Reasonably priced office chair with cervical support for a short person
October 9, 2021 5:02 PM   Subscribe

I'm in need of an office chair that has cervical support, or a headrest, that is made for a person who is 5'2".

Google searches for this type of chair, specifically made for shorter people, tend to show results with out cervical support or chairs that cost $1000 or more. I have neck and upper back pain which make this feature absolutely necessary. My doctor wrote a letter to my employer stating my need for this type of chair, but my employer wants me to find the chair and let them know what to purchase.
posted by Four-Eyed Girl to Shopping (8 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
I don't have a specific model to recommend, but whatever you find that will work try doing a search for used office furniture in your area and see if it's in stock used. Most big cities have a place that sells used furniture from places that went out of business (often with a warranty) and you might be able to get what you need at a good discount.
posted by Jungo at 5:48 PM on October 9, 2021 [1 favorite]


I usually am quite snarky about chiropractors Because woo, and about products sold on Amazon Because Bezos Domination, but a roundup by New York magazine's The Strategist (which sifts through all the stuff sold online) includes a $100 chiropractor-recommended ergonomic office chair sold on guess where, and it gets favorable reviews from one person who is 4-foot-9 and another person who says their spouse is 5-foot-2.

Here's the chair. It has a headrest pillow, an adjustable footrest and lumbar support, among many other features.
posted by virago at 7:43 AM on October 10, 2021


I just bought a branch ergonomic chair. It’s good. $300, they have other chairs that are less and say they’re for shorter people (all chairs had height ranges).

My wife is 5’ and sat in my ergo chair and liked it. A footrest helps with getting the right height for both ground and desk in our experience.

I’ve had it for a little over a week and it’s very nice for what I paid. I did some research and it was Toms Guides #1 recommendation.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 11:03 AM on October 10, 2021


Response by poster: OnTheLastCastle: The Branch ergonomic chair looks great, but it doesn't have any cervical support.
posted by Four-Eyed Girl at 12:26 PM on October 10, 2021


Arron chairs from used office furniture people is definitely an option. I just got one for $400 with all the trimmings in Maryland and shipped to Australia (chairs of decent quality are stupid expensive here). But if you are in the US then finding a used office chair place should be easy. Also, the staff may help guide you to chair brands better suited to your needs.
posted by jadepearl at 2:36 PM on October 10, 2021


I have the Steelcase Gesture with headrest and am 5'3".

That seems a lot more expensive than I remember, but it seems like they have cheaper lines (Series 2, possibly other even cheaper lines) that offer add-on headrests.
posted by miscbuff at 4:04 PM on October 11, 2021


I am 5’3” and went to a used office furniture place (https://nationalofficeinteriors.com/ — maybe there is one near you?) and actually sat on a bunch of chairs until I found one that let me put my feet flat on the floor while supporting my back. I highly recommend doing something like this for 2 reasons.

1) Most office chairs are so clearly designed for the average tall man and you will need to crank all of the various adjustments up to 11/down to -11 and even then, 99% of chairs still won’t fit your body. I couldn’t figure all of this stuff just looking at specs online.

2) Apparently, the fancier the chair, the more diverse and extreme adjustments you can make to the height, depth, etc. I did not want to spend over $1K on a chair just to get a chair that fit and at the used office furniture place, I was able to get that $1K chair for about $250/$300.

This is the chair I ended up getting, sans the headrest: https://www.humanscale.com/products/seating/freedom-headrest-executive-chair
posted by thewrongparty at 4:56 PM on October 14, 2021


Response by poster: My workplace has set a limit of $200 for my office chair, and I haven't been able to find any with my criteria at that price. If anyone has any additional ideas, I'd be super grateful.
posted by Four-Eyed Girl at 8:09 PM on November 6, 2021


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