Does Your Desk Chair Really Work for You?

If you spend several hours a day sitting at a desk, your chair is one of the most important pieces of equipment in your workstation.

Yet it is often one of the most overlooked.

A chair might look comfortable, fit neatly under a desk and even feel perfectly fine for the first hour or two. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it is providing the support and adjustability your body needs throughout a working day.

As an Osteopath and Desk Station Assessor, I regularly see people with neck, shoulder, upper back and lower back discomfort where the chair – or more specifically, the lack of adjustment in the chair – is contributing to the problem.

The important question isn’t simply:

“Is this a good office chair?”

It is:

“Can this chair be adjusted to fit the person using it?”

Your workstation should accommodate you

One of the key principles I teach in my workplace ergonomics workshops is:

You shouldn’t have to accommodate your workstation. Your workstation should accommodate you.

If your chair is too low, you shouldn’t have to reach upwards towards your desk.

If your backrest doesn’t support you, you shouldn’t have to sit forward all day.

If the seat is too deep, you shouldn’t have to perch on the front edge just to get your feet comfortably onto the floor.

And if the armrests prevent you from getting close enough to your desk, you shouldn’t have to lean forwards to reach your keyboard.

A well-designed workstation should allow the equipment to come to you – rather than your body continually adapting to the equipment.

A real example from one of my ergonomics workshops

I saw a very good example of this recently while delivering an ergonomics workshop for a London-based investment company.

Before the workshop, employees had sent in photographs of their working environments so that we could discuss real workstation examples during the session.

One hybrid worker was using a static, low-backed chair.

At first glance, there was nothing particularly dramatic about it. It was a chair, it fitted under the desk and it provided somewhere to sit.

But from an ergonomic perspective, the problem was that it simply couldn’t adapt to its user.

There was limited back support, no meaningful adjustability and very little opportunity to change the chair to suit the individual's body or the height and position of their workstation.

The solution wasn't to teach that person how to sit more rigidly or maintain a supposedly “perfect posture”.

The chair needed to be replaced with one that could actually adapt to them.

That distinction is important.

What should you look for in a desk chair?

There isn't one perfect chair for everybody. We are different heights, shapes and sizes, and our working environments vary enormously.

This is why adjustability matters.

When assessing a desk chair, these are some of the key areas I look at:

🟢 Backrest and upper-back support

The backrest should provide comfortable support and allow you to sit back into the chair rather than gradually drifting forwards towards the screen.

🟡 Lumbar support

Some degree of adjustable lumbar support can help the chair accommodate different spinal shapes and body sizes. Importantly, it should feel supportive rather than forcing your lower back into an uncomfortable position.

🟠 Adjustable armrests

Armrests should allow the shoulders to remain relaxed and the elbows comfortably supported. They also need to allow you to get close enough to the desk – large fixed armrests can sometimes do the opposite.

🔵 Seat depth

Ideally, seat depth should be adjustable. A seat that is too deep can make it difficult for a smaller user to sit against the backrest without pressure behind the knees.

🟣 Seat height

Your chair needs enough height adjustment to position you appropriately in relation to your desk. If your feet no longer reach the floor once the chair is at the correct height, a footrest can be introduced rather than lowering the chair and compromising your upper-body position.

⚪ Movement and adjustability

A good chair shouldn't necessarily hold you rigidly in one position.

Our bodies are designed to move.

A chair that allows controlled movement, recline and changes of position can make it easier to vary posture throughout the working day.

What does a good adjustable chair actually look like?

When I talk about an ergonomic chair, I don't mean that everybody needs to buy the most expensive chair on the market.

What matters is whether the chair offers the right features and whether those features can be adjusted correctly for the individual.

One useful example is the Everything Chair, available through Alexander Green Interiors.

View Alexander Green Interiors

I use this as an example because it demonstrates many of the features we look for when assessing a workstation: good back support, adjustable armrests, appropriate seat positioning and the ability for the chair to respond to the person sitting in it.

The point isn't that everybody needs this particular chair.

It is a useful benchmark for understanding what an appropriately adjustable office chair can offer compared with a basic static chair.

But even a good chair can be set up badly

Buying an adjustable chair is only half of the equation.

I regularly see good-quality office chairs where almost every adjustment is still sitting in the factory position because nobody has ever shown the user what the controls actually do.

A £500 chair set up incorrectly can still result in a poor workstation.

Conversely, understanding how to use the adjustments available can make a significant difference.

This is why workstation assessment should look at the whole working environment – not simply whether somebody has been provided with an “ergonomic chair”.

We need to consider the chair, desk, screen, keyboard, mouse, equipment, working habits and, importantly, the person using them.

Don't forget movement

Even the best desk chair in the world doesn't remove the need to move.

There is no single posture that we should maintain for eight hours.

Your next posture is often your best posture.

Stand up. Walk while taking a phone call. Change your sitting position. Look away from your screen. Use a sit-stand desk if you have one. Take opportunities to move throughout the working day.

The aim of good ergonomics isn't to hold the body in one supposedly perfect position.

It is to create a working environment that supports the body and allows it to move.

What about working from home?

This becomes particularly important with hybrid working.

At the office, an employee may have a fully adjustable task chair and correctly positioned monitors. At home, that same person might spend two or three days each week working from a dining chair, breakfast bar or spare bedroom desk.

If home is part of your normal working environment, your workstation there matters too.

The same principles apply:

Bring the workstation to you. Don't continually bring your body towards the workstation.

Supporting healthier workstations

Through Well At Work Project, I deliver interactive workplace ergonomics workshops designed to help employees understand how their workstation affects their body and, crucially, what they can actually change.

Rather than simply telling people to “sit up straight”, we look at real workstations, chair set-up, screen positioning, hybrid working, movement and the practical adjustments employees can make during their working day.

Find out more about our Workplace Wellbeing & Ergonomics Workshops

At The Waterside Practice, we also see the other side of the picture clinically – treating many of the neck, shoulder, back and upper-limb problems that can be aggravated by prolonged desk-based working.

If you are experiencing persistent discomfort while working, it is worth looking beyond the painful area itself and considering whether your working environment is asking your body to adapt to it every day.

Because ultimately, the principle is simple:

Your workstation should fit you – not the other way around. Movement is Key.

Bernitta Willoughby M.Ost DO PGD WHO
Registered Osteopath
Desk Station Assessor
Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors
Founder, Well At Work Project