Sitting in an office chair throughout the day can be detrimental to the person’s health. Diseases like obesity, cardiovascular disease, and Type 2 diabetes have been known to be the main culprits in office workers. In order to improve the health of workers, companies are investing in standing desks. But transitioning from sitting to standing all day can also have health problems like aching feet, hyperextended knees, sore back muscles, and varicose veins. The remedy to this problem is a standing desk chair.

Standing desk chairs are designed to a height that gives the worker the freedom to lean or sit when needed to take some weight off of the feet and legs. Getting the best standing desk chair for your home, office, or professional workplace won’t hamper your ability to work at your standing desk. It will minimize the pressure on the joints and muscle fatigue. 

In making the transition to a standing desk and to set up the new ergonomic standing desk office, it needs a suitable stool. So how to find the right stool or chair? The first considerations are quality, comfort, and overall features. But the most important consideration is active sitting. Let’s learn about the important factors to consider before choosing a new standing desk chair.

The Types of Standing Desk Chairs

There are different kinds of standing desk chairs. These types are distinguished by their design and the type of posture that is used while sitting on them.

1. Leaning Stool

A leaning stool is a standing desk chair that is made to support a person’s weight as they lean back against it. This is similar to leaning against a post that doesn’t reach the waist. Some of them incorporate a rocking or swinging motion to encourage the user to swing around freely as they lean against the stool for support before standing up again. A good example is the Height Adjustable Stool Salon Chair JOSE by Flexispot.

While these stools can sit on, the height and angle of the stool make sitting uncomfortable after a while, thus ensuring it can’t be used as an excuse to make it into a more sedentary posture.

2. Drafting Chair

A drafting chair is a good option. It is a regular office chair with the exception for the increased height and a footrest that surrounds the stem of the chair. Used usually by draftsmen who work at large, raised-height desks, these chairs are also used as tall reception desks. These chairs let the lower body relax between long periods of working at a standing desk.

The advantage of a drafting chair is that it has a more comfortable cushion on the seat, and comes with a backrest and armrests. The downside may encourage people away from the health benefits of the standing desk in front of them.

3. Active Sitting Chair

The active sitting chair promotes continuous activity throughout the workday with a flexible seat that allows the user to keep in constant motion whether rocking or swinging the legs without excessive strain.

Chairs with flexible seats and large stability balls are examples of these active sitting chairs. Stability balls might not match the height of a standing desk, but they provide a good way to exercise while at the workstations that use adjustable-height standing desks.

4. Kneeling Chair

Kneeling chairs are only useful if the standing desk is adjustable. Very few people can kneel in one of these chairs while maintaining the same height like they were standing. This type focuses on using the parts of the body that is used for proper posture instead of a seated position that may tire out the back, neck, and hips.

The kneeling position is comfortable and helps to stretch out the muscles after a prolonged time of working at a standing desk. 

Criteria When Choosing the Best Standing Desk Chair

Choosing a new standing desk chair is as important as choosing a good standing desk. It requires good knowledge of what to look for what makes it the best standing desk chair. Here are some of the important shopping considerations to choose the best standing desk chair for the office, whether at the workplace or at home.

1. Stability

Stability is an important factor regardless of the design. It needs to stable enough so it isn’t going to collapse or jerk from one side of the chair to another. A sudden movement of the support when the person sits down may cause them to slip off the chair and could result in injuries.

To avoid this, the standing desk chair must have a solid frame that can support applied pressure from directly above and from an angle. Active sitting chairs are designed to swivel and move, but they have a central point of support to properly balance their body weight while they sit.

2. Height Adjustment

 Adjust in height is essential to ensure that the chair is at the correct height for the person using it. It needs to adjust to the correct height to allow the user to sit with the correct posture while working.

The standing desk chairs which are not adjustable, like stability balls, kneeling chairs, and some active sitting chairs, need to be paired with standing desks that are height adjustable. 

3. Seat Comfort

Like any other chair, comfort is an important factor since its purpose is to support the body weight for long periods of time. Standing desk chairs comes with cushioned seat, whether they are leaning stools, drafting chairs, active sitting chairs, or kneeling chairs.

The comfort of the seat can be better if the standing desk chair has a backrest or armrests that support the arms, shoulders, and parts of the chest and neck musculature when sitting down. Kneeling chairs have an angled seat with a second seat or cushion for the knees which is intended to hold no more than 15 percent of a person’s body weight.

4. Design

Design should include the color, material, and shape of a chair. The color can range from white to black depending on the product.

It can be made with metal, nylon mesh, leather, fabrics like cotton or polyester, or even rubber for the stability balls. Choose a material that is comfortable and durable enough to last for years. It can also have different seat shapes, including round, squared, and contoured.

5. Quality

Lastly, the quality of the item should be good enough so it won’t need to be replaced anytime soon. The quality would depend on the item, but a standing desk chair should last at least two to three years if it is properly cared for and maintained. A low-quality chair will quickly lose its reliability, becoming loose, unsteady, and breaks down easily.

Now you have the right criteria in finding the best chair for a standing desk. Go to our website, Flexispot.com, to browse through our products and get the chair for the standing desk that you deserve. There is a lot of selection to choose from and at affordable prices.

As a last note, consumers need to read the product descriptions and information provided by the manufacturer as well as product reviews to know the strengths and weaknesses of each product.