The Office Work Chair and Its Importance to Worker Quality of Life and Productivity

A lot of people will probably not realize it but one of the many factors that affect workplace productivity is the quality of office furniture given to the workers. Some may not see the connection outright but if you have worked in an office environment where all you do most of the time is sit behind a desk or in front of a computer, then I’m pretty sure you know that the furniture and tools provided you by the company can directly have an impact on your quality of life. And if there’s one office furniture that does have such significance in improving conditions that employees work in, that would be the chair they sit in day in and day out.

Some 5 years ago I went into a 6-month therapy to correct a posture-related problem with my lower back. My doctor diagnosed it as a case of lumbar instability. Muscle spasms in my lower back caused some slight/minor misalignment in the bones that make up my lower spine which caused a lot of discomfort and pain. After a little digging, my doctor suggested that the most likely cause for my problem was the seating accommodations that I had at work.

The computer workstation that I had then was not equipped with a suitable chair that was designed to mitigate the impact of seating for long hours at a time. It was basically a stacking chair that wasn’t padded adequately and which strained the muscles in my lower back and buttocks area. After a while of abuse, my back started acting up with nasty and almost continuous muscle spasms that lead to an instability in the natural shape and position of my spine. Needless to say, the next six months were not exactly moments of my life that I cherish as I experienced almost constant pain in my lower back. Thankfully after about 5 months into the physical therapy, things got better.

Of course, I also “forced” the company to provide me a better seating accommodation and ever since, it has become a company policy that everyone be given suitable desk or computer chairs. They should be ergonomically designed to support the natural contours of the back and are sufficiently padded to reduce the possibility of back problems. You can see a lot of these chairs being sold in most office furniture outlets today and you can easily recognize them with their nicely contoured and padded backrests that follow the natural shape of our backs. They are also designed to recline to help relieve the fatigue of sitting upright for long periods. Suitable padding on the armrests is also a common trait of these chairs. Other features include provisions for changing height, swiveling and wheels/rollers to help you move around your workstation without having to get up and carry the chair with you.

It is not hard to see why such a chair can help you improve productivity and employee experience in the workplace. A happy and injury-free worker will always be able to produce more quality output compared to one with a painful back problem. Back pain is actually one of the most common causes of employee absenteeism. I can personally attest to this and recommend that people invest in a well-designed ergonomic office chair. This is one area of a business that you shouldn’t scrimp on.

If you are currently looking to buy a good ergonomic computer chair, Spine-Health.com created this nifty guide to choosing an ergonomic chair for work areas.

Author Info: The author has been back-pain free for 5 years and is now an owner of www.TheOfficeHub.com, a website that features information on workplace productivity, furniture and technology. She maintains her website from her nicely equipped and designed home office setup.