Best Office Chair for Back Pain 2023

Adjustability & Customization

One of the hallmarks of the Leap’s design is its incredible flexibility. Look at how many different aspects of this chair are adjustable. That’s flat out amazing, but not without its drawbacks. 

It’s all but certain that the first time you sit in this chair, it’s not going to fit you like a glove. Getting it to that point is going to take time and experimentation. The more time you devote to that task, the happier you’re going to be with the chair, and the more it will help mitigate your back pain.

That’s fine if you like tinkering and tweaking, but if you’d rather just sit down and get to work, this is almost certainly not the chair for you.

If you decide you want one, you’ll enjoy the process of buying yours. The Leap comes in a variety of color, upholstery and finishing options, which gives you a tremendous degree of flexibility in terms of personalization. 

Aesthetics & Design

The chair is designed along strictly conventional lines, and with all the color choices available, you’ll have an easy time making it blend seamlessly into whatever home or office décor scheme you’re working with. We’ll provide a link at the end of this section to the full review of the Leap chair, so you can see all of the color and finish options that are available.

Amazing Ergonomic Technologies

Before we even get to the proprietary tech this chair comes with, we should talk a minute about the various controls and more standard ergonomic features you’ll find.

Seat Style + Lumbar Support

It’s got a waterfall-edge style seat which helps improve blood circulation in your lower extremities, which is very important for people who suffer from lower back or sciatic nerve pain. This is augmented by an exceptional lumbar support system, which allows you to both height-adjust the lumbar support and control the firmness.

Design Philosophy

All of that is well and good, but what really makes the chair shine is the proprietary tech. Before we talk about that, we need to highlight the design philosophy Steelcase took when creating this chair.

That’s key because it goes a long way toward explaining why it’s got so many adjustable features. The Leap was designed with the following four discoveries firmly in mind:

These discoveries led to the development of Steelcase’s “Live Back” technology, which is far and away the best whole back support system we’ve ever seen.

Slatted Seatback

The seatback features a slatted design, where each of the slats moves independently, providing the optimal level of support dynamically, as you shift and move while sitting in the chair.

Firmness Controls

Best of all, you’ll find two different knobs on the chair, one for controlling the back firmness of the lower portion of the seatback, and the other controlling the back firmness of the upper portion.

The ability to set these values independently is huge and gives you an unprecedented level of freedom and flexibility in terms of optimizing the support you get from the chair (and the knobs are even labelled in Braille!). 

Bottom Line

Overall, and assuming you can get past being overwhelmed by the sheer number of adjustment options and spend the time to tweak the chair’s settings to your specific needs, you won’t find a better office chair on the market today. There are tons of back friendly office chairs on the market, but none like this.

By the way, we absolutely recommend investing in the optional headrest. The chair is incredible without it, but if you use your chair for several hours every day, you’re going to want head and neck support to go along with the exceptional whole back support this model offers. It’s expensive but worth every penny.

Adjustability

Even so, for about 95% of the market, the Embody comes close to being a perfect office chair and is every bit as adjustable as the Steelcase Leap.

Of course, that means that the Embody comes with the same limitation as the Leap does. If you don’t want to spend a big chunk of time tweaking and optimizing the chair’s settings, then you’re going to be frustrated by this chair.

Yes, once you’ve found the sweet spot in the settings, this chair is a masterpiece and one of the best office chairs for people with back issues, but getting it to that point takes time. You get out of it what you put into it.

User Optimized

Bear in mind too that if several people in your household will be using the chair, you’re constantly going to be fiddling with the controls because everyone will have different preferences. From that perspective, while it’s certainly versatile enough to support multiple users with wildly different body shapes and sizes, the Embody is better suited to being a one-owner, one-user chair. That way, when you finally get the settings where you want them, you won’t have to keep resetting them.

Customization

If you decide you have to have one, you’ll find a few different customization options available, including your choice of fabrics. There are two to choose from, and while they are functionally similar, there are a few differences at the margins (see our full review – link below) for details on the fabric and color selections.

The real magic though happens when the chair arrives mostly assembled at your door. That’s when you’ll see the chair’s “spine,” and that’s what we’ll talk about next.

It’s only modestly padded, but honestly, the ergonomic features play such a crucial role in the comfort of this chair that you won’t really notice.

Bottom Line

The Embody was made with gamers and other power users in mind, so if you’re accustomed to spending long hours in your chair, and if you’re a fan of its vaguely futuristic look, this is a superb choice that will provide you with years of reliable service. It is one of the top-rated office chairs for back pain on the market today, and only narrowly lost top honors on our list of finalists.

Size Variants

The Aeron takes a different approach. A is the “small” model, B is the “medium,” and C is the “large” size. Each model has a different height adjustment and seat depth range, so when buying an Aeron, it’s important to take careful measurements before committing to your purchase to be sure you’re getting the best model variant for you.

It’s a tradeoff that requires a bit of homework on your part, and it has ramifications that extend well beyond that. The Aeron isn’t a great choice if several people in your household will be using the chair unless those people are all more or less the same size. It’s much better as a “one-person chair.”

On the flip side, the Aeron avoids the major problem with our top two picks. The Leap and the Embody are undeniably fantastic chairs, but they take a lot of time to tweak to make them fit you like a glove. By doing a bit of homework on the front end, the Aeron gets around some of that adjustability overload. Depending on the kind of person you are and how much (or how little) you enjoy tweaking and optimizing your chair, that can be a very good thing!

Adjustability

In terms of adjustability, the Aeron indeed lags behind the Embody slightly, but that can be at least partly explained by the fact that the Aeron takes the “three different models” approach, instead of the one size fits all approach.

Like the other chairs on this list though, the Aeron offers some proprietary technology that makes it superb, ergonomically and one of the best office chairs for people with back problems.

PostureFit SL Technology

In particular, the Aeron features a technology called “PostureFit SL.” The “S” in the name stands for Sacral, and the “L” stands for Lumbar. Collectively, these describe your mid-back and lower back, respectively. Rather than focus on simply providing lumbar support, the Aeron offers much more significant support that covers most of your back.

The upper and lower sections of the Aeron’s seatback move independently, with each providing dynamic support depending on how you’re sitting in the chair. Note that this is in addition to the lumbar support bar, which allows you to adjust the tension, and thus the level of support you’re getting.

The only downside here is that you can’t change the height of the lumbar support, but honestly, given the superb implementation of the technology, that’s not a deal-breaker by any means.

There’s nothing wrong with allowing the user free rein to set their own recline angle, so this feature feels slightly over-engineered to us. Even so, some people are bound to like it, and nobody is going to despise it to the point that they’d not buy the Aeron because of that.

Bottom Line

On the whole, this is a superb chair that Herman Miller has worked hard to keep up to date. If you really want an Embody or a Leap, but you can’t afford those chairs, this is an excellent model to consider, and one that will cost you considerably less money.

Just as the Herman Miller Aeron is the predecessor of the Embody, the Amia is the predecessor of the mighty Leap, the overall winner of this roundup and our pick for the best office chair for back and neck pain. While the Amia isn’t quite as impressive as the Leap, it’s certainly no slouch and is well-deserving of the fourth-place spot we gave it on our list of finalists.

Chair Specifications

Before we talk about the particulars that make this model special, let’s do a quick stats review:

Often, it’s not enough to simply adjust the height. If the seat depth is too big for you, you’ll find that you don’t get the back support you need. If it’s not deep enough, then even at maximum seat height, the chair’s just not going to be very comfortable.

In addition to that, though, the Amia offers a good range of stats. The maximum supported weight isn’t tremendous, but it’s certainly sufficient to make the chair of value to the majority of the office chair market.

Customization Options

Even better, when you order an Amia, you’ll be presented with a variety of color, finish and upholstery options, allowing you to personalize your chair. The design is fairly conventional, and since you control the color, you can ensure it’ll blend well with whatever your color and décor scheme might be.

Comfort and Adjustability

The Amia won’t win any awards for comfort. That’s not to say it’s an uncomfortable chair. It utilizes conventional block foam, and there’s an adequate amount of it, but comfort isn’t the reason people tend to gravitate to this chair. It’s got enough to get the job done, but not enough to love it for its padding alone.

No, what you’ll really love is the sheer amount of adjustability the chair has on offer. Granted, it’s not as adjustable as the Leap, but then, it doesn’t cost as much as the Leap. Here’s what you can tweak:

Proprietary Tech

Just like the other chairs on the top half of our list, the Amia features some powerful proprietary technology that helps take your seating experience to the next level. It has a slatted seatback design that’s similar to the one that comes on the Leap, and like the Leap, those slats move independently as you shift your position in the chair, providing superb dynamic support as you’re sitting in it.

This “Live Lumbar” support is superb, and if you can’t afford the Leap, this model is an excellent way to get a comparable level of lumbar support for a significantly smaller investment. While the Amia falls short of being the best desk chair for lower back pain, it’s certainly on the shortlist, and unlike some of the other models presented here, it’s offered a price that a bigger slice of the market can afford.

It’s what people expect, and honestly, it’s what much of the market is looking for. This model isn’t unattractive; it’s just – unassuming. It’s an office chair. It’s got a job to do, and it’s really good at that job.

While it won’t make for a stunning centerpiece to whatever room you decide to put it in, it is a big piece of furniture so you can’t help but notice it. It’s sufficiently unassuming though that it will blend in well with just about any home or home office décor scheme, despite its impressive size.

Ergonomic Features

The Tranquility brings a quartet of awesome ergonomic features to the table. It boasts ergonomically sculpted armrests, which is something of a rarity, a well-implemented head and neck support, and a waterfall-style seat which helps improve blood circulation in your lower extremities. It’s’ also got a superb lumbar support system.

Lumbar Support

The lumbar support system is unique and features some proprietary Serta technology. The company calls it “Pivoting Air Lumbar Support.” The basic idea behind it is that unlike many companies, which utilize a belt or band in the seatback to provide lumbar support, the Tranquility relies on cells similar to the comfort coils in their mattresses that take in or give up air, depending on how you move against them, providing incredibly responsive support for your lower back.

This is great because you get the support you need without having to fiddle with dials or controls, although the tradeoff is that some of the chair’s owners don’t fully appreciate the flexibility of the system and have complained about its lack of adjustability.

All of the other ergonomic features in the chair are genuinely unadjustable, but we can forgive that, especially given the wonderfully low price of the chair. Even so, since they’re not adjustable, you’ll want to take careful measurements to make sure this chair is a good fit for you. If it isn’t, then it’s going to blunt the effectiveness of those features.

An Insanely Good Comfort System

All of the chairs in the top half of our list have one important thing in common. They all work and are good for your back because they all feature highly adjustable ergonomic features. That’s certainly a valid (and a highly effective) approach for designing work chairs for bad backs, but it’s not the only approach.

Adjacent to that, covering this layer of the rest of the seat, the company has placed a layer of comfort coils, which are individual springs that are functionally similar to the ones they use in many of the mattresses they sell. These provide highly customized, dynamic support for the person sitting in the chair.

Beneath that, you’ll find one additional layer of the comfort system. All of the above rests in a padded cradle in the seat pan. Put all those elements together, and you get a seating experience that’s like nothing else you’ve ever experienced. What the Tranquility lacks in adjustability, it more than makes up for in sheer comfort. This chair will positively spoil you.