GoKawiilHow to Sit Properly at a Desk AccordionItemContainerButton LargeChevron It's not just about finding a chair you like. We've rounded up several tips on how to set up your desk properly here, and how to avoid tech neck, but here are a few highlights. Sitting for long stretches during a day is not good for your health, no matter what chair you use. It increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, stroke, and heart disease. The best thing you can do is get up and move every half hour. If you can, a 40-minute walk per day can, according to a recent study, make a big difference in countering some effects of a sedentary lifestyle. You probably don't need to bother with an active chair. Home office users should consider a standing desk that lets you swap between standing and sitting work positions during the day. But also? Try a smartwatch. Most have movement reminders that encourage you to stretch your legs. If you're dealing with back pain, your first step is to consult your physician. Make sure your chair's armrests are adjustable. Your palms should be elevated over your desk, which should be at elbow level, and your wrists should be straight. If the bottom of your palm is resting on the desk or wrist rest, there's a chance you're putting too much pressure on your nerves, which could lead to issues like carpal tunnel syndrome. Talk to your physician if you're feeling any kind of pain. A gaming mouse, often more ergonomic than a standard mouse, might be helpful; just make sure to find one that fits your palm size. When you look forward, your eyes should align with the top of your monitor or laptop. That might mean finding a chair that can adjust up and down, elevating your laptop with a stand, or raising the height of your monitor. This puts less pressure on your neck and spine—you shouldn't be craning your neck up or down. What Should I Look for in an Office Chair? AccordionItemContainerButton LargeChevron A good rule of thumb is that the more adjustable a chair is, the better. Now, that doesn't mean this chair is the absolute best, but it gives you the possibility to mold it to your body shape, which hopefully makes it a comfier and more supportive seat. Here's what you can expect to adjust on a chair. Armrests: Most chairs let you move the armrests side to side, up and down, forward and back. It's even nicer when you're able to lock the armrest into place so that they don't slide around as your elbows rest on them. The armrest should naturally allow your palms to slightly hover over the desk. You'll often see descriptors like “4D” and “5D adjustable armrests,” which denote how many directions you can adjust the armrest. Seat height: It's worth checking a chair's maximum and minimum height before you buy because they might not work for your current desk (unless you have a standing desk where you can adjust the height). This is usually a pneumatic lift lever under the chair—pull the lever and get off the seat to let the chair go up, then sit on it and pull the lever to bring it down to your preference. Your feet should be planted on the floor at a 90- or 100-degree angle. If your chair arrives and it doesn't get as high as you'd like, don't worry, there's a very simple fix. Some office chair brands offer “tall cylinders" for not a lot of money, and if not, you can usually find third-party options on retailers like Amazon (make sure you buy for your specific chair!). Simply swap your existing cylinder with the tall version, and you'll have a greater height range to work with. You may be able to choose this option before checking out, or reach out to the company to see if they can swap it for you. Seat depth: Seat depth is important for taller folks. This is usually a mechanism that lets you pull the seat out so that your thighs get the proper support. There should be 1 to 2 inches between the front of the seat and the back of your knees. Taller people with longer legs may not get the best support if you can't adjust the seat depth. Seat tilt: This isn't as common as the above adjustments, but it's designed to tilt the seat up or down. This can help posture and prevent back pain, though it can take some getting used to. Lumbar support: Most office chairs offer lumbar support, which can look like a separate piece attached to the backrest that can slide up and down or back and forth. This piece supports your lower back (the lumbar region!), specifically maintaining the curve of the spine to maintain good posture as you sit and, ideally, warding off back pain. Check your chair manufacturer's assembly instructions to learn how to adjust the lumbar support, and place the support on the curve of your lower back. What I like to do is run my hand along my spine until I reach the natural dip, then I try to make sure the lumbar support sits at that exact location. Some chairs also let you adjust the depth of the lumbar support, pushing it further inward or outward. Make sure it feels natural and that it's not digging in. Play around with this until it feels comfortable and natural. Your shoulders should align with your hips, and you shouldn't feel like you're leaning forward. Recline: Almost every office chair lets you lock or unlock the recline, but some go a step further and let you tweak the tension of the recline. This allows you to use more or less force when you lean back, which comes down to how much resistance you want when you lean back. How We Test Office Chairs AccordionItemContainerButton LargeChevron Testing home office chairs is not for the minimalist. WIRED reviewer Matthew Korfhage and WIRED editor Julian Chokkattu—who's tested office chairs for seven years—might have four or five office chairs in their home at any given time. That's because office chairs take time to test. We sit in each for at least two weeks before we offer the barest opinion, because it takes time to gauge comfort. Some chairs take a moment to break in, and it can take even longer to gauge the supportiveness of each chair. Julian 6'4," and Matthew is 6'1." But we solicit feedback from people of various heights while testing, including Julian's 5'1" wife. Any chair that Matthew recommends but can't keep is used long-term by a durability tester, ideally with a different height. We try out all the adjustments throughout the testing period, both to see how the settings affect comfort, but also to check for tolerances and jiggle, which are red flags for durability: Seat adjustments, and armrest adjustments, are often the places where lesser chairs can fail first, long before the fabric starts to pill. But it's not just about durability and lumbar support. These chairs will live in a home office for years, so aesthetics are important as well. We also research each chair company, looking into their warranties, customer service, customer feedback, reports to consumer agencies, and overall reliability. An office chair is meant to be a long-term investment. If a company can't stand behind its products, WIRED won't either. How Does WIRED Select Chairs to Be Reviewed? AccordionItemContainerButton LargeChevron We routinely look at the market to find new office chairs that have hit the scene, whether it's from a newcomer or an established brand like Herman Miller or Branch. We check in on most chairs that someone credible has called their favorite, though we might not end up agreeing—and we're always on the lookout for chairs that fill a specific niche in the market that isn't covered by other chairs. Julian and Matthew typically reach out to these companies to ask for the product, but do not promise any kind of editorial coverage—that goes against WIRED's editorial policies. Yes, WIRED earns affiliate revenue if you purchase an office chair using our link, but this is not factored into the decision-making process. This said, we can't test every single chair that hits the market, in part because our testing regimen usually involves weeks of testing. And so you may indeed find some notable missing options in this guide, even after seven years of testing. Feel free to email Matthew if your favorite is missing from the list. We'll keep filling in the blanks on the top options in the market, and test new entrants. After we've finished testing a chair, we either donate to Goodwill or keep it on hand for durability testing. Julian keeps top picks like the Branch Ergonomic Chair Pro, Herman Miller Embody, and Anthros V2 on hand to test against future contenders. Matthew does the same, but also places some chairs in the hands of durability testers of different heights, in order to see how they fare with different body types and how they hold up over time.
Office Chair Accessories
Replace Your Casters
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
Courtesy of Stealtho Chevron Chevron Save to wishlist Save to wishlist Stealtho Office Chair Wheels $37 Amazon
The wheels on the bottom of your chair are among the easiest parts to replace. If your current casters don't roll smoothly or are too loud, it might be worth replacing them instead of buying a whole new chair. These from Stealtho, a Ukrainian company, are a good pick tested by WIRED reviewer Julian Chokkattu. They'll work with nearly every office chair, though the company notes they don't work with Ikea products. The soft polyurethane material means these won't scratch or chip hardwood floors, as some plastic casters do, plus it'll feel like you're silently gliding as you roll from your desk to the fridge (don't judge).
Fair warning: Since these are more frictionless than normal casters, they can cause your chair to roll around sometimes, like when you stand up and walk away. Stealtho has locking casters if you're worried about your chair rolling, and they don't cost much more.
A Glass Chair Mat
Courtesy of Vitrazza Save to wishlist Save to wishlist Vitrazza Rectangle Glass Chair Mat $249 $199 (20% off) Vitrazza
Do you need a mat for your chair? Most likely not. However, casters can scuff up hard floors, which is why we recommend upgrading them to rollerblade wheels (see above). If you're on a carpet, it can also be hard to move around. A mat can help with both of these issues. WIRED senior gear editor Julian Chokkattu sat on top of this glass one from Vitrazza for two years and was pleasantly surprised. (You can go for much cheaper mats made from other materials, too.) The safety glass is thick, and Julian did not see any notable scratches even after that time. It holds 1,000 pounds and doesn't touch my hardwood floor, as you need to affix rubber bumpers to keep them apart. You can choose from several sizes, and Vitrazza sells various shapes too. It's just a bit difficult to clean since you have to lift it to get to all the dirt underneath.
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