Office Chair Alternatives That Are Healthier (2024)

Office Chair Alternatives That Are Healthier (1)

Are you tired of your cheap officechair? Are you looking for a work chair to easeback pain? Would you like a nice comfortablechair that can provide much better support and comfort for you than what you currently have? Probably yes. However, which deskchair is going to be the best for you and your back?

Alternatively, what you are looking for may not be an office chair at all!

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The Swopper Active Stool

Did you know that the right kind of chair could relieve your back and neck pain. Many people spend a great deal of their lives sitting in a chair and experience lower back pain. The static position they have to assume in the confinement of a chair reduces the oxygen supply into their system. This also interferes in the blood circulation system.

The resulting posture from sitting in a task chair for an extended period of time leads to crouching and slouching allowing for the lopsided pressure to the spinal disc. This is strenuous and will eventually affect the person’s productivity causing strains and loss in concentration, which often interferes with their work as well as their daily life.

The mechanism of the Swopper Stool allows the motion of the person in the chair to adjust his position forward, backward, to the right or to the left to achieve the most comfortable posture. This forces the waist or the spinal muscles to exercise by expanding and contracting. The highlight of the mechanism is optimizing a 15-degree posture with minimal strains applied to the waist allowing the weight of the person to adjust itself for stability with proven effects in increasing the oxygen supply to the brain and thus improving the attention span.

The typical waist exercise employs the hip joints unfortunately ensuring that the spinal muscle was not involved. However, the Swopper exercise chair keeps the muscle stabilizers that connect the spinal bone, in motion to bring about effective exercise. The forward, backward and sideways motion of the Swopper active chair activates the muscle stabilizers to ensure the effected spinal disc recovers in a comfortable position. The gentle low impact hydraulic up down motion is healthiest for the spine. This motion is critical to provide nutrition to the disc and getting rid of the waste products.

Consequently, the Swopper active chair is a healthcare product that reinforces your waist and spinal column with exercise motions at any time or place. This also addresses the root cause of the many problems we are seeing in the work environment today because of static posture. The Swopper actually encourages core strength stabilization by improving the strength and conditioning of the lower intrinsic muscles of the back. You will get all the health benefits of the physio ball combined with the adjustability and stability of a task chair. The chair’s height is adjustable without the need for a pump. The spring tension is adjustable, so you can increase or decrease the tension as per your requirement. This chair can support anyone from 120 pound up to 290 pounds depending on their stature.

The Balance Ball Chair

This best selling balance ball chair features a new redesigned base, which helps cradle the ball, give it more support and keep it in place. The great thing about this chair is that it is ergonomically designed by a chiropractor to help engage your cores as you sit keeping your shoulders back improving your posture.

The one thing about the standard executive chairs is that they don’t move. When you sit, you lock your pelvis down and you don’t move a lot when you are sitting there. The problem with this is that it’s very important for the lower back particularly the little discs in between the bones (vertebrae) to have motion because when they have motion they pump fluids in and out. When you don’t pump the fluids, the discs can start to dehydrate over time, breakdown and eventually you can wind up with disc degeneration or disc herniation or other spinal joint related issues.

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When you are sitting on the ball chair, you are kind of rolling around, so you cycle the muscle tension while popping the fluids in the discs and you take the stress out of the lower back. It reduces muscle tension and you would not get quite as fatigued. It’s just a matter of deconditioning from either not exercising or sitting in a chair statically for eight hours a day five days a week.

The other important thing about this not just about the discs in the lower back, but also, when you are rolling in a ball chair, you are moving the little joints all the way up through your whole spine. When those joint receptors move, they fire signals into the different brain centers such as the centers, which regulate your stress and anxiety. The various bodily systems such as the immune system, the hormonal system, the endocrine system and your postural alignment are all controlled from the centers in your brain. If the circulation of fluids in the spine and brain is sustained, then you will be healthier, get less sick, increase your productivity and stay more focused. So go and grab one of these ball chairs that we have featured as one of the best chair for alleviating lower back pain and keep moving even when seated. Please note that somestudies have shown that prolonged sitting on a gym ball might increase perceived level of discomfort. Therefore it is suggested that the balance ball chair be used in conjunction with your regular work chair.

The Saddle Seat

The saddle seat changes the way you sit forever. These days with much of our work and leisure times being seated, our posture is slipping and leading to an increasing number of back and health problems. The saddle seat or stool is said to promote perfect posture.

This saddle seat is designed to promote optimal seated posture of the human spine. The saddle seat automatically causes you to assume a position that produces least stressful muscles, ligaments and joints. It also keeps the pelvis, which controls the spine stable in its upright position. The sitting posture is then upright and healthy rather than collapsed.

The saddle chairis unusually shaped like a saddle. However, it’s this very design that creates benefits for your posture. The benefit is that you sit upright with your spine, head, shoulders and arms in their position of greatest ease for effortless good posture. Your lungs and abdomen are open for their function and your ability to perform fine handwork with good coordination and control is maximized.

Thesaddle stool may look somewhat quirky but it certainly is a serious product and has been of benefit to more than 30000 people worldwide. You simply have to try to believe it.

Buoy Chair by Turnstone will Keep you Alert and Active while Sitting

When sitting on a Turnstone Buoy stool, it feels like as if you are sitting on an ocean on top of a buoy and kind of waving around with the waves! It rocks back and forth, has adjustable height and can swivel 360 degrees. Unlike an exercise ball, it will not burst or pop accidently!

Turnstone Buoy stool helps you to sit upright as opposed to slouching over. It can act as a replacement for an exercise ball that you may have and use to sit down at your desk. It will also be useful for students with ADHD and for people with back pain problems. In addition, you can sit cross-legged on this stool without toppling over which is difficult on an exercise ball. This chair is more stable and lightweight (approx. 20 pounds).

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To make you stay active while sitting, it has no armrests or backrest. Even on an expensive office seating, you may end up slouching, but here you have no choice!

Zenergy Ball Chair – Active Chair to Strengthen Your Core Muscles

The Zenergy ball chair is an alternative to your seating during the day. It gives you a break when you are feeling lethargic or tired while sitting on your traditional desk chair.

Designed with a seventeen inch anti burst exercise ball covered in mesh, it’s easy to put bounce in your day. The design provides great support for your posture and is better than the gym ball as it won’t move away while you take a break! Choose from the mesh covers in crimson, grass or black to accent any workspace.

The ball chair comes with four powder-coated legs and the air pump is included. Engage your body and stimulate productivity at your desk with the Zenergy ball chair.

Office Chair Alternatives That Are Healthier (2)

The Wobble Stool can act as a Standing Desk Stool or a Task Chair for Active Sitting

The Wobble Stool does not allow you to stay still while you are working. It is not intended as a replacement to your desk chair but a compliment to your office furniture for reducing back discomfort.

The height of the stool can be adjusted with a single lever accommodating people of all heights sitting or standing. The curved rocking base is made up of durable aluminum with a rubber bottom to protect your hard wood floors or carpet.

The active motion to balance yourself on the stool helps you keep your back straight while you are at work. The wobble stool lets you sit actively, improves your posture and keeps you alert and energized throughout the day.

The Kneeling Chair

Kneeling chairs have been around for a long time now. They are fantastic alternatives to the standard executive chair. Kneeling chairs distribute your weight off your lower back to your shins. It also forces you to engage your core and strengthens your abdomen. Sitting on a kneeling chair gives you a perfect ergonomic position without you having to do anything.

When you sit on a kneeling chair, you will immediately notice how your weight is redistributed over to your shins. This reduces the strain on your lower back area and you adopt a more open hip angle. You will notice that your thighs are pointed more towards the floor versus the ninety-degree hip angle that most of us are in when we sit in a traditional ergonomic chair. The open hip angle is a bit closer to standing which encourages more blood circulation in your body. Your abdominal and back muscles are also a bit more engaged than when you sit in a standard desk chair.

Adaptable Ergonomic Office Chair Alternatives: The Aeron Chair

The Aeron Task Chair doesn’t have the typical comfy plush feel you get from an oversized executive style chair, but it is one of the best selling and most popular office / desk chair for a long time. There has to be a reason for that.

A new Aeron chair can cost over a thousand bucks, which initially seems like a lot of money for a chair and it is. However, if you consider that you probably spend as much time in your chair as you do in your mattress the price kind of comes into perspective. A good quality mattress that will last you 10 years or more will typically run you about the same price.

The chair comes in three different sizes (Size A, Size B and Size C) with Size C being the largest. The chair uses a breathable mesh style fabric on the seat and back instead of the typical foam padding that most chairs use. It’s nice as it is very supportive and does not create any pressure points on your body which helps increase circulation. It feels like you are sitting on a mesh trampoline without the bounce, which is very comfortable for long periods of time.

There are also a lot of adjustments on the seat that can help you get that perfect seating position. The armrests are independently adjustable 4 inches vertically as well as being able to pivot outward and inward. It also has an adjustable lumbar support pad at the back, which slides up and down and presses through the mesh fabric giving you a firm back support. With Aeron ergonomic chair, you have one more option to choose from one of the best deskchair for bad backs available today.

The SmartMotion SwingChair with ErgoMotion technology

When you walk, swim or dance – Your legs, hips and back move together in a smooth and balanced motion. This is called the lumbar pelvic rhythm. This natural motion is essential for spinal health. Sitting in a conventional chair locks out this natural motion and puts a compressive loading on the spinal discs that leads to nerve pressure and results in back ache. Sitting on a gym ball or other alternative devices causes the muscles to fire continuously not allowing for the essential component of rest.

The SwingChair perfectly balances natural motion and rest. The independent movement of SwingChair’s seat and backrest encourages the same natural motion used by doctors and therapists to treat back pain and you are able to control it. Another significant advantage of this chair is that while you are working, you are able to tone and strengthen the core muscle, which are the main support of the back.

The SwingChair’s patented technology automatically adjusts to move with your body. Movement is what your body needs to keep your muscles flexible and pain free. With its unique swinging design, the SwingChair makes is one of best office chair alternatives for back ache control. The chair does not fight your body’s natural inclination to shift and move. It allows you to rock gently with body ease that leads to increased concentration and creative thought.

A few simple adjustments will allow you to customize this unique chair to your individual body. Once adjusted, the chair will counterbalance every move you make in a state of perfect equilibrium and comfort. The chair is available is two different models – one with the headrest and one without.

The Steelcase Leap Chair with Live-Lumbar Technology

The Leap chair is one of the most popular ergonomic chairs on the market because of its timeless classic design. With its independently adjustable upper and lower backrest, the Steelcase Leap Chair has made it to our list of the best desk chairs for active sitting. It has a live back technology that allows the chair to move as you move and flex while still keeping you supported exactly where you need it the most. The Leap chair also features a natural glide system, so as you recline, the seat moves forward and allows you to maintain eye level with your monitor.

This chair has a flat back design and is made with breathable foam making it extremely cool while you are working much like a mesh chair would. One of the best features of the Leap chair is its adjustability. It has a lot of adjustments that will make this chair fit you perfectly. You can adjust the lower back firmness and adjust the height of the lumbar support.

The major difference between this chair and the Aeron chair is that it does not have the forward tilt and you will not be able to tilt forward if you are doing some close up work on your computer monitor. In addition, the seat can be adjusted by moving forward or backward. It does not have the mesh fabric like in the Aeron chair. Check out the video below for chair adjustments.

Office Chair Alternatives That Are Healthier (2024)

FAQs

Office Chair Alternatives That Are Healthier? ›

Traditional chairs can put undue strain your spine, and over time can lead to bad posture whilst increasing your susceptibility to back injuries. Ergonomic chairs are fully adjustable to align with your height and workstation, ensuring you remain in the correct sitting posture.

What can we use instead of chair? ›

Some of them are easier on your back, while others promote active sitting that activate various muscle groups usually dormant in regular sitting.
  • Kneeling Chairs. Sale. ...
  • Squatting. ...
  • Balance Boards. ...
  • Saddle Chairs. ...
  • Under Desk Bikes. ...
  • Stand Up Desk Converter. ...
  • Balance Ball Chairs. ...
  • Swopper Stool.
Sep 1, 2021

Are office chairs healthy? ›

Traditional chairs can put undue strain your spine, and over time can lead to bad posture whilst increasing your susceptibility to back injuries. Ergonomic chairs are fully adjustable to align with your height and workstation, ensuring you remain in the correct sitting posture.

What is the alternative seating for lower back pain? ›

A kneeling chair provides a padded seat for you to sit, angled forward to shift some of your body weight to the shins and knees. The design of the chair is intended to place your spine in a more neutral position, taking pressure off your lower back.

What is a good vs bad office chair? ›

A good office chair is one that supports the natural alignment of your spine. But, ergonomics is far more than just the backrest. We consider an office chair “bad” if it lacks ergonomic support for your hips and knees, elbows, and the rest of your body. A “good chair” should have quality armrests and a headrest, too.

How can I sit in an office chair without pain? ›

Your bottom should be pressed against the back of your chair, and there should be a cushion that causes your lower back to arch slightly so that you don't slump forward or slouch down in the chair as you tire over time. This low back support in the office chair is essential to minimize the load (strain) on your back.

Why do I need an office chair? ›

Creates a Productive Working Environment

No one can work at their best while battling with aches and pains day in day out. The ergonomic design of good office chairs help accommodate every employee's individual requirements, keeping them comfortable and productive during working hours.

How long is healthy to sit in a chair? ›

Take a break from sitting every 30 minutes.

Do I really need an ergonomic chair? ›

Getting an ergonomic chair has been proven to substantially improve the way you work and feel, from reducing back and joint pain to making you more productive while working.

How often should office chairs be replaced? ›

On average, an office chair should be replaced every 7-8 years. But, every chair is different. Obvious wear and tear is a good reason to replace your chair, you don't want your home office looking shabby! Wear and tear doesn't just affect the look of the chair, it can impact things like your posture.

How should I sit with chronic lower back pain? ›

Sit with a back support (such as a rolled-up towel) at the curve of your back. Keep your hips and knees at a right angle. (Use a foot rest or stool if necessary.) Your legs should not be crossed and your feet should be flat on the floor.

Is it better to have arms on office chair? ›

There's been a number of studies that explain why the use of armrests can be important to your health and comfort while sitting at your work desk. And in my experience, they can help prevent musculoskeletal disorders to the upper extremities, such as shoulder and upper back strain.

What chair is best for posture? ›

The use of a ball or ball chair has risen in popularity in recent years, as they have been shown to improve spinal posture and increase the use of the spinal muscles, leading many people to say it is like exercising at work.

How much should you pay for a good office chair? ›

Generally, you will find a great office chair for at least $100. However, if you're willing to spend around $200 – $400 on an ergonomic model with higher-end features and materials, you'll likely find the perfect fit for your needs. Several home office chairs are available, each with unique features and benefits.

What item of furniture like chair can be made from? ›

Chairs can be made from wood, metal, or other strong materials, like stone or acrylic. In some cases, multiple materials are used to construct a chair; for example, the legs and frame may be made from metal and the seat and back may be made from plastic.

Which two materials can used for making chair? ›

Office chairs are mainly made with leather, fabric, plastic, wood, and nylon. Each chair stands based on the quality of materials used in making. Leather-made or artificial leather-made chairs both stand very long causing no damage. leather made chairs are offers both comfort as well as luxury goods.

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