Many rich people have bad backs after hours of stooping down counting money at their desks, not knowing that there are tools out there that help them have a better time counting. In the same roots as a previous article, here I present to you the best high end ergonomic chairs for bad backs.
Each of our top choices has a write-up below, but sometimes, you just want to cut through the pre-amble… if that’s you, we’ve presented our ‘at a glance’ top picks in table form:
Group 1 – Quick View Table
Group 2 – Quick View Table
On the reals, sitting in an office chair for prolonged periods of time can cause various of problems, and one of them is a bad back. An office worker constantly leans in, stoops down with their head forward due to the nature of his work being closely related to the high usage of peripherals, and that creates a certain kind of negative static posture that increases stress in the back, neck, shoulders etc. They do that every day for a few years and voila, an ouch every time they bend down to pick up the soap.
Slouching over or slouching down while sitting in the chair become a norm for most office workers or those who sit in front of the screen a lot like gamers, however it’s an unconscious act. They can’t help themselves into a correct posture, it’s only a matter of time until the need of leaning forward to see whatever on the screen clearer pops up again. Thus ergonomic chairs are needed.
An ergonomic office chair is a tool that once used properly, can help maximizing back support and maintain good posture while sitting. An ergonomic chair is different from a normal one in that it emphasizes greatly on the health of it’s owners and the increase of their comfort levels, with that their designs are inherently more sophisticated than that of normal ones, including many padded supports as well as individual adjustments for height, depth and angles. It’s a given that they are also more expensive than normal task chairs.
High end ergonomic chairs though, are on another tier. People are more and more aware that sitting too much leads to bad posture and that in turns lead to bad backs, and they are becoming willing to pay more in order to own a good ergonomic chair. According to my personal experience, that is not enough. In such a diluted market flooded with normal task chairs plus maybe a pad, foam support or two that can call themselves ergonomic, customers usually have no specific way to determine what’s really the right choice for them. In that market, less is not always more, in fact it’s quite the opposite, as the competition keeps on increasing. So the key here actually lies in another ideal/saying: “Pay more, get more.”
I’m not saying cheaper ergonomic chairs are not good. After all, I do own a lot of relatively cheap ones so saying that would be detrimental to my point. I’m saying that in order to discover a good ergonomic chair that is cheap, one needs to really test out a bunch or research a whole, whole lot. In the ergonomic chairs market, the one standing at the top are usually mid to high end products, not the cheap ones that will sell more in quantity just because they are cheap. This is the case because ergonomic chairs place great emphasis on production quality than normal chairs, so high end ones are most likely of the best quality and worth the price tags. Not only are they built to last longer, they are also ones that indulge in having more intelligent designs, as well as greater functional adjustability.
It’s the decades old story really. People are afraid to spend money due to the expectation of values being lower than the products’ worth, and that’s totally fair. Same applies with high end ergonomic chairs, they aren’t always the right choices, although more often than not. In this article I’ve taken the liberty to do the research in your stead and these are the reviews of what I consider the best high end ergonomic chairs for bad backs.
MOOJIRS Ergonomic Office Chair
- Highly rated chair by those that have bought it
- Sophisticated 2 piece upper back adjustment system for total back, lumbar, and neck support
- Upper alloy frame and base
- Contemporary ergonomic design
- Adjustable height, back tension, lumbar support, armrests and seat depth allowing for great manoeuvrability
- Stay cool mesh for upper and base
- Relatively fewer parts for easy recycling and cleaning
- Relatively good price for quality offered
- It comes with an integrated coat hanger – behind the headrest
- Easy to assemble
GuanXian High-Back Bentwood Swivel Office Micro Fiber Leather Chair
- Contoured, high quality Micro Fiber leather with Bentwood frame – ideal for that discerning professional, or wanna-be Swedish Psychiatrist
- Back angle adjustment of 90 to 130 degrees
- Swivel seat
- Quality seat with elegant Aluminium legs
- Seat height adjustment
- Soft yet sturdy seat, offering great support
- Great choice of aesthetic colors and finishes to suit a variety of locations and uses
- Won’t offer the same level of ergonomics as most of the others in this review
luckyW Rotating Lift Armrests Full Mesh Office Chair
- Ergonomic design with unique extending telescopic leg support
- Integrated and adjustable height, tension lumbar support
- Aluminium frame and base
- Elegant minimalistic design
- Chair has complete height, rotational and recline control
- 3-D headrest
- Relatively fewer parts for easy recycling and cleaning
- Sturdy mesh back and base for heat release
- Maybe a question mark over how well the leg rest will perform over time?
Steelcase Gesture
- Simple looking, yet elegant seat which offers a flexible perimeter to allow users to sit in a wide range of positions
- Synchronized cushioned and fabric-covered seat and back to provide continue and persistent support
- Adjustable arms to support any position
- Core equalizer provides flexible lumbar support that follows you in any position
- Weight tested and warranted up to 400lbs
- Attractive design, great ergonomics
- Easy to use
- Built to last, high stability
- Synchronized back and seat can be annoying for some users
- Hard seat lacks extra padding / seat lacks adjustability overall
Steelcase Think Chair
- Great range of options and colors
- Intuitive, flexible seat and back
- Integrated Live Back system, linked flexors and dual-energy lumbar support
- Platinum frame and base
- Elegant minimalistic design
- Adjustable height, back tension, lumbar support, armrests allows great comfortability
- Weight-activated mechanism that recognizes your weight and adjusts itself accordingly
- Comfort dial allows you to select one of four positions to adjust the amount of back tension and recline
- Relatively fewer parts for easy recycling and cleaning
- Padded seat allowing great support yet not smooth enough to let users slump down into it
- Sturdy mesh back for heat release
- Relatively decent price for quality offered
- Very light
- No special weaknesses
Ergohuman High Back Swivel Chair
- Well, if ED209 felt left out, then this would make his day – assuming he could get downstairs (if that made no sense to you, read the review above for the LXLXCS Ergonomic Spine Engineering Chair)
- Back angle adjustment with 3 position tilt-lock adjusts
- Pneumatic cylinder raises and lowers chair quickly
- Contoured, height adjustable lumbar support provides long-term support
- Synchro-tilt mechanism and seat depth adjustment
- Instant comfort due to high flexibility
- Highly adjustable in angles, depth and tilt offering various settings
- Soft yet sturdy mesh back, offering great support
- Assembly can take some time
- Wobbly arms after high usage
- Can be a bit small for larger frame people
- Weight support is relatively weak
- Design can be off putting – if you don’t like the contemporary
Steelcase Amia Task Chair
- Flexors system for the back offering continuous lower back support
- Seat contours accordingly, with flexible seat edge relieving pressure on the back of the legs
- 4-way adjustable arms move side to side, up and down, back and forth and pivot
- Weight support up to 300lbs
- Attractive ‘understated’ design
- Relatively poor production quality
- Lower back support can bend too deep and not fixed enough to offer support
Herman Miller Aeron Classic Task Chair
- Well known brand in the higher-end chair market
- High tech mesh fabric seat and back
- Comes in different sizes – suitable for many frames
- Highly adjustable modes in arms, lumbar support, tilt limiter, seat angle adjustments
- Great production quality, built to last
- Collects dust
- Is not too ergonomically focused
- Poorer lumbar support relatively
Herman Miller Aeron Remastered Chair
- An updated version of the amazing Aeron Classic chair
- High tech mesh fabric seat and back
- Comes in different sizes – suitable for many frames
- Highly adjustable modes in arms, lumbar support, tilt limiter, seat angle adjustments
- Great production quality, built to last
- Can collect dust
- Still no Headrest as standard
- Improved lumbar support over the Classic model
Herman Miller Embody Chair
- Flexible seat and back, responds to the body’s movements and prevent heat buildup
- Black outer layer is Balance made of natural polyester textile
- Back support starts at the base of the spine with integrated sacral support
- Patented Backfit adjustment allows the backrest to be fine-tuned to align with the spine’s natural curve
- Adjustable tilts, seat depth, arms
- Graphite base and frame
- Encourage sitting in a corrected posture as well as improving productivity
- Built to last, high production quality
- Attractive modern design
- Extreme focus on posture can be off putting at first
- Can take some time getting used to
- Lower back of the chair not adjustable enough due to focus on posture
- Can be a bit small for larger frame people
- Seating lacks padding
- Unstable arm rests after high usage
