Your office chair has a finite life beyond which it needs to be replaced – just like any other piece of equipment. One of the best indicators that it’s time for a new chair is when your old one is no longer as comfortable as it once was. This is a gradual thing and creeps up on you without you realizing it. You might find you aren’t as productive as you ought to be and start losing concentration, particularly in the afternoon.
Do small aches and pains increase as the day progresses?
A strong indicator that your chair is ready for changing is when you find it starts getting really uncomfortable once you’ve been sitting in it for a few hours. And if it’s always been that way chances are you didn’t have a very good quality chair to begin with. Either way it’s probably time to take a look at the state of your chair and see if it’s time you parted company with it.
How does it look and feel?
Top of the list to check if your chair lacks comfort and your work is suffering is the foam padding. Has it lost its springiness and does the seat feel really hard? Cheap chair foams rapidly lose their ability to remain springy and often become brittle and hard after just a few months’ use.
Don’t underestimate the benefits of a good quality chair.
Many people see an office chair as something that just needs to be replaced every couple of years. If you believe this to be true you will be locked into a spiral of discomfort and distraction as each new chair quickly deteriorates. It’s surprising how little things like these can affect your productivity. If you had to sit on a wood seat all day naturally you would expect it to be uncomfortable after an hour or so. Once the foam in your chair has failed, it’s effectively just like sitting on a wooden chair and it distracts you from your work. When an arm work loose or the backrest slops around all over the place it forces you to compensate by moving your body unnaturally. Having to do this means you loose concentration and your productivity suffers as a result.
$100 office chairs are NOT the answer.
For a lot of people the thought of spending even $100 on a chair is something they struggle to accept. The truth is that a chair in this price bracket is always going to be made to meet the price at the expense of quality. This is why these chairs don’t last. The emphasis is on keeping costs to a tight budget and this is done by reducing the standard of components used.
If you have a problem with the thought of spending several hundred dollars on a new chair, try looking at things differently. What is your time worth per hour? Let’s assume it’s $30 an hour. What if by having a good chair that properly supported you all day you gained an extra 10 minutes work? This would mean you got $5 a day more work done than before. Guess what? In just 6 months your gain would have saved you $600. Enough to buy you a top quality ergonomic chair designed to give you 8 – 10 years of productive service.
Once you look at things this way it’s easy to see how investing in the right tool for the job will benefit you many times over your initial outlay.
Tiffany Locke says
If your chair lacks comfort and your work is suffering, then it is probably a good idea to find something new. Making sure to replace your furniture when necessary seems like a good way to make sure you can work as well as possible. I would imagine that making sure the chair is comfortable would be an important decision in order to help you be more productive as you work.
Jon P says
This is really very helpful. when the term comes back pain no one concerns about the office chairs or sitting posture and just focus on the working hours. I must say this info looks too helpful for back support. Thanks for sharing.
Matija Zajšek says
My chair definitely needs change. Having the same one for too many years now 🙂 I guess 9 years.
Though still not feeling any difficulties by using this one, you article does motivate me to choose new one very soon. Thanks.
AllAboutErgonomics says
Nice article.
I sit in the office chair between 8 and 10 hours every day. Because of that, I had back trouble before.
I consider that it is extremely useful to have an ergonomic chair to prevent poor posture. In addition, you must also take a two to five-minute rest break after every 30 to 45 minutes of work on the computer.
Dan says
I work in an office for hours straight and you are absolutely right. It gets really uncomfortable when I sit on a chair for hours long. I have a good quality chair but I suppose it’s not ergonomic.
Great article and thanks for sharing.
Arslan Rajput says
I was thinking that my office chair needs an replacement but I am not sure about that. So this detailed article helped me alot to know that my office chair needs a replacement or not. Thanks!
Mr SEO says
This is really very helpful. when the term comes back pain no one concerns about the office chairs or sitting posture and just focus on the working hours.
david says
This is really very helpful. when the term comes back pain no one concerns about the office chairs or sitting posture and just focus on the working hour
Danel says
I have learned a lot from your article. I will definitely share this article with my friends.
Hayden says
Your articles taught me a lot! This is my 1st comment here, so I just wanted to give you a shout-out and tell you how much I enjoy reading your blog posts.
Ella says
I learned a lot from your articles! As this is my first comment here, thanks a lot
Ella says
I learned a lot from your articles! As this is my first comment here, thanks a lot router
Hayden Ella says
I learned a lot from your articles! As this is my first comment here, thanks a lot
Rohi says
I learned a lot from your articles! As this is my first comment here, thanks a lot
David Miller says
I am going to buy a good chair for my office work as my current chair has front leaning issues. Thanks for making up my mind.
David Shelton says
I recently upgraded my office chair and printer. My old printer was giving me paper jam errors so I thought to replace it.
Ella says
thanks for sharing great information its realy helpfull
Nikshoo Furniture solution says
Thanks, you and I admire you to have the courage the talk about this.
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MOBILE APPLICATIONS says
ecognizing when your office chair needs replacement is crucial for maintaining comfort and productivity. This gradual decline in comfort can impact focus and efficiency, underscoring the importance of investing in ergonomic support for sustained well-being in the workspace.