"How would your body hold that bowling ball up? If you lean backward, hunch over or slouch, you’re asking your muscles and soft tissue to hold up the bowling ball all day," he says.Įvery office chair in this guide has been tested for at least a month's time by an editor or writer, but most are used for three months before being evaluated and, if scored well, added to the guide. To illustrate the need for a body friendly desk chair, Walker suggests you picture your head as a bowling ball.
The features we test for are founded in notes gathered through interviews with experts in the category, including ergonomics specialist and President of Human Innovation Designs Dr. Testing and getting hands-on with products is integral to what we do at Gear Patrol, and given the price of a quality office chair and the task its given - keeping your spine and neck in a healthy line - we don't recommend chairs without sitting in them first. Your back, muscles, various joints and brain will thank you. If you can, go to stores and showrooms in your area and sit down, lean back, lean forward, pull levers and ask questions about everything. No one chair is the best for everyone, so take our guide with plenty of salt. Luckily, a number of companies are working to beat each other at building the best office chairs, even though they all know it’s not possible.
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