How Big and Tall People Can Get Office Chair Selection Right First Time

One of the annoying facts of life for people who are above average height, weight or build is the majority of office chairs are made to fit the average user, whatever that is.

Generally speaking, people between 5’ 6” and 6’ 0”tall and weighing up to 250 pounds are deemed to be average build.

From the manufacturers’ point of view, this is the bulk of the market, so it makes sense for them to focus on this low hanging fruit. That’s all very well. What should you do if you don’t fit this closely defined size range?

Fortunately, a number of office chair manufacturers produce specific seating aimed at catering for you. Whilst this helps there is a problem, not all of these so-called “big and tall” chairs are a good choice, and one particular category needs to be completely avoided.

If you’ve spent any time looking at different models, you will probably have seen quite a number of chairs looking rather like armchairs on wheels. They are often offered in leather and look big, imposing and super comfortable, yet this sort of chair is the very one you need to avoid.

The reason for this is the lack of flexibility due to the way these chairs are constructed. The technical term for this kind of chair is a one-piece shell chair.

What this means is that the chair and seat back are all made as one piece, so they don’t move independently of each other. This is not good.

When you spend long hours in a desk chair each day, you need to be able to vary the angle between your back and legs throughout the day, as variation and movement keeps your body healthy.

Even when this sort of chair reclines the angle between you back and legs remains fixed and so you end up sitting in the same fixed position all day, leaving your muscles tired and stiff. So it’s best to avoid these armchairs-on-wheels models.

A better idea is to look at specialist manufacturers who really understand what you need and offer a comprehensive range of solutions. Probably two of the best to consider are BodyBilt and Neutral Posture. Both are excellent products for the big-and-tall user. And if you prefer not to have to make lots of adjustments it’s worth taking a look at Humanscale’s Freedom chair which largely self adjusts and looks great too.