What is the best height for an office desk?

For many of us, the working day will involve at least some time using a computer. More often than not, this will be at a desk in an office environment, using the traditional set up of a keyboard and mouse laid out in front of a monitor.

The longer you spend sitting at a desk in this way, the greater the risk to you that you may suffer back pain resulting from putting your muscles and joints under strain over prolonged periods of time. At the heart of these problems will be the posture you are adopting while you are sitting at your desk.

While there may be some initial expense in providing modern adjustable desks and ergonomic chairs, it’s without doubt a wise investment. In the UK, back pain is one of the biggest causes of work absences and on average close to 12 million working days are lost to the UK economy every year. Even more significantly, an office where staff are struggling with pain or discomfort regularly can quickly impact on productivity and team morale.

Perhaps the most important factors in ensuring the correct posture is the height of your desk. More often than not, the standard height for an office desk will be 28 inches from the ground, which is equivalent to just over 71cms. However, this standard height is really only likely to be suitable for an individual who is between 5’8″ (172cm) and 5’10″ (177cm) tall.

When it comes to sitting comfortably with the correct support, the height of your desk is crucial in relation to your overall height. One of the key objectives to ensure good posture is allowing your forearm and upper arm to be comfortably maintained at close to a 90-degree angle. You should also be targeting a relaxed position where your lower leg is supported at 90 degrees to your upper leg.

While this positioning will allow a most ergonomically effective posture to work in, you should also be carefully considering the comfort of your seated position, allowing you to easily maintain a 70-degree to 135-degree angle between your forearm and upper arm over longer periods of time.

Choosing an adjustable office desk that has the flexibility to be positioned between 22 inches and 33 inches gives the maximum opportunity for employees of all heights to assume the ideal position for them and potentially save them from complicated and painful back problems.

With the latest trends in office working requiring a more adaptive approach to desk space, less of us are turning up to work each morning to sit at the same desk day in and day out. Contemporary working often involves hybrid working or hotdesking, so giving employers the opportunity to quickly and easily adjust their workstation, including the height of their desk, so that it is at the optimum level for their comfort and safety has never been more important.

To find the right desk for you or your team, speak to our friendly experts, who are on hand to find the best solutions for employees’ health and safety.