The Best Office Chairs for Your Aching Back in 2020

So. You've finally accepted that crouching over a coffee table, slouched in a wooden IKEA kitchen chair, an old pillow behind your back for lackluster support, is not the most effective way to get work done. Likely, the slow burn pain radiating through your back is not helping. All signs lead to getting an office chair, designed for office work, for your home office. Ideally, it'll be an office chair that's a step above the one you left behind in the actual office, which your company likely scored in bulk at a discount and whose levers don't work at all.

"Ergonomic," the seating buzzword of the century, just means that the chair is designed to fit and support the human body, and a range of bodies at that. That's where an arguably more important word comes into play: adjustments. The cool thing about being a human is that the angle of your neck while you work, the length of your femur when you sit, and the curvature of your spine when you recline are all unique to you. That means a good office chair will allow you to make adjustments accordingly, since the likelihood of it working for your height, weight, and posture right out of the box is slim.

These office chairs are adjustable to varying degrees. All but one have a mesh back, to cut down on back sweat in even the most trying Zoom meetings, and all but one swivel, to make them fun (and, sure, to allow for freer movements). They're the best you can get at any price range. Go pop an Advil to quell the back pain and then take a look.