If you have a desk job but your office chair isn’t the best quality, we’re willing to bet you also have some back pain. Sitting in a chair for eight or more hours per day isn’t what our bodies were made for, so it makes sense that being stationary affects our spinal health. The right office chair, however, can work with your body instead of against it, relieving existing back pain and preventing future pain.
An office chair designed to help with back pain should be adjustable, have the ability to recline, and feature a good amount of lumbar support. To find the best office chairs for back pain, we tested popular chairs in the Verywell Health Lab and at home for comfort, support, adjustability, durability, and overall value. We also asked experts to weigh in on what makes one office chair better than another when it comes to working with back pain. Here are the nine best office chairs for back pain.
What Healthcare Providers Want You to Know
If you’re purchasing a new office chair due to back or hip pain, Andy Fata-Chan, DPT and NY-based physical therapist and fitness coach, says that it’s important to understand the source of your pain first and foremost. Someone with flexion-sensitive back pain may experience sciatica-like symptoms and should search for a chair with more arch support, while someone with hip pain should look for an adjustable chair that allows them to sit in a C-shape. Here are some other key features to look for:
- Adjustability: The likelihood of finding a chair that provides perfect support and alignment right off the shelf is unusual, says Grant Radermacher, DC, owner of Ascent Chiropractic in Wisconsin. So, you need one that can be adjusted to your body, such as being height-adjustable so your hips and knees can bend at a 90-degree angle. Karena Wu, DPT, owner of ActiveCare Physical Therapy in New York City and India, says the seat should be able to push back against the backrest and comfortably support your pelvis and thighs.
- Lumbar Support: If you’re buying an office chair for back pain, lumbar support should be at the top of your list. Radermacher suggests looking for a chair with a backrest that makes full contact with the natural curve of your lower back and cradles your spine without exerting excessive pressure or feeling too shallow.
- Materials: Susan Eby, PT, MS, founder of Eby Physical Therapy, PLLC in New York City, says the ideal office chair material is breathable and firm enough to support your body but provides enough give or cushioning to be comfortable. A memory foam seat covered with durable outer material, like leather or blended fabrics, and a mesh backrest can provide comfort and breathability.
- Recline: This is a non-negotiable feature, says Radermacher, especially if you’re already predisposed to back pain from sitting. In general, tilting your upper body away from your legs while seated reduces the strain on your muscles and helps maintain your spine’s natural S-curve. Aim for an angle of around 110 degrees, he says.
- Comfort and Durability: Your office chair should be sturdy and not prone to wobbling. You should also be able to make adjustments easily, ideally while seated in the chair, without worrying about stability. According to our testing expert, Kelsey Rosen, DPT, physical therapist at the Hospital for Special Surgery, you shouldn’t be overly comfortable in your office chair. You should be reminded to get up and take frequent breaks.
When to See a Healthcare Provider
We suggest consulting a healthcare provider if your back or hip pain persists even after several weeks of switching to an ergonomic office chair or if your pain is unfamiliar. You should immediately seek expert advice if you experience any of the following red-flag symptoms: pain associated with fever, progressive sensory loss, progressive motor loss, loss of bowel control, loss of bladder control, unrelenting night pain with a history of cancer.
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Steelcase
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Relatively easy to assemble
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Matches the natural curve of the spine
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Optional extra backrest support
Key Specs
Height: 37.25 to 42.5 inches | Weight Capacity: 400 lbs | Headrest : Yes | Warranty: Yes, limited
Why We Recommend It
In our tests, this chair proved great for lower back and hip pain as it conformed to the natural curvature of our backs. It flexed with us as we changed postures, minimizing stiffness and soreness throughout the working day. The width of the seat makes it easy to sit cross-legged on the chair and also makes it comfortable for people of all sizes to have a productive day.
The chair is very easy to set up and comes ready to use straight out of the box with no assembly necessary. We also gave it major points for its adjustability. To top it off, we appreciate that it comes with an optional extra backrest support, has a high weight capacity, and is stylish and customizable. You can mix and match 25 different color fabric options with various frame and base finishes.
Keep in Mind
Though we rated this chair for the multiple ways that it can be adjusted, our editor found that it wasn’t straightforward to lock the armrests in place so they had a tendency to move around, up, and down. Also, this chair is pricier than other options, but because of the quality and customization options, we think it’s worth the long-term investment.
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Amazon
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In-person delivery and small tutorial on adjustability
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Contoured seat and ample padding
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Durable, high-quality materials
Key Specs
Height: 45 inches | Weight Capacity: 300 lbs | Headrest: No | Warranty: Limited lifetime warranty
Why We Recommend It
One of our editors, who suffered chronic neck and upper back pain, mainly caused by poor posture while sitting at a desk, felt significant improvement while using this chair. The seat is well-padded with deep contours designed to promote proper spinal alignment, which discourages slouching and helps reduce tension in the neck and shoulders. The backrest is springy and pushes against the lower back, promoting alignment and making it hard to slouch. Even after sitting for hours, our editor no longer experienced lower back discomfort—something that used to happen frequently with her old chair.
In terms of durability and materials, the chair is built with high-quality hardware and fabric that feels sturdy and long-lasting. The chair’s various adjustable features, including lumbar support, armrests, and the seat pan, allow for a highly personalized fit. The design, while not trendy, is sleek and ergonomic, with a breathable mesh back for added comfort.
Keep in Mind
At over $900, this chair may be well above some people’s price range, but when it comes to everyday comfort and long-term health, an investment like this could pay off in the long run.
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Haworth
Key Specs
Height: 41.5 to 53 inches | Weight Capacity: 325 lbs | Headrest: Yes | Warranty: 12 years
Why We Recommend It
Many of the chairs in this list are suitable for long hours at the desk, but what we like about this one is that it’s designed for whole-body support and offers a lot of adjustability. In testing, we liked having the option to adjust how far the backrest reclines and how much resistance it gives us. Even on the lowest setting, this chair provides a good amount of back support, so you won’t be allowed to slouch and slump while working.
On top of having multiple adjustability options, the Haworth Fern is easy to adjust: The levers are all fairly accessible, and we were able to operate them while sitting in the seat. It’s rock solid, with a streamlined appearance that fades into the background rather than sticking out. We thought it could have been a bit more cushioned—especially for its cost—but the fact that we were able to get rid of our old lumbar pillow and experience back pain relief while using this chair made us think it was worth it.
Keep in Mind
It seems designed more for support than comfort; we would have liked just a bit more padding in the seat for maximum cushion.
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Steelcase
Key Specs
Height: 39.125 to 43.5 inches | Weight Capacity: 350 lbs | Headrest: No | Warranty: 12 years
Why We Recommend It
Sciatica pain occurs in the sciatica nerve, which extends from the buttocks and down each leg. While causes for sciatica pain can vary, a good general guide for finding a suitable office chair is to find one that offers the ability to sit wide, has a medium-soft cushion to limit pressure pain, and back support to hold your upper body weight and reduce pressure on your discs.
This chair is recommended by Fata-Chan, as the weight-activated mechanism automatically responds to your body weight when you sit to provide the right amount of back tension as you recline, and the wide seat adds extra comfort and support for sciatica pain. Plus, there are a lot of ways to customize this chair so you can uniquely tailor it to your body.
Some of our experts advised using a new office chair for two weeks to see if it improves back pain. However, with this chair, 90% of one editor’s lower back pain was reduced within 24 hours. We also gave it top marks for being easy to set up, as it came fully assembled out of the box.
Keep in Mind
Though this chair comes with many adjustable features, it doesn’t come with a headrest to allow for extra relaxation when reclining.
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![A close up of the back of the Steelcase Karman Office Chair while someone sits in it]()
The Steelcase Karman chair feels incredibly comfortable and supportive, thanks to its flexible frame, cooling mesh, and adjustable firmness options.
Verywell Health / Donna Freydkin
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![A close up of the backside of the Steelcase Karman Office Chair]()
This stylish yet durable chair feels lightweight and comes already assembled, making it easy to use right away.
Verywell Health / Donna Freydkin
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Haworth
Key Specs
Height: 39 to 44 inches | Weight Capacity: 325 lbs | Headrest : No | Warranty: 12 year
Why We Recommend It
Adjustability and a high weight capacity are important factors for tall people. This chair holds up to 325 pounds, has adjustable armrests, an adjustable seat height and a relatively wide 20-inch seat width, which is recommended to avoid feeling constrained.
We loved how comfortable and supportive The Soji Office Chair by Haworth was during testing. The lumbar feature supported the natural curve of our spine, helping it stay aligned as we worked at our desks while keeping our backs pain-free. Compared to our old office chairs, we slouched less and didn’t feel the need to take as many stretch breaks. The height, armrests, tilt, and lumbar support are all easily adjustable. It made finding our optimal settings simple, which we appreciated. Its durability is also impressive—it still looks new after 100 hours of use.
Like other Haworth chairs, it comes fully assembled, and you can customize it further on the website. It’s sustainably made and was given a well-deserved comfort award. You receive free shipping and a 30-day trial to make sure it fits all of your needs.
Keep in Mind
The leather on the armrests gets dirty easily. It’s easy to clean, but we wish it was a bit more resistant to smudges.
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Branch Furniture
Key Specs
Height: 37 to 41 inches | Weight Capacity: 300 lbs | Headrest: No | Warranty: 7 years
Why We Recommend It
A chair’s seat height and seat depth are two important features that shorter people should consider when shopping for an office chair. With the Branch Furniture Verve Chair, seat height starts at 16.5 inches, which is within the ideal 14-inch to 18-inch seat height. You can also adjust almost every moving part of this chair, including seat height, lumbar support, armrests, and tilt feature. These adjustable features made the chair feel custom-made for our bodies, providing relief where we needed it.
From an aesthetic point of view, we appreciate that the chair is sleek and narrow and doesn’t take up much space or look like an eyesore in our workspace. It also comes in fun color options. It was easy to assemble, rolled across the floor smoothly, and stayed reliably comfortable all day. And we feel it’s fairly priced, considering how flexible it is and how much it helped our posture and back pain.
Keep in Mind
We would have loved to see a headrest and padded armrests included as part of the design, and we don’t think people with larger bodies would find it as comfortable.
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Autonomous
Key Specs
Height: 46 to 50 inches | Weight Capacity: 300 lbs | Headrest: Yes | Warranty: 2 years
Why We Recommend It
What makes this chair the best for neck and back pain is that it comes with an adjustable headrest to reduce neck strain and stiffness. We love the combination of affordability and ergonomics that the Autonomous ErgoChair Pro offers. Radermacher says this chair is a great value for people looking to avoid back pain without spending $1,000 or more on a designer chair.
Our biggest takeaway from testing this chair was that it’s made for support: The seat is deep, wide, and comfortably padded, everything from the armrests to the backrest tilt is adjustable, and the lumbar support can be tweaked for both depth and tilt. Notably, the headrest on this chair was worth the price alone; it’s a game changer, providing much-needed back support for the lumbar region all the way up to the neck and shoulders.
Keep in Mind
It can take a lot of trial and error to get the right adjustments with this chair. Make sure to check the user manual to customize it to your liking.
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Steelcase
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Helps maintain posture
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Flexible yet supportive
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Easy to assemble
Key Specs
Height: 36.5 to 41.25 inches | Weight Capacity: 400 lbs | Headrest: No | Warranty: Limited lifetime
Why We Recommend It
A great office chair that supports good posture is one with good lumbar support—and bonus points if that lumbar support is adjustable. Thanks to the flexible back support featured with the Steelcase A1 Air Chair, we were able to get rid of the lumbar pillow we used to keep strapped to our old office chair. Not only did we feel like the backrest fit perfectly into the curve of our spine, but we could tell this chair supported and maintained our posture, too. It effectively relieved some of our existing back and neck pain from sitting at a desk all day.
In testing, we loved the high mobility of this chair: The backrest is flexible enough to allow for stretching and twisting in the chair. There was virtually no way for us to slouch in this chair, and we actually found ourselves looking forward to sitting down in it. On top of its back and neck support, this chair is sleek, slim, and beautiful; we got it in a periwinkle blue color that looks great in our home office. It’s durable, easy to adjust, and simple to assemble, making it worthy of its price tag.
Keep in Mind
We thought the armrests could be limiting for people with larger bodies since they don’t move forward or backward, and the chair itself is a little narrow. (You can buy a version of this chair without armrests online, however).
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Tempur-Pedic
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Cushioned, contoured seat
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Adjustable lumbar support
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Multi-directional adjustments for armrests
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Heavy
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Difficult to assemble
Key Specs
Height: 40.5 to 44 inches | Weight Capacity: 275 lbs | Headrest: No | Warranty: 10-year limited
Why We Recommend It
We felt supported by every part of the TEMPUR-Lumbar Support Office Chair, from the contoured seat to the mesh backrest to the adjustable armrests. We suspect some of that is due to the memory foam used to cushion the seat, which Wu says helps it mold to your body and offers pressure relief based on your individual shape.
That was certainly our experience in testing: The backrest supported the natural curve of our spine, while the firm yet comfortable seat aligned our posture, so we sat up straighter. Adjusting this classic, modern chair was easy, and we appreciated that the lumbar support could also be customized to our liking, alleviating back pain exactly where we needed it. Meanwhile, the armrests are so adjustable we could put them in positions we didn’t even know we needed. It’s pretty hefty and a sturdy and stable chair. For the price, we think it’s the perfect blend of comfort, functionality and affordability.
Keep In Mind
It was tough to assemble: The pieces were heavy, the instructions were not very clear, and we needed a second person to assist us. If you need an easier-to-assemble option, we suggest the Steelcase Think Chair. Also, while we really enjoyed this chair during testing, it is pricier than other options.
How We Tested the Office Chairs for Back Pain
We tried 20 office chairs at home and used them at least twice weekly for a full, eight-hour workdays. By the end of the testing period, we had identified top office chairs that we recommend. We chose these chairs based on our evaluation of the following attributes:
- Setup: We assessed how easy it was to receive and assemble the chair. If white glove delivery was performed, we noted that, along with how clear the instructions were and if we needed a second person to help us put it together.
- Comfort: We considered the width and depth of the seat and whether the cushioning was sufficient to allow for longer periods of sitting.
- Lumbar support: Paying specific attention to how well the backrest fit along the natural curve of our spine, we evaluated how much support there was in the lower back region and if the lumbar area offered any adjustable support for people of different sizes.
- Adjustability: We checked for adjustability in seat height, forward/backward tilt, and armrests. We also noted how easy it was to make these adjustments.
- Durability: An office chair should be stable and built to last, so we tested it to see if it was wobbly or flimsy and also looked for any manufacturer’s height and weight limit requirements.
- Design: Whether a classic or modern chair isn’t typically a dealbreaker for an otherwise perfect chair. However, we know many people consider aesthetics when shopping for office chairs because they are furniture, so we noted any major design features, styles, or flaws.
- Value: At the end of the testing period, our editors checked the current list price of their office chair and shared whether or not they felt it was appropriately priced based on the performance they observed during the testing.
Tips for Maintaining Good Posture at Your Desk
A productive, comfortable workspace requires more than just an ergonomic office chair, and there are many reasons why your office chair could cause you back pain. Here are a few other ways to protect your posture and create short-term and long-term physical well-being and comfort:
- Keyboard and mouse position: Ensure the keyboard and mouse are positioned at elbow height when sitting
- Desk height: Your desk should be at a height where your forearms are parallel to the floor and at a 90-degree angle
- Computer height: Adjust your screen to eye level to minimize neck strain
- Foot placement: Avoid crossing your legs and keep both feet on the floor to keep your hips aligned
- Spine position: Find a chair that offers good spinal support for your needs but also consider moving postures. This could mean adding a kneeling chair or standing desk into the mix
- Wrist and arm position: Keep your forearms parallel to the floor
- Active rest: Take regular breaks (every 30 to 60 minutes) in the form of active stretching, going to the bathroom, or refilling your water glass to encourage bursts of movement throughout the day
Our Experts
We spoke with and tested chairs under the expert guidance of physical therapists, orthopedists and ergonomic specialists to gain insights into what makes a good office chair for bad backs, and how to sit in them correctly. These experts include:
- Andy Fata-Chan, PT, DPT – NY-based Physical Therapist and Fitness Coach at Moment Physical Therapy & Performance
- Blessen Abraham, DC, of Brunswick Health & Physical Therapy Center in New Jersey
- Susan Eby, PT, MS, founder of Eby Physical Therapy, PLLC in New York City
- Karena Wu, DPT, owner of ActiveCare Physical Therapy in New York City
- Grant Radermacher, DC, owner of Ascent Chiropractic in Wisconsin
- Kelsey Rosen, DPT, physical therapist at the Hospital for Special Surgery
Why Trust Verywell Health
Sarah Bradley is a mom and freelance journalist with years of experience writing health commerce articles, product reviews, and shopping guides on everything from dry skin moisturizers and wart removers to back massagers and lumbar support pillows.
Isabella Ubaldi regularly contributes to Verywell Health’s sister site, Health.com. She is a freelance writer and communications specialist who has lived with a lumbar spine injury for 15 years. Her curiosity about the world feeds her interest in helping people reduce the shopping noise and make decisions that just might improve their quality of life or make the everyday a little bit better.
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