Whether you’re looking for a desk chair for your personal home computer setup or you’re thinking of getting chairs for your professional office setup, making sure you find the right product that offers the best productivity and comfort should be your top priority. One factor that affects these results is wheels.
You might be wondering, should desk chairs have wheels or are non-wheeled desk chairs a better option? Well, if that’s the case then you’re in the right place that’s what I’m here to tell you.
In this article, I’m going to talk about wheels on a desk chair, their importance, the pros and cons of desk chairs with wheels, and a comparison between wheeled chairs and non-wheeled chairs. So, without wasting any further time, let’s get started.
What’s the Use of Desk Chairs with Wheels?
Desk chairs with wheels have been around for ages. The main purpose of attaching wheels to the base of a desk chair was to increase productivity by allowing movement while sitting.
When you’re sitting in a chair, you might stay in the same position for hours without taking a break and while you do that, your feet will remain in the same place despite the urge to move them around if the chair doesn’t have wheels.
Over the course of the last 50 years, desk chairs with wheels have made their way into almost all the offices and personal computer spaces around the world.
They’ve become much more common than non-wheeled chairs and a lot of people have started preferring them over regular chairs. To understand the concept of productivity with wheels, you’re going to have to sit in a desk chair with wheels yourself. However, if you can’t do that, then we’re here for you.
Importance of Wheels in Desk Chairs
At this point, you may be wondering, what is the importance of wheels in desk chairs exactly? Why do they exist and what led to them being an integral part of the desk chair experience? Well, interesting question.
Hundreds of years ago, Charles Darwin came up with the idea of adding wheels to desk chairs for the purpose of being able to switch sitting positions quickly for comfort and productivity.
Basically, the reason for wheels existing in desk chairs is that they’re mostly used in offices and personal computer spaces. These are places where you sit for more than an hour in one sitting at least. Well, to maintain blood flow, you’re going to have to be able to move around while sitting and be able to change positions.
For that, wheels are very important in desk chairs but if we’re talking about desk chairs that are used for specific purposes like dining table chairs, conference table chairs, etc.
Having wheels is not as important because the span of sitting on them isn’t very long. So, the importance of wheels in a desk chair is directly dependent upon how long you’ll be sitting there and what work you’re doing.
Pros Desk Chairs with Wheels
Now that we’ve looked at the importance of wheels on a desk chair, it would be vital to see what kind of benefits wheels actually bring to the desk (pun intended) on desk chairs, so you can decide whether you want to get a wheeled desk chair for your personal or professional space. Let’s take a look.
- Support Balance – Since modern desk chairs come with more ergonomic larger backrests that can support a lot of weight, to provide a balance of support to the desk chairs and prevent them from tipping over, having movement capability in it really helps. This is why wheels on a desk chair are so beneficial.
- Blood Pressure Flow – If you’re sitting in the same place and position for more than a few hours, your blood pressure flow might get hindered. However, with the help of a desk chair with wheels, you’ll be able to move around your legs and change your sitting position constantly to maintain a good blood flow.
- Comfort – Comfort is a very important factor when it comes to desk chairs. When you’re sitting in a desk chair with wheels, you don’t feel restricted in your movement and that’s why mostly you feel more comfortable and in control when you’re sitting in a desk chair with wheels.
- More Productivity – Desk chairs with wheels increase the productivity of the person sitting in them. Let’s say that you’re sitting in a desk chair for an hour. Now after that hour, you’d have to get up, stretch and then take 5 or more minutes to compose yourself. However, if you’re sitting in a chair with wheels, you’ll be able to sit for longer, and thus, breaks would be less. This would ultimately result in more productivity.
Cons of Desk Chairs with Wheels
So, you’re thinking of getting a desk chair with wheels? Well, before you do, make sure you read all the cons that come with buying desk chairs with wheels alongside the advantages and benefits. Let’s take a look.
- Cleaning Wheels – If a desk chair has wheels, then maintaining those wheels is also going to be a responsibility you have to take. The worst part of maintaining the wheels of a desk chair is cleaning them. Cleaning the wheels can be pretty difficult for the average newcomer.
- Wheel Breaking – The thing about wheels on a desk chair is that if any of the chair’s wheels breaks or develops a problem, the chair would end up becoming useless. So, you need to take very good care of the chairs and the wheels as well.
- Expensive – Another problem that desk chairs with wheels have, is that they’re expensive. If you compare the price of desk chairs without wheels with the price of desk chairs with wheels, you’re going to see a very significant difference between them. They can be out of budget for you.
- Personal Preference – If you’re old-fashioned or simply prefer to do your work in a stationary position, then you’re definitely not going to want to have wheels on the base of your desk chair. In that case, desk chairs with wheels aren’t the best thing to have.
Desk Chairs: Wheeled vs. Non-Wheeled
We’ve understood why desk chairs have had wheels for such a long time, but exactly how do desk chairs with wheels compare to desk chairs with no wheels? Let’s compare them and find out.
| Comparison | Winner |
|---|---|
| Maintenance | Non-Wheeled |
| Price | Non-Wheeled |
| Overall Support | Wheeled |
| Repairing Costs | Non-Wheeled |
| Portability | Wheeled |
Maintenance
If we talk about desk chairs with wheels, the maintenance requirement is quite strenuous. You’re going to have to spend a lot of time cleaning the wheels on the desk chair.
However, if you’re dealing with a desk chair without wheels, you’re only going to need to spend time and money on cleaning the chair itself, not the non-existent wheels. So, in this regard, chairs without wheels are better.
Price
Price is another aspect where these two products are vastly different. The price of desk chairs with wheels is actually quite a lot because good quality wheels are only featured in the more expensive chairs.
In comparison to desk chairs with wheels, the chairs that don’t have wheels are significantly less priced and the quality is good even though the price isn’t quite a lot. Here, desk chairs without wheels are better.
Overall Support
We talked about the balance that wheels provide a chair with a large ergonomic backrest. Well, the more the wheels, the better the balance between the back and the base of the chair.
But the support on desk chairs without wheels is not that great. The backrests aren’t very ergonomic otherwise the chair would be more susceptible to tripping on its back.
Repairing Costs
Repairing costs are also problematic. If you’re thinking of repairing the desk chair with wheels, the costs are going to be high especially since the chair wheels have broken off.
But repairing desk chairs without wheels is quite easy actually. In fact, the cost of repairing wouldn’t be quite a lot either because there are no wheels and the other components are just like normal desk chairs.
Portability
One of the most important factors that need to be discussed is portability. If we take a look at the portability of desk chairs with wheels, you have the answer right in front of yourself, they’re quite portable.
But if we talk about heavy-duty desk chairs, if they don’t have wheels on their bases, then they won’t be as portable as the desk chairs with wheels. So, in this regard, desk chairs with wheels are definitely better.
Conclusion
Desk chairs that have wheels are easy to move around. Not only that, but desk chairs with wheels also help in increasing overall work productivity. So, getting desk chairs with wheels is going to massively impact your personal and professional work environment.
I hope you learned a lot from this guide and that you’re going to have a great time utilizing this knowledge for your sitting experience.