Anthros. https://www.anthros.com/
I work in IT. Have for a long time now. I often spend half my day or more at a desk working on a computer. As my career developed I found myself less active. I was quite active and fit in my youth so I didn't think much of it until I started having serious back pain. Decades of neglect caught up to me and I found myself in immense pain from... Doing nothing.
After a few scary incidents of thankfully temporary disability I was motivated enough to figure out what was wrong and learn how I could fix it. I came across the typical advice of course. Stretch. Train the body to be stronger and more flexible. Be more active. Sit less. All good and necessary. I still had to sit a lot though. Even with a sit/stand desk I'm going to want to sit down sometimes.
I did a lot of reading and almost as much testing before concluding that Anthros is the best office chair currently available. I now have a few years of experience with one and that experience has only reinforced that opinion.
It's designed by folks who developed expertise on ergonomics working in the wheelchair industry. There's a lot of copy on their website about all that and more info given in interviews / podcasts. Marketing aside the point is that it's not just another funky chair following trends. There are evidence-backed reasons for the design.
The pelvic support is what fully convinced me. Pelvic support is to lumbar support what not-getting-stabbed is to a field tourniquet. Sitting with my legs engaged and my pelvis supported for the first time wrinkled my brain in ways similar to the first time I wore prescription lenses. After maybe fifteen minutes of "active sitting" I felt relief in my back instead of pain.
It is genuinely shocking how much of an impact a chair has made in my recovery from sedentary self-induced injury. From spending hours trying to get comfortable in chairs not designed to meaningfully support human bodies. I thought my problem area was my mid-back and core muscles. It was my whole spine. I still sit like an idiot sometimes but doing so in the Anthros is uncomfortable and that prompts me to either stand for a bit or take a walk. When I'm using the tool properly I am comfortable and pain-free.
Now that I've made myself sound like a paid shill here are some things I don't like about the Anthros chair:
- It's expensive. I had to save for months to buy one responsibly. $2,000 for a chair is a lot to ask. I am happy with my purchase and I've recommended them to friends who have complained about back pain. Maybe the cost is justified. Maybe not. I'm too ignorant of the particulars to be able to say. Either way: it's expensive to the point I take issue with the cost.
- The armrests adjust their horizontal placement too easily. There's about two inches of play in their forward/backward position and four "notches" of inward/outward movement at about three degrees per notch. The flexibility here is nice but there's no locking mechanism for these adjustments and I found myself adjusting them accidentally all the time. I'm sure this could be countered with claims about accessibility and/or that this is only an issue when I'm using the tool improperly (sitting poorly). Even if valid points: this still feels like an area that could see improvement. It feels cheap in ways that a $2,000 chair shouldn't. It's the only thing that feels cheap on the chair but I still notice it after years of use. It doesn't bother me as much now that I'm used to it and I've encountered it less as my sitting habits have improved BUT it has remained a complaint since day one.
- I think it's kind of ugly. This is a bit petty but I just don't care for the look of the thing. It's fine but I feel it's kind of an eyesore. I've had chairs that looked cool and fit my sense of style. The Anthros looks like I stole it from a hospital or something.
That said: if I have my way, until and unless someone develops something better, I will always have an Anthros chair at my desk. If I ever own a business where it makes sense to buy desk chairs for people then I'll only buy Anthros chairs. If I could gift one to everyone I know then I would.
I've done a lot of physical therapy to rehabilitate my back, abdominal core, and pelvis/hips from working at a desk. I'm significantly healthier than I was a few years ago. I attribute some of that progress to the chair. I'm confident I could've made the same progress without it but also confident that progress would've taken longer. Without the chair I'd still have been fighting bad habits I didn't even know I had. I also wouldn't reasonably have been able to change those habits as effectively.
I cannot recommend the Anthros chair strongly enough. Nothing else even comes close.
https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/standards.png