So, what can we conclude about people’s opinions of and attitudes towards office chairs?

A lot of people view their office chair as a relatively unimportant thing, despite spending many hours each day sitting in it, its often regarded as a necessary evil rather like a vacuum cleaner when it’s worn out I’ll go and get another one.

A few do see the significance of investing in a quality seat and are fulsome in their praise for the comfort and support it offers.

Judging by those seeking advice on what they should buy many find themselves bewildered and confused on what they should do. This isn’t altogether surprising as the majority of online office chair shopping sites present searchers with a huge array of alternative models to choose from and all this achieves is to create confusion.

Pain is a major issue with office seating and it’s evident that an awful lot of office workers are sitting in very low quality seats which do their backs and bodies no favors at all. And yet all too often they are replacing poor and inadequate chairs with a new version of the same thing, to a degree this may well be due to lack of funds to invest in a proper ergonomic office chair.

When people do decide to get a new office chair it often seems a spur of the moment decision where they call in at the local discount warehouse and pick up a bargain or something that looks good.

Leather Office Chairs continue to be a form of fatal attraction for a significant number of chair users, cheap leather chairs are almost always a very poor investment both from a financial and postural viewpoint.

Some have even given up on a traditional office seat and instead gone over to a ball chair in the hope it will provide the comfort their last chair lacked.

The reality remains that you really do get what you pay for and probably the soundest advice I can give to those needing to replace their office chair is to become aware of the important things to get right and study reviews of quality products.

If funds are tight try saving for a few months and buy a long lasting solution instead of another quick fix that soon disappoints. Lastly, if buying online make sure the store offers a 30 day trial so you can be absolutely sure you picked the right chair, OK you may have to pay return shipping if you do send it back, better that than being stuck with something which doesn’t suit you.

It wasn’t all that surprisingy New Chair was the biggest category, those lucky enough to get a new chair often relished in bragging rights and why not? A good number of people funded their own chair purchase, whereas others had the luxury of a new office chair supplied by their employer.

Generally, the comments were positive -

• “my butt is not so sore”
• “really enjoying new chair”
• “new office chair is worth every dollar I paid”

Next, came those seeking advice on where to buy a good office chair from, typical of these comments were -

• “where can I buy a good office chair?”
• “needing to find a comfortable office chair that doesn’t break the bank”
• “looking for a real office chair”

Predictably pain weighed in as the next most common topic, clearly there are loads of people suffering discomfort and sitting in dire office seats as can be seen by some of the comments -

• “oh my back”
• “my back is killing me”
• “my back pain is worse this morning”
• “I’m getting pain again in my neck”

A good number of posters confirmed they were going to get a new chair, with quite a lot of people actively looking for a new office chair and intending to buy one that day.

Perhaps it wasn’t altogether surprisingly most talked of calling in at IKEA, Office Max, Costco or checking Craigslist with the emphasis on getting a bargain or buying on looks rather than selecting a quality product.

In the last category came Ball Chair enthusiasts who had abandoned the mindset of a conventional office chair altogether and resolved to make a fundamental change to their style of office seat, most were positive in their comments -

• “stability ball is much more comfy”
• “fitness ball…is working well”

In the final part of this post I’ll offer my analysis on these findings, watch out for this next week.

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.

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.

Ball Chairs are great for improving your sitting posture as they make you sit dynamically, you can’t just slob around on one, as you’ll likely end up on the floor!

Whilst some use them as their main chair, a lot of people find they have difficulty in sitting all day on a Ball Chair. This is highly likely to be the case for those trying to use an exercise ball as a chair.

So, it’s probably best to look on a ball chair as an additional seat that you use for part of the day to give your body relief and variation from your normal seating position.

I’d recommend that you keep your existing chair and see how you get on with your Ball Chair, that way you can either use it full time or occasionally depending on how you find it.

I suggest that you go for a proper Ball Chair rather than an exercise ball, you can find further details on popular ball chairs here.

Although, I’ve covered a number of different models in the Stools and Ball Chairs part of the main website, the BalanceBall® is one that I have yet to consider.

It works on the same principle as other models of Ball chair in that it encourages you to sit healthily, that is “active sitting” you won’t doze off in this type of seat it’s designed to keep your back active and healthy.

The chair is available online for Gaiam.com and Amazon.

I’ll be adding a full review of the product to the Ball Chair review section of the site shortly.