All of us have used an office chair at some point in our lives, and one thing that you must’ve noticed like me is, almost all the office chairs you might see in a professional workspace or a personal computer setup room have no less than five wheels.
Why is that exactly? You might be wondering. Well, if that’s the case, then I assure you, you’re in the right place because that’s what I’m here to tell you.
This article will talk about office chair wheels, why they’re five only, and what benefit do wheels serve in office chairs. So, without wasting any further time, let’s get to it.
Table of Contents
Do All Office Chairs Have Wheels?
Many people have asked me till now: Do all office chairs have wheels attached to their bases? Well, not really, but most of them do, especially in a professional setting.
Office chairs are usually made more for mobility and productivity, and that’s why wheels are attached to them to hinder the laziness and discomfort you might face from sitting in the same position or the same place for an extended period.
I’m saying that there are also many different kinds of office chairs and executive chairs that don’t have wheels, yet they’re still considered office chairs. But there are a few problems with these chairs that make them unhealthy to sit on for a long time.
That’s why most office chairs have wheels on their bases, and chairs used with other furniture like dining tables, lounge tables, etc., are wheelless because they require sitting on for a limited period which doesn’t make them very uncomfortable.
Why Do Office Chairs Need Wheels?
So, we know that most office chairs have wheels, but why exactly are wheels important for office chairs? You might be wondering. Well, that’s a good thought. To make things simple for you, I’ve made a list of reasons and factors that make office chairs need wheels on them. Let’s take a look at them.
- Stability – Good office chairs are designed with a large ergonomic backrest frame, making sitting on the chair comfortably. However, this more oversized backrest can’t sit on an immovable chair. Otherwise, there will be stability issues. That’s why attaching wheels helps to keep the balance of the office chair intact.
- Mobility – Before office chairs with wheels were invented, office chairs only had legs that were utterly boring and couldn’t move anywhere at all. With the help of the chair wheels, you can now change positions, quickly move the chair from one place to another, and do a lot with it without a problem.
- Health Reasons – Blood flow is significant, and if you sit in a comfortable position, it remains normal. Therefore, a chair that allows movement and changing the position will enable you to maintain your normal blood flow, which is why office chairs with wheels are so much better than those without wheels.
- Productivity – Studies show that office chairs with wheels offer better comfort. This means that a person that would take a break after every hour of sitting in an office chair without wheels would sit in one with wheels for a longer time, increasing their overall productivity in the workplace.
- Better Mood – When you’re comfortable sitting in an office chair with wheels, it will directly alter your mood and state of mind. You’ll feel much calmer, happier, and less anxious or problematic. This is another excellent reason to get an office chair with wheels.
How Many Wheels Do Office Chairs Normally Have?
Now that we know that office chairs and wheels have a strong connection and both need to be together to give us the best sitting experience, let’s talk about the elephant in the room.
How many wheels do office chairs have? This is a question I’ve heard quite a few times. Well, typically, there are five wheels on the base of an office chair. That is what the industry is selling.
No matter where you might end up going, you’re only going to see five wheels under a chair. There are never going to be 3 of them, or 4, or more than 5. If a chair has wheels, there will be only 5. If you have an office chair near you and haven’t investigated this, take a look and see for yourself.
Why Are 5 Wheels Crucial For Office Chairs?
Well, exactly why do office chairs have five wheels on them? Well, there’s one wheel for each leg, and five legs are the norm for any office chair because of several reasons.
You know that even office chairs without wheels have at least four legs on them. So if they have any lesser number of legs, or one of their legs is broken, you won’t be able to sit on them.
This shows that more legs are better for chairs, but companies also need to make sure that there aren’t so many legs that profit margins diminish.
So let’s take a brief look at some of the main reasons five wheels are crucial for office chairs made around the world.
Chair Stability
One of the first reasons, as I talked about before, is the chair’s stability or balance. The weight of the top of the chair needs to be equal to or less than the weight on the bottom, so the chair remains upright.
But when you introduce wheels to the base of the chair, you add laws of physic that allow your chairs to be top-heavy and support heavy-weighted people and still not fall on their back. So, the more the wheels, the better the stability of the office chair.
Equal Weight Distribution
Weight distribution matters a lot as well. For example, have you ever thought about why a simple office chair with wheels cannot only support a 110lb individual and a 200lb individual as well? Well, it is because of decent weight distribution.
By adding 5 wheels, you can actually distribute the weight on top of the chair equally through all the legs of the chair, and this way, the capacity of the chair increases, and its likelihood of getting damaged decreases.
Engineering Design
The thing about furniture design is that it is very meticulously done by professional engineers who spent years and years perfecting a technique before production occurs.
Due to the extensive research of Charles Darwin and his successors, office chairs ended up having five wheels instead of any lesser number or higher number of them.
If you’re still not sure why a chair has five legs and five wheels on it, doing a DIY experiment and checking the physical integrity of an office chair without five wheels would be an excellent place to start.
Maintaining Costs and Profits
The more the legs and wheels on an office chair, the higher the production costs will be. But since wheels provide balance, a significant number of them had to be added.
All the designers in the market agree to add five wheels to a chair so that the cost of production doesn’t exceed the profits and retail price to make sure they earn well and at the same time don’t have to jack up the expenses beyond the capability of the consumers.
Office Chair Stability
The main concern of designing and producing furniture is stability. Even in the case of office chairs, stability is a big issue. It is also a big reason why an office chair sports five wheels instead of 3, or 4, or more than 5.
Office chair stability is affected not only by the weight of the top, but the structure of the frame, the materials used, the weight capacity, and many other factors. To balance these things, we need a proper tool.
This tool is the group of wheels attached to the base of the chair. Each leg gets one wheel that makes sure the stability of the office chair remains intact, and no problem or imbalance might cause the chair to fall or cause injury to the person sitting in it.
So, ultimately, the importance of 5 wheels on an office chair is more than we expect. We need to make sure we take care of each of the wheels because even if one gets messed up, we can’t sit on it unless we get it repaired.
Conclusion
Office chairs are known to have five wheels, one for each leg. These wheels hold the structural integrity of the chair together and make sure that it provides productivity and longevity to the frame. If there are fewer legs, the cost of the chair will be less but it won’t be as stable as a chair with five legs and five wheels.
I hope you learned a lot from this guide and that you’re going to use this knowledge to make sure your office and personal computer setup get the fitting office chair addition to it. May you have a great day ahead of you!
