In Modern life, ergonomic office chairs become quite popular, people are attaching more and more importance to their own comfort and healthy, maybe you have many questions in mind about how to choose and find out the best ergonomic chairs for you, in this article let share some information and guide on this topic. Hope these information is useful for you.

1. What is an ergonomic chair?

First, let's see the ergonomic chair meaning. Ergonomics, in essence, is to make the use of devices suitable for the natural form of the human body as far as possible, so that people who can use devices do not need any active adaptation of body and mind when working, so as to minimize the fatigue caused by tool use. Ergonomic chair definition: An ergonomic chair is based on this theory, the pursuit of quality of life so that people are more comfortable and natural in use.  Integrated into the practical function and fashion appearance, functional combination of office furniture and home computer chair practicality and flexible stable office chair.  The comfortable ergonomic chair can reduce fatigue from sitting in the chair for a long time and relieve pressure on the legs.  The most appropriate hand support can directly reduce hand and shoulder fatigue.  The height of the lumbar pillow on the chair determines the degree of lumbar fatigue, the height, and angle of the head pillow determine the degree of cervical spine fatigue, and the elasticity of the back cushion determines the comfort of reclining.  The ergonomic office chair is used for human health. In more detail, ergonomic chairs are studied based on the structure of the human body and human behavior and habits, so the chair design should fit the human body and adapt to human habits as much as possible, and meet the adaptive requirements of different groups of people.  It cares for human health, and relieves fatigue when you work.

2. Who needs an ergonomic chair? 

First of all, ergonomic chairs are aimed at people who are sitting for a long time. Most modern office workers spend more than 8 hours a day in their chairs. For some special industries, they even spend up to 12 hours sitting in the office every day, especially programmers. If the chairs are not comfortable, it is easy to cause continuous pain to the neck, back, and waist, and over time, the back muscles and ligaments are damaged by excessive traction for a long time, resulting in lumbar muscle strain, cervical spondylosis, and other problems. Therefore, people who have been sitting in the office for a long time or have related diseases are in urgent need of a good ergonomic chair that has the best chair posture.

3. What are the dangers of sitting for long hours?

According to the investigation, the harm of sitting for a long time is far more than lumbar muscle strain. Let have a look at the six harm as follows: 

1)Induced heart disease: American researchers studied 2000 adults and found that for every hour of sitting time, the burden of coronary artery calcification increased by 14%. When calcification reaches a certain level, it can lead to vascular stenosis and heart disease. 

2)Accelerated aging: a study of 1500 women aged 64 to 95 by a university in the United States found that sitting for a long time accelerates the shortening of telomerase, which in turn accelerates the aging of organisms. It was also found that telomerase did not shorten if you exercised for more than 30 minutes a day. So it is necessary to exercise every day. 

3)Increased carcinogenicity: a study from the University of Regensburg in Germany found that an increase of two hours a day in sitting increased the risk of endometrial cancer by 10% and colon cancer by 8%. At the same time, sitting for a long time is more likely to be obese, and obesity is also a major cause of many cancers. 

4)Increased risk of diabetes: a study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine shows that women who sit for more than seven hours a day have a higher risk of developing certain types of diabetes.

5)Spermicidal: a study by the Harvard School of Public Health found that men who are sitting for a long time have less sperm than those who exercise more, and sitting for a long time can also lead to a decline in sperm quality. 

6)Cervical spondylosis, lumbar spondylosis

4. What kind of sitting posture is the correct one? 

First of all, we need to know that the function of the ergonomic office chair is that it can reduce the force on our waist. Do you know the difference of the pressure on the waist in different positions? Some postures may make you feel comfortable, but in fact, this posture is slowly accumulating damage to your waist. 

After reading the picture below, you will know how much pressure different postures have on our waists. 

There is less pressure on our waist when we lie down, about 25 kilograms when we lie on our back, and about 75 kilograms when we lie on our side. The pressure on the waist when standing is about 100 kilograms. As can be seen from the picture, there is much less pressure when you are sitting than when you bend over.

Basically, it can be concluded that when sitting and the waist pillow is supported in place, the greater the angle of the body, the less the pressure on the waist, and the more serious the hunchback, the greater the pressure. Therefore, either sit upright in the office, maintain the correct sitting posture, or use an ergonomic chair to assist sitting posture, the effect will be better than sitting upright. 

Through the reasonable adjustment of the ergonomic chair, the chair can be supported to the right body position, so that you can maintain a correct sitting position.

(1) adjust the seat height so that the calves droop naturally, and the thighs and calves are 90 degrees, and the feet can be flat to the ground. 

(2) adjust the depth of the seat cushion to ensure that the area of the leg is effectively supported and the angle between the thigh and calf is 90 °when the buttocks are seated to the innermost part. 

(3) adjust the height of the armrest so that the height of the table is similar to that of the armrest as far as possible, put the arm on the armrest naturally, and adjust the angle of the armrest according to the habit. 

(4) adjust the height of the chair back or pillow to the position of the third or fourth lumbar vertebrae, so that the waist pillow perfectly supports the waist and keeps the back close to the back of the chair. 

(5) if you wear a head pillow, adjust the height and angle of the head pillow to the position of the cervical vertebra to provide appropriate support for the neck. 

(6) adjust the elasticity of the back of the chair and feel the elasticity when the back is relaxed. It is correct to feel that the resilience of the back of the chair just makes the individual feel comfortable without using any external force. it is not appropriate for the back of the chair to stretch too much.

5. What is the function of the ergonomic desk chair? 

In short, ergonomic chairs certainly cannot directly solve all the problems caused by sitting for a long time.  If you want to be healthier, you must reduce sitting long hours and exercise more. The main function of the ergonomic chair is to relieve fatigue, through reasonable ergonomic engineering design to make the seat more suitable to the human body, and evenly distribute the stress points of the human body, so as to provide greater support to the human body. in turn, it can reduce the pressure on the human body and accelerate the blood circulation and reduce the heart rate, which can effectively relieve the pain of lumbar vertebrae and cervical vertebrae caused by sitting for a long time and relieve fatigue.

In addition, there are two ways to have a healthier office, life: 

1) Get up more frequently (every 90 minutes). 
Everyone is advised to avoid sitting for more than 90 minutes, according to the 2016 edition of the guidelines issued by the American Diabetes Association. Therefore, when the office hours reach 90 minutes or less than 7 or 80 minutes, you can get up and exercise, pick up a glass of water, go to the toilet, and be deeply lazy, so as to avoid the harm of sitting for a long time.

2)  Keep the correct sitting posture. 
In fact, maintaining the correct sitting posture is often ignored by many people, many people are basically hunched over, but if the ergonomic computer chair is adjusted to the right position, it is also helpful to maintain the correct sitting posture.

6. Why gaslift explode in some cases? 

Why did the gaslift explode? I believe this is an issue of particular concern. Researchers at the Institute of Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences say there are two main reasons for the explosion of the gaslift: 

(1) the structure or material of the cylinder is not safe enough. 
That is to say, if the material used in the chair is mixed with some bad materials, or if the service life is too long, which leads to the aging of the parts and the cracks in the gaslift, the external force protruding causes the pressure to increase in a moment when the human body buttocks sits down, which may cause the gaslift to explode. 

(2) use oxygen instead of nitrogen. 
Most of the gas-filled in the gaslift is nitrogen, which is an inert gas and cannot be burned. the higher the nitrogen concentration in the gaslift, the higher the safety. But nitrogen is expensive, and some unscrupulous manufacturers use oxygen (air) instead of nitrogen for profit to save costs. Oxygen reacts with the lubricating oil in the pressure rod through friction, resulting in an explosion. This is one reason why some chairs  are very cheap. 

Therefore, when you choose and buy ergonomic chairs, you must buy the well-known manufacturer’s products, avoid buying very cheaper chairs, and for well-known manufacturers, the ergonomic desk chairs are carefully tested by authoritative institutions before leaving the factory, and in terms of gaslift, they need to be able to withstand 120000 continuous shocks before leaving the factory, while some low-quality ergonomic chairs do not pay much attention to the quality control.  

7. What are the components ergonomic chair/computer chair? 

1) Gaslift. 
2) Mechanism
3. Seat cushion. 
4). Backrest, lumbar support, headrest. 
5). Armrest. 
6). Five-star base. 
7. Castor

1) Gaslift

Gaslift is the key point. Because this should be the most concerning issue.  in fact, the safety of the chair itself mainly lies in two-point, one is the gaslift, the other is the mechanism. We can see that there are many English letters in the picture, SGS, LANT, BIFM. So what do these letters mean? These are the certification of the gaslift. Some may ask, what is the certification logo? 

SGS is an ancient third-party certification organization, the largest and oldest technical company in the world, and a very authoritative certification body in the world. SGS is internationally recognized as a professional, quality and honest organization. In other words, the gaslift with SGS certification is in line with the international quality standards, which proved that the gaslift is qualified, as long as it is in normal use, basically, there will be no problems. There are SGS certification level 3, certification level 4. What is the difference? the SGS certification level is mainly based on the gaslift thickness, the thicker for the piper, the gaslift certification level may be higher, its security is also higher. But don't be panic, it's not mean a gaslift that doesn't reach level 3 or level 4 is not safe. In fact, it's enough for a chair to have SGS certification. The higher the certification level, the greater the psychological comfort to people and makes customers feel that the chair is safer. 

In addition to SGS certification, there is also a more common certification called BIFMA certification, which is a non-profit certification organization in the United States, its full name is Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (American Furniture Association), which is a standard used to measure the quality of furniture in the United States. Furniture from other countries must first pass BIFMA certification if they want to enter the United States, mainly to examine the stability, strength and fatigue of furniture. Due to the perfect content of BIFMA certification and strict certification requirements, it has also been widely recognized by the international community. In fact, SGS is a certification body, BIFMA is a certification standard, SGS can issue BIFMA test reports. There are other certifications, such as the German safety certification TUV certification, which is widely recognized in Germany and Europe. 

Including LANT, TUV and so on are some authoritative certification bodies, well-known factory ergonomic chairs need to go through a series of institutional testing before the chairs leaving the factory, so the more certification they pass and get more stringent testing, the quality and safety of the ergonomic chairs are more guaranteed. Although the gaslift may explode, it all happens on some products without certification. Generally speaking, the gaslift with SGS certification on its logo can be considered to be safe. 

2) Mechanism

In fact, the mechanism is the most expensive part in all the chair parts, it is considered to be the heart of the ergonomic desk chair. Generally speaking, the gaslift needs to be at least SGS certified, then the mechanism must at least be made of steel, do not choose plastic and iron, the plastic is easy to crack, and the iron will not work well after rust. So how can the material of the mechanism tell the good from the bad? I will tell you the answer directly here: ordinary plastic < iron  < aluminum alloy < carbon fiber, roughly according to this standard to distinguish. Generally, low-priced computer chairs are made of steel or stainless steel mechanism, of course, the explosion-proof tray is better, whether it is really explosion-proof, at least it is a kind of mental protection; then the higher price will appear for aluminum alloy, carbon fiber and other materials of the tray. So what I want to say here is that if you are worried about the safety of the chair, you should pay attention to the gaslift and mechanism and choose the chair that can reassure you.

3) Material for the seat cushion

Let talk about the difference between the foam and the mesh. The foam actually gives you a very soft and comfortable feeling when you sit down. In fact, its resilience is mainly reflected after you stop sitting, it can be well restored to its original thickness and shape. The mesh chair actually has that kind of elasticity. You can sit on it and shake it, and you will find that the chair cushion is indeed bouncing back, and the elastic and breathable ones are actually a little better. It should be noted here that the mesh cushion seems to be unfriendly to friends who are too heavy, so it is better to plug a foam at the front end of the mesh  cushion.

Most of the ergonomic chairs are designed with mesh, and some are designed with environmentally friendly cloth and high-quality memory foam, and there are mainly three kinds of mesh materials on the market: Matrex in the United States, Wintex in Korea and domestic mesh. Among them, Matrex mesh and Wintex mesh can pass 100000 vertical strong shocks, while domestic mesh will burst due to different manufacturers in 60-80,000 strong shocks, so the quality can be seen: Matrex mesh > Wintex mesh > domestic mesh. Here, there is a misunderstanding about the difference between American Matrex

Here, due to the difficulty, time and high cost of obtaining the American mesh, most of the domestic ergonomic chairs are made with Chinese mesh or Korea mesh.

4)  Backrest, lumbar support, headrest. 

The most important of these three parts is the waist because the most difficult place for the chair to fit with the human body is the waist. You can lean on the back anyway, and the head rest is generally easy to lean on, while the waist is different. if the sitting posture is not good, it is really rare to lean on the waist, but if the support is not enough, people are very easy to feel tired. So here I suggest that if the chair does not have lumbar support or the design of the waist is not sound enough, you can buy a better waist pillow to increase the support of the waist. 

Another point of backrest, headrest and waist rest is to see whether they can be adjusted. Back rest adjustment is generally the angle at which they can be put down. After it is greater than or equal to 150 degrees, you can lie down completely, and the maximum will not exceed 170 degrees. General office use 130 °can satisfy the comfort; headrest is mainly adjusted to make it more suitable with the head, if it is fixed, it is very unfriendly, there is nothing to say. The waist adjustment is mainly based on the height of the person to customize the angle and position of the waist support, then this function is actually very important.

5)  Armrest. 

Headrest actually has nothing to talk about, but I won't say anything about rotation and contraction, literally. Then I will briefly talk about the 2D armrest, 3D armrest, and 3D armrest. D is Dimension (dimension), and the fixed armrest is actually 1D; 2D armrest can move up and down and back and forth; 3D armrests have more angle adjustment on the basis of 2D; 4D armrest move left and right on the basis of the 3D armrest. The more dimensions the chair have, the stronger the ability to adapt, and the better the effect of effective support

6) . Five-star base. 

The five-star base is also often called the five claws, because it is similar to the five claws, so I won't say much here. The five claws are mainly made of nylon, stainless steel and aluminum alloy, and the same quality is aluminum alloy > stainless steel > nylon. Nylon  does not rule out fracture. Steel aluminum alloy should not break, so people who are also overweight should not buy five claws made of nylon.

7) Castor

To be honest, the castor is not the main focus of my choice of chair. I think it is not important to mute or not mute when rolling, and of course, the floor is not so fragile. generally, it is not easy to damage the floor because of greater friction between the castor and the floor, so if it can damage the floor, it may be necessary to consider the quality of your floor. But the castor smooth, mute will actually give people a sense of advanced, there is another point is the fit between the roller and the five claws, the details of the chair is also good.

8 What kind of ergonomic chair is a good ergonomic chair? 

A good person to provide an engineering chair, in addition to the chair surface material, frame material to be good, the more important is whether its adjustable options are enough, the more adjustable options the chair have, the greater the range of adjustment the chair feature, this seat is likely to be more suitable for different people, it can not be said that the more adjustment you get from the chair, the better the chair, but if there is no basic adjustment function, it must not be a good ergonomic chair. A good ergonomic chair design has at least the following four regulating functions. 

Lumbar Support: A good office chair will have support for the lower back. Some of the better ones will even have adjustable lumbar support that allows the user to fit the chair to their lower back. This is important in preventing back strain that can worsen and become sciatica, a condition that can be debilitating.

Adjustability: Almost all office chairs have a height and arm adjustment; however, these are not the most important adjustments to look for when shopping for an office chair. The best office chairs have at least five adjustments with some having up to 14 different adjustments.

Important features that should be adjustable include lumbar support, arm width and height, seat back width and height, seat and back angle, and tension control. Many of the supports are dial controlled while a few are controlled with a hand-held bulb pump, similar to a blood pressure cuff pump.

Wheel Base: Nearly all office chairs have a wheelbase; however, if the office is carpeted it may be necessary to get a chair with wheels specifically made for carpet. Rolling is important in preventing strain due to reaching across a desk to retrieve items that are out of reach.

Swivel Base: All office chairs should swivel freely to allow for easy access to various parts of the desk. If the chair doesn’t swivel freely, arm fatigue can result from over-extending to reach various items.

Fabric: The fabric should be breathable to keep the chair from becoming hot and uncomfortable after hours of sitting in it. In addition, it should have enough cushion to support the person sitting in it without feeling the base of the chair through the cushion.