or typing, and developing aches in between my ribs.

It’s one of those pains that, once it starts, you can’t escape from no matter the position you fling yourself into.

You end up draping yourself over the chair as if you’re waiting for a lover to come and feed you grapes.

I promise I’m not.

The reason I was leaning over in the first place was that I was never being properly supported by my chair.

I prefer one that listens to my troubles.

The chairs at work were awful and I didn’t help myself at home. I lacked appreciation of the effect that buying a great chair would have on my quality of life.

Once I began walking with a lean to one side I thought it best to buy a chair that would aid the situation.

You know that sitting every hour of the day is bad for your body and especially your back. I understand that 1st hand.

However, it’s unlikely you have much of a choice.

If you could pay rent without being at work and instead were at the beach, spread out on the sand with a pina colada in one hand then I bet you would.

Alas, back to the real world.

We have to work and we have to sit for the majority of the day. So when we’re at home, we may as well ensure the furniture we choose is right for the job at hand.

I’ve gone through the aches, I’ve gone through the pains and now I would love for you to let me help you choose the right chair for your needs.

There’s one thing that I was really strict on when I was deciding on my chair and that was the need for it to look amazing in my bedroom.

I’ll make sure that’s part of my criterea here too.

The mistakes you’ve made

A lot of people don’t realise:

1. How much pain they are actually in
2. That it can get better

I’m no doctor and nor do I want to be.

If you’re in pain then do yourself a favor and go to the Dr’s and get yourself checked out.

I’ll assume you’ve done that already, I don’t have the time to wait for you all to contact me and tell me you’ve been.

A lot of posture-related injuries are muscular and can be eased by altering the way our bodies are aligned.

The body is very good at healing itself given enough time, once you’ve changed the way you’re sitting, it will do the rest.

The 4 criteria to look out for

There are four main criterea to look for in chairs that claim to offer back support.

• Range of adjustment
• Material
• Depth of seat
• Back support

Range of adjustment

This is really a catch-all term that attempts to sum the chair up in one go.

We’re all different shapes and sizes. I don’t know what you’re look like and you don’t know what I look like.

Maybe you’ll go to the gym like you said you would or maybe you’ll start eating ice cream every day for months after you break up with your current spouse.

I’m not sure and neither are you.

You need a chair that’s going to be able to cater to your back needs whatever life throws at you.

How much can you modify the height of the arm rest, the angle of back support or the seat height?

They all play a role in making you more comfortable throughout the day and night.

The chair’s construction

The construction is extremely important. If parts of the chair begin to fall off, what’s the point in the chair?

It’s unacceptable for you to be sitting at your desk one minute and the next in a heap on the floor because the chair’s seat has fallen off.

That, my friend, isn’t going to do your back any good.

You may as well call the ambulance now.

Even without needing to go to the Emergency Room, chairs with poor quality can’t maintain the strength needed to support a heavy body.

If you work at home, you will be in your chair for upwards of 8 hours each day.

That’s a long time.

A long time to be supporting that weight all day. It’ll end up like a solider in the army that’s had to keep his backpack on all day but still has Everest to climb before dinner.

Depth of seat

Over the millenia, humans have evolved to walk upright.

You’ll understand this unless you’ve been crawling on all fours since birth and think everyone else is doing it wrong.

Walking upright means a straight back but instead most of us now sit with bends in at the bottom like a meandering river as our pelvis slides too far forwards.

Adjusting the seat depth changes the position the pelvis sits. You need to keep the pelvis in line with the rest of the spine.

You win The Posture Prize if you can get your seat depth to a neutral position.

This is different for everyone and is based on your height. The general rule is to have your knees at right angles.

Back support (of course)

The back support’s job is to act like a mold. Your back will naturally follow the designed contours.

If the chair’s lumbar support is calculated correctly then your torso will align perfectly.

Your back should be straight, your chest sticking out and your shoulders pinched.

If the chair magically vanished but you remained levitating in the exact position you were sitting in, I should be able to put a ruler down your back and it be at a right angle to the floor.

The lumbar support prevents your back from rounding at the bottom and, in return, this forces everything else into place.

Here are the chairs to make the cut

I needed a chair for my bedroom desk that could do the work for me when it came to keeping the correct posture.

I know what I’m like, I forget to sit properly. My memory is awful.

Additionally, I needed a chair that wouldn’t just look OK my my bedroom, I needed it to improve my bedroom.

You forget how imposing a chair is until you’re staring at it in your bedroom.

Let me show you my favorites.

Herman Miller – Aeron

Tell me you’ve seen a more beautiful desk chair than that in your life? I dare you.

You can’t because you haven’t.

Herman Miller are the the pinnacle of furniture design.

There aren’t many companies that can compete with their ingenuity and build quality.

They’ve produced the most iconic mid-century modern ever, if you’re familiar with the Eames chair then you know who Herman Miller are.

Other office chairs include the Embody and the Cosm which are both first in class pieces.

The Aeron was originally designed in 1994 but has recently been updated with help from the latest in seating and posture scientific research.

It’s an incredibly hardworking chair that uses intelligent innovations to help you produce more work.

TV shows or films where one of the main characters has a well paying job like an architect or lawyer – what’s their office chair of choice? Herman Miller Aeron.

That’s what you turn into with this chair.

You’ll write more pages with parts of the volcabulary that you didn’t even know existed.

You’ll calculate more numbers than there are grains of sand.

What’s the best part? You’ll have a big grin on your face whilst you do it because you won’t be slouching anymore.

The support you’ll feel is second to none and that gives you confidence to have an amazing rest of the day pain free.

ReGeneration by Knoll

Put your hand up if you want a chair that will adjust to your height, compensate for your bewildering posture and fix your leaning habits.

I know you can’t see me, but I’ve eagerly raised my hand like a seven year old who’s been asked if he wants to go to recess.

I’m a simple man, I have simple desires.

Knoll are similar to Herman Miller in that they began in mid-century modern home furniture.

Both companies rose to the top.

I like to think of them as enemies that need each other to survive. Bound to one another through universal laws that no one can understand.

Now, Knoll have a wide collection of office furniture too.

I look at this chair and I see a busy startup CEO who’s constantly being bombarded by phone calls.

They’re constantly swinging from one place to the next.

You know what this CEO doesn’t realize? The chair’s in charge here, buddy.

The ReGeneration is in complete control of the situation. Mr Boss Man isn’t going to hurt his back because Knoll know how to make a chair with incredible lumbar support.

Do people ever say wow you’re hot? Your initial reaction is flattery but then it dawns on you that they’re talking about the temperature of your very red skin.

It’s all good.

You could take your t-shirt off (best not – the lawsuit and all that) or you can purchase your chair with a mesh back.

Not sure it’s state of the art but it works, so who cares?

CB2 – Executive

It’s funny because I don’t see this chair so much like an executive chair.

In my opinion, it’s the most versatile of the three, it can fit into any decor.

It’s understated and doesn’t show off. Maybe that’s why it’s good for executive, most of them are flamboyant enough as it is.

Steam coming out the ears is enough to grab anyone’s attention.

There is a certain degree of consideration for the back, but I admit it’s not as well designed (visual beauty also a consideration), perhaps intentionally, as the other two chairs I’ve listed. Ergonomics were sidelined that day.

This chair is more suited to you if you’re only in it for half an hour a day.

If you love to write a journal at the end of the day then this is ideal. Throw your thoughts down now so that you can relive them later in life.

The beauty of this chair is that it’s so comfortable that you won’t even have any distractions with your work. You’ll be deep in thought and as soon as you realise where you are the novel has been completed and you’re on your third draft already. The publisher loves it.