Office furniture manufacturer Herman Miller introduced the world’s first mesh ergonomic task chair, the Aeron, in 1994. Designed by Don Chadwick and Bill Stumpf, the Aeron revolutionized the design of office chairs. Containing no straight lines, it offered a unique lower back support system called Posturefit, which works with the body’s natural design in order to ensure correct posture. The high and wide contoured back takes the weight off the lower spine and the chair tilts and moves in response to the motion of the person sitting in it. The Kinemat knee tilt mechanism allows the user to pivot naturally at the ankles, knees and hip simultaneously. Unlike an ergonomic kneeling chair, which can be difficult to get in and out of, the Kinemat mechanism ensures that the movement of the chair follows the user as he or she stands up or sits down.

The Aeron quickly became an iconic design. It has been featured in several movies and TV shows including House, The Office and Casino Royale, where it was M’s chair of choice. It has been placed in New York’s Museum of Modern Art and won a gold medal in the Industrial Designers Society of America’s Designs of the Decade Awards for the 1990s.

Since then, several other lines of mesh ergonomic task chair have been launched, both by Herman Miller and by other manufacturers. These include the Genesis from Regency Office Furniture, the REVV series from Space and the Modern Mesh from OFM Inc.

Mesh ergonomic task chairs offer several advantages over more traditional styles of office chair, thus accounting for their popularity. We have already mentioned their excellent ventilation, but the plastic mesh also offers great strength in an extremely lightweight chair.

The mesh ensures that body weight is distributed evenly over the entire surface of the seat, ensuring an extremely comfortable chair, even when sitting for long periods of time. When buying a mesh ergonomic task chair, ensure that it features lumbar support, as mesh chairs without lumbar support may not be good for your back. Also, check the elasticity of the mesh. Mesh that is too stretchy may become soft over time, and cease to provide the support that you need from the best ergonomic chair.

Kinnarps Ergonomic Task Chair Review

Most of the ergonomic task chairs reviewed on Digital Trends were manufactured by Herman Miller. The sole exception was the Kinnarps Plus 8 Office Chair, made in Sweden, but available in limited quantities in the US. There were no user reviews of the chair, but Digital Trends themselves provided an extensive review, rating it 8 out of 10. The reviewer praised its stylish design (the Scandinavians seem to have a way with furniture design) but warned that it had the potential to be expensive due to its scarcity in the US and the sheer number of optional extras on offer. Virtually every aspect of the Kinnarps Plus 8 can be customized to the user’s specification, making every chair unique. This means that it is probably not recommended for businesses with a high turnover of staff. The chair is 100% recyclable, making it suitable for the environmentally aware office.

Herman Miller Ergonomic Task Chair Review

Herman Miller is one of the world’s largest office furniture manufacturers, and the number of reviews of their products on Digital Trends relative to Kinnarps reflects this. Their best reviewed ergonomic task chair was the Mirra task chair, with a perfect 10 out of 10. The Mirra is a mesh chair that provides superior comfort and value for money. A user who had been in a car accident praised the chair, saying that it had taken the pressure off his shoulders and neck, alleviating his pain.

The Freedom chair is a more traditional fabric ergonomic task chair. This was not so well reviewed, with three users giving it an average 6.5 out of 10. The worst of these only gave it 3 out of 10, dismissing it as a “sci-fi chair” and calling it “annoying”. She went on to say that the only people in her office who used it without complaint were “3 tall people and the short fat guy that ordered our chairs without consulting anyone first”.

The other reviews were more positive, giving it a 7 and a 9 out of 10. However, even these conceded that the chair “takes some getting used to” and that it is not very durable. All the reviews mentioned parts breaking off the chair, though they disagreed as to how big an issue it was. For one it was a major problem, for the other two, merely a minor annoyance.

Hopefully these reviews will help you find the best ergonomic chair for your needs.

Best Ergonomic Task Chair Upholstery: Ergonomic task chairs are available covered with leather, fabric or mesh. Leather is a high status, expensive covering and would normally be used for a manager’s or supervisor’s chair. Mesh coverings are breathable, allowing air to reach the user’s back. The majority of ergonomic task chairs are fabric covered, as this is the most inexpensive form of upholstery.

Best Ergonomic Task Chair Arm Rests: Ergonomic arm rests come in several shapes and sizes. Some of the most common are T-arms, loop arms and plus arms. T-arms are so called because they resemble a capital letter T. The cantilever is attached to the side of the seat pan and attaches to the center of the arm rest itself. Loop arms come in a single piece which forms a complete rectangle with rounded corners. Plus arms are similar to loop arms but the loop is not completed, so that they resemble an inverted letter C.

The arm rests should be broad and padded to offer comfortable support to the lower arms, and should adjust to fit the individual user.

Best Ergonomic Task Chair Base: The base portion of an ergonomic task chair will normally be metal or plastic. A few ergonomic task chairs come with wooden bases.

Metal bases are the most hardwearing type of base. A tubular metal shaft will be virtually indestructible. Some metal bases are covered with plastic for added protection. Plastic bases are less expensive, but you should be careful to ensure that they are at least durable enough to withstand normal office wear and tear when choosing this option. Buying a chair with a flimsy plastic base that snaps the minute someone sits down on it too hard would be penny wise and pound foolish.

Ergonomic task chairs with wooden bases can be hard to find, but can provide a stylish appearance to your office. They are more commonly found on executive chairs, where a cherry wood base can complement the luxury of a padded leather seat. Again, ensure that they are well varnished in order to increase their durability, as well as improving their appearance.

When choosing a task chair, you will want to make a decision about how much back support you will want the chair to give. Low back chairs, which offer support only to the lumbar portion of the spine tend to be used for jobs in which the user is in and out of the chair during the day. They are the most economically priced task chairs, but are not very comfortable if the user has to sit in them for long periods of time.

High back chairs offer support to the entire back and sometimes to the head and neck as well. Because of their large size, they are normally confined to senior management – a status symbol derived from the thrones on which the kings of old sat and gazed down upon their loyal (and disloyal) subjects.

Mid back ergonomic task chairs are the most versatile type of task chair. They offer better back support than the low back chair, but are not as expensive or ostentatious as the high back chair. Like Baby Bear’s chair in the story of Goldilocks, they are just right.

While much is made of lumbar support in the sales literature for ergonomic chairs, it is very rare to see any mention of mid back support, even when a chair is specifically labeled as a mid back ergonomic task chair. This is a mistake, as support for the mid back, or thoracic section, is just as important, if not more so, when sitting for long periods of time. Just as you spend 8 hours a day lying on your back in bed, an office worker with a sedentary job will spend 8 hours or more a day sitting in a chair. Getting the best ergonomic chair will help you to avoid untold damage to your spine, as any chiropractor will tell you.

The thoracic section of your spine contains 12 vertebrae, to which your ribs attach, protecting many of your vital organs. If not supported correctly, vertebral subluxations can lead to headaches, dizziness, muscle spasms, low energy, tissue damage, joint pains and stiffness. A good quality mid back ergonomic task chair can save you a fortune in chiropractor bills down the line.

According to the manufacturers, ergonomic body balance task chairs relieve spinal compression and reduce stress and tension in the back and leg muscles. They are an evolution of the Variable Balans kneeling chairs designed by the Norwegian furniture designer Peter Opsvik in the 1970s, and which have been extensively evaluated. Trials of the kneeling chairs found that they are not generally any more comfortable than a well designed office chair, but that for some people suffering certain back problems, they could prove helpful. A major disadvantage is that standing up and sitting down is more difficult than with a normal office chair.

A typical body balance ergonomic task chair, such as the ones produced by Global Industries, consists of a padded seat and a knee rest, covered in fabric, attached to a steel frame and mounted on two sets of castors on a dual axle. The seat and knee rest are adjustable, to adapt to the needs of the individual user.

One difference that the body balance chair has from the traditional office chair is that a normal ergonomic task chair supports the mid back whereas the kneeling chair is normally backless; though hybrid chairs with back support are available. The lack of a back rest has been blamed for causing curvature of the spine, but trials have shown that this curvature is no worse than it is when standing up normally.

Other disadvantages of the ergonomic body balance task chair are that they cause the shins to bear body weight and that they flex knees and ankles more than a normal chair. They are not recommended for anyone who has to sit for more than three hours at a time. But for short periods, they can provide considerable comfort, and might just be the best ergonomic chair for your particular situation.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) lists six factors that comprise an ergonomic task chair. These are as follows:

1. Castors. An ergonomic task chair should be mounted on wheels or castors, with at least a five point base to ensure that body weight is distributed evenly.

2. Seat Pan. The seat pan is, in the words of the NIH “the component of the chair that supports the majority of the user’s weight” – or, in plain English, the part you put your bottom on (in most cases though, there are ergonomic body balance task chairs that distribute body weight evenly between the buttocks and the knees). The front of the seat pan should slope down slightly, and you should be able to place your fist between the back of your knees and the front of the seat to reduce pressure on the back of the thighs.

3. Back rest. The back rest should provide lumbar support. If it is not small enough to fit in the small of the back, it should be curved between the pelvis and the ribs.

4. Armrest. The armrest of an ergonomic task chair should be soft and at least two inches wide in order to provide adequate support.

5. Seat height. This feature should be adjustable so that the user’s feet are on the floor and their hands are level with the desk and/or computer keyboard.

6. The chair should recline or tilt in order to transfer the user’s upper body weight to the backrest, and allow him or her to change position easily.

The ergonomic task chair evolved because of the need to keep employees sitting at their desks for long periods of time without losing days due to aches and pains, particularly back pain, caused by design flaws in their chairs. Nowadays, they are standard in virtually every office. The design of the modern office has made it necessary for office workers to be able to move around, hence the need for chairs with castors, and to turn from one task to another. For this reason, swivel chairs are no longer the preserve of executives, as they once were, but are used by any office worker who needs to perform their duties without injuring their back.

Ergonomics should be a concern for any efficiently run office, and an ergonomic task chair is probably the single most important piece of equipment that an office’s purchasing manager can provide to the workforce. These guidelines should help you in your search for the best ergonomic chair for your needs.