Maybe you’ve wondered whether a Ball Chair is right for you, although they’re generally fairly cheap you don’t want to find that it doesn’t work for you.

Well, there is a simple and inexpensive way to find out, ball chairs are all basically based on an inflatable exercise ball.

You will find that you can pick up an exercise ball for less than $15 on sites like Amazon, so for a small outlay I suggest buying one to evaluate if it’s right for you, choose a 650 mm diameter ball.

There are some who actually suggest using an exercise ball as a chair, but I wouldn’t recommend this for long term use.

However, it’s a great way to test the concept for a small outlay. Start by sitting on it for short periods of time and see how you get on, you’ll need to learn how to balance on it properly and if you discover you can manage it OK , then a full Ball Chair should be suitable for you.

You can find reviews of Ball Chairs here.

Office chairs have improved enormously in the last 20 years or so, as many new ergonomically designed seats have been introduced, however there is still one type of office chair widely available that is just not good for your postural health.

This is what is known in the trade as a one piece shell chair, I prefer to call them one piece hell chairs! With this type of chair the seat and back are either constructed as or remain fixed in a single piece.

Consequently, it isn’t possible to adjust the back and seat angle independently, all the user can do is alter the overall angle of the chair, but the back and seat remain fixed at a constant angle.

This is not a good idea for people who work in their office chair for long hours each day.

Twice recently in technical magazines I’ve seen articles on control rooms where likely $1 million or more has been spent on high tech equipment and in both cases the poor operators were sat in one piece hell chairs. Pity their backs after a 12 hour shift.

You’ll often find this type of seat in high end management chairs, frequently in leather and costing hundreds of dollars.

I suspect one of the reasons for their continued popularity is because they look big, important or luxurious, much like lounge chairs on wheels.

So, if you’re looking to replace your office chair, avoid these types of chair, your back will thank you.

Having recently added a review of Herman Miller’s Aeron Work Stool it struck me that in many respects it makes the Ergon 3 Drafting Chair obsolete.

Introduced in the early 1970s the Ergon 3 has held pride of place as the best ergonomic chair available for working at higher work surfaces.

It’s very well engineered, solidly built in the style of a traditional upholstered office seat and although called a drafting chair, it has been bought by anyone that needs to work at a higher level.

In terms of price the Aeron only costs 10% more in its basic format, although the highly adjustable version is about 30% more.

It will be interesting to see whether Miller keep the Ergon long term, I suppose that overall sales will determine the outcome.

Are you shortening the life of your office chair fabric without realizing it?

You would be amazed at the amount of dirt and grime that gets embedded in an office chair’s upholstery. As it builds up it clogs the fabric’s fibers and this causes it to rub against the structure of the fabric and act just like sandpaper.

This causes significant shortening of the life of your chair’s covering. So make sure you regularly vacuum and occasionally clean your chair’s fabric with an approved upholstery cleaner to prolong its life and avoid costly premature replacement.

Hopefully your office chair allows you to adjust the chair’s tension to match with your body weight.

When you’ve got things correctly you should be able to lean back in to your chair comfortably without applying excessive pressure or conversely feeling as though you’re suddenly sinking right back with little or no resistance.

So what’s involved in setting it up? With most office chairs you’ll find a knurled knob midway under the seat pad. Normally, you turn it clockwise to increase the tension and stiffen resistance or anti-clockwise to reduce the resistance.

Just experiment until you get it set to your liking.

Some more sophisticated ergonomic office chairs have a crank control on the side of the chair that actually makes it easier to adjust.

Tilt tension is just 1 of the 5 essential features that an office chair needs, to discover the other 4 see this article on what you need an ergonomic office chair to include.

It remains a fact of life that more often than not in life you get what you pay for and office chairs are no exception.

When you go into your local office supplies warehouse, chances are that you’ll be bombarded with cheap chairs, usually leather, full of sleek promises and features. It almost seems too good to be true and more often than not - it is.

Here’s a at rule of thumb to apply to any office chair you’re tempted to buy.

Ask the question. How long is it guaranteed for?

If it’s 2 years or less, walk on by. Most reputable suppliers offer 5 years at least, the top suppliers frequently will give you 12 years warranty. There’s a reason for this they’re confident that the product will last that long, imagine what it would cost them in returns if the product doesn’t perform.

Good quality office chairs are priced in hundreds of dollars, rather than tens of dollars because quality components aren’t cheap.

Here are a couple of good articles on what makes a quality office chair and how to buy an ergonomic office chair before you jump in and part with your hard earned cash.

From time to time chair users find that their office chair just won’t recline, this can be really frustrating as well as uncomfortable - so what happened?

A lot of office chairs have a synchro tilt mechanism which provides resistance as you lean back. These mechanisms often have 3 or 4 positions n which the chair back can be locked off at a set back angle.

Chances are the lever or knob that controls this is set in the locked position. First, try the height adjustment handle, see if you can pull it away from the chair stem a little. On a lot of office chairs this handle will prevent the chair back from moving when it is pushed in.

Others have a separate lever which is often in a similar position to the height adjuster on the opposite side of the chair. If that isn’t the case, see if you can find any other controls under the office seat and try moving them up and down, side to side or in and out and you should find a way to release it.

If you’re less than 5 foot 6 inches you may have had difficulty finding an office chair that fits you properly.

Manufacturers tend to design their products for the mass market and so often overlook people falling outside the average. Historically, these averages have been based on the size of military personnel and consequently are biased towards taller framed people.

Fortunately, not all seating manufacturers are so inflexible and some cater specifically for the small built individual.

Here are some reviews of qualifying seats HAG H04 Chair, BodyBilt Petite Chair and Shark Chair which will help you find the best office chair for you.

This is just a brief post to say that I’ve now added a product review of the BalanceBall Chair to the main reviews section.

This ball chair is best suited for those struggling to find comfort in standard office seats, but it’s only suitable if you are between 5 foot and 5 foot 11 inches and weighing up to 300 pounds.

If you’ve bought an office chair from an online retailer chances are that it will be unassembled to make shipping easier.

Having said that, better quality chairs are usually shipped ready built.

In case you do need to assemble your chair, what will be involved?

Begin by checking to see if there are any assembly instructions included, if not visit the supplier’s website or ring customer service.

If you still have no luck, don’t worry it’s generally pretty simple.

Usually, the 5 star base needs to be connected to the gas lift post and that in turn connects to the underside of the chair seat.

You will normally find that the pneumatic lift post has tapered ends. The wide end goes in the 5 star base and narrow end in the chair seat bottom.

They are usually push fit components, so once located just press down firmly on the seat with your knee, or sit in the seat heavily to force them together.

Chairs that come with arms may need to be fitted and as a rule are held on with bolts or large screws. Make sure you do them up tightly with the correct tool.

The last job is to fit the office chair casters to the base. Generally, they just press into holes in the chair’s base, push them firmly to make sure they are properly located.