I'm trying to find a new office chair
By estherlou
@estherlou (5015)
United States
January 17, 2012 4:17pm CST
I am partly handicapped. I have bone spurs in my knees preventing me from straightening my legs. So I stand at a "crouch". This makes me shorter than my normal 5'3". I need an office chair to hold 350lbs since I sit in it for about 9 hours. I need the wider seat also. Well, I recently bought a new office chair with the wider seat, very padded seat for comfort and weight limit of up to 450 lbs. Cool, huh? Well, it took about an hour to assemble it and then I discovered it was too tall. I couldn't even get up in it. I felt like a child trying to get up in an adult chair. Who knew that I needed to pay attention to the floor to seat height! This one was 18-20". I guess I need one about 15-16" from the floor. I can find all manner of big/tall chairs, but if you do a search for chairs for short people, they assume you are small or need a chair for little people. Sigh. It is really difficult when you don't fit the "norm". So I need wider seat as well as shorter chair for work. I know when you buy a medical lift chair you have to tell height so they can fit the lift to you, but I can't find the web page where my son bought my lift chair for home. I was going to see if they sold office chairs. Anyone out there know of bigger chairs for overweight people who also happen to be short?
1 person likes this
4 responses
@drannhh (15219)
• United States
29 Jan 12
Gosh, I don't know anything about that, but I'd like to say that before retiring there were several students in my classes who could not fit into the standard classroom chairs, so the college when we told the administration then they replaced the old chairs with the exact same number of larger chairs. But guess what, then the chairs did not fit in the room. So they packed them into the room anyway with the fronts and backs touching and aisle between, but we said what if there is an earthquake? They did not reduce the class size. Finally we did have an earthquake and everyone was trapped more or less. Fortunately nobody was hurt, but several of the students were so frightened that we had to dismiss the class.
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
18 Jan 12
I agree with the other responders about going in person to look at chairs. That's about the only way you can get what you need and one of the reasons I like to buy in person, although online is more convenient.
You made me think of one of my big irritations in life and I'll bet it bothers you, too...clothing! Why do they think anyone larger than a size 12 is 6 feet tall? They make chairs to hold hundreds of pounds yet apparently think those people have very long legs. Tops that fit me have sleeves much too long and I have to turn up the bottoms of pants because they are at least 6" too long!
I was lucky enough to get a chair from Office Depot a few years ago that is the perfect size and height for only $30. I use a kitchen chair cushion with it since, being cheap, I can feel the heads of screws through it. I'm pretty happy with it! So go in person and good luck! 
@estherlou (5015)
• United States
21 Jan 12
Well said. "Normality" is everywhere and rarely do I fit the bill. LOL Thanks for the input.
@Thoroughrob (11742)
• United States
17 Jan 12
I went to Office Depot where I could try them out. I found one that fit me well and is quite comfy to sit in. It goes down far, I can touch my feet. It has a mesh back and just fits my back right.
@estherlou (5015)
• United States
18 Jan 12
I never actually thought about Office Depot. I'll have to see about someone taking me in to look. Thanks.
@kaylachan (71762)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
17 Jan 12
Instead of going online, go to an office supply store and actually talk to a human being. If a person can see you, they can better help you figure out what you need. Online, is very hard unless you fully understand the math. Found that out when I was trying to get a chair when I worked at Pizza hut. Apparently my wheelchair was too wide and it was a skinny 18 inch, but space was limited. So I had a problem on my hands.
I had two office chairs. One was too tall, but adjustable, but the bad part it slid on the tile too much and I nearly broke my arm trying to keep from spinning out of control trying to climb into it. The second, was wider than my freeking wheelchair, but it had no 'wheelis like my wheel chair. So I was like arg... on that one.
So a face-to-face might be more of a benifit to you actually. Unless you know where you got your home chair. Then that might work out too. I don't really know, I'm just saying. Right now, I'm uneployeed, so it doesn't matter. I can use an old wheelchair at home to sit at the desk to type because I'm not in front of it for nine hours at a time.
@estherlou (5015)
• United States
18 Jan 12
THanks so much. The new one was adjustable too, but too tall for me.
