Ergonomic desks are becoming popular in home offices due to their health benefits and impact on focus and productivity. They are adjustable, allowing us to customize the desk height to our own specific needs, promoting better posture. Better posture means less pain. Let’s take a closer look.
What Is An Ergonomic Desk?
An ergonomic desk is a desk that is designed to fit us, rather than us fit into the desk. The most basic form of an ergonomic desk is one that will be height adjustable. Ergonomic desks come in a variety of styles and designs, including:
- Standing desks
- Electrical sit-stand desks
- Mechanical sit-stand desks
- Traditional desks with special features or adjustments. These include bevelled edges, cutouts so you can get closer, and more odd features like the retired Envelop Desk from Herman Miller which allows you to recline and pull the desk with you.
If an ergonomic desk can help reduce pain even just by 10%, imagine how much more work you could get done or how much better you’ll feel at the end of a workday.
Ergonomic desks are becoming more popular so it’s easier to get them in a range of colours and styles to suit your own style. You can get them in solid wood (for a masculine look), a wood veneer, steel, glass, coloured plastic, etc.
Overall, ergonomic desks are a no-brainer investment for anyone with a home office. They provide health benefits, including better posture, reduced risk of back pain, and help you focus on the task instead of frustration with your body position.
Sit-Stand—The Most User-Friendly Ergonomic Desk Option
Sit-Stand desks are growing in popularity, as they allow us to switch between sitting and standing throughout the day, reducing the risk of health problems associated with prolonged sitting.
Sit-stand desks are also popular, as they allow users to adjust the desk height to their preferred position, promoting better posture and reducing the risk of back pain. Sit-stand desks are my favourite kind of desk because even if you don’t use them to stand, you can make them the perfect height for your individual body frame. We all have a different height of torso, different leg lengths that change the height of our adjustable chair, etc.
Understanding Ergonomics
The Science Behind Ergonomics & The Procrustean Bed
There’s a horrible myth of Procrustes. He had a house along the trip between Athens and Eleusis, and travellers would get tired and need a place to stay. He would invite them to stay. He would stretch them to fit the bed or amputate their bodies to fit into the bed. Nobody ever fit the bed exactly, and he would do this until they died. (Eventually, in the myth, Procrustes was caught and killed by Theseus.)
Ergonomics is the science of designing a workspace to fit the individual worker rather than forcing the worker to fit the workspace. Ergonomics is anti-Procrustean, and this is good!
This means designing chairs, desks, and other office equipment that are adjustable and fit the user’s body type. The goal of ergonomics is to reduce the risk of injury and pain from discomfort while also increasing productivity, focus, and efficiency.
Ergonomics is based on the scientific study of human anatomy, physiology, and psychology. By understanding how the body works, ergonomists can design:
- ergonomic desks
- ergonomic chairs
- ergonomic computer mice
- ergonomic keyboards
- ergonomic home office lighting, etc.
By doing this, you can reduce the risk of back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and other musculoskeletal disorders. They can also design workspaces that reduce the risk of heart disease, obesity, and other health problems associated with a sedentary lifestyle.
The Best Ergonomic Sit-Stand Desks
The best adjustable will come with height presets, which allow you to save your preferred height settings for when you’re standing and when you’re sitting, allowing you to quickly change positions.
Geiger Leatherwrap Sit-to-Stand Desk

The Ergonomis Alive Sit-Stand Desk
UPLIFT Solid Wood Standing Desk
Xdesk Vintage Sit-Stand Desk
The Best Height-Adjustable Ergonomic Desks
These desks don’t allow you to stand, but they allow you to perfectly tailor the height of the desk to your unique frame. This makes them both inexpensive (easy on the budget), they have no additional EMF exposure (because there’s no electricity), and yet ergonomic and adjustable.
Ikea UTESPELARE Gaming desk
Ikea Idasen Desk
The Best Fixed Standing Ergonomic Desks
These are useful if you know for certain you just want to stand and don’t want to sit. Because there’s little adjustment built in, they are often cheaper and more sturdy.
Ikea Tommaryd Standing Desk
Other Ergonomic Features For Desks
Bevel Edge & Cut Out Desk
In the Fully Jarvis Sit-stand desk at Design Within Reach, you can get it with a flat edge, or you can get it with a cutout and bevel.
I have this Fully Jarvis desk, and I like the bevel because it is a bit easier on my forearms. The cutout allows my body to get closer to the desk while allowing my elbows to rest on the desk. This is my preferred setup, but we’re not all the same. Not everybody needs a cutout because not everybody will rest their arms on the desk.

Soft Material Coating On The Desk
My first ergonomic desk was the Herman Miller Envelop Desk. It had adjustable height (mechanical) legs and you could lean back and pull it with you. It also had contoured edges and a cutout for your body. It was a one-of-a-kind but it’s been discontinued, so you can’t buy it anymore, but I bring it up because of the material on the desk.
The material was a molded urethane, and it was firm but soft. It was extremely comfortable to rest your forearms upon.
Other options today might be to put a wool desk mat pad on your desk to make it more comfortable or to buy a high-end desk that is leather-wrapped.
Ergonomic Desk Set-up
Setting Up The Right Height for Comfort
When setting up an ergonomic desk, the main goal is comfort. That will look and feel different to each person. Listen to your body throughout the day. Don’t be afraid to keep tweaking the settings.
Start from your feet and build upwards.
- Do you have a footrest? Set that up first.
- Then, adjust the height of your ergonomic chair so that your knee bends at 90 degrees.
- Then, adjust the height of your desk so that your elbows are at 90 degrees.
- Then adjust your monitor height (either with an arm or you could see if it’s safe to boost it up with books or something else sturdy) so that the middle of the screen is in line with your eyes. This will help prevent you from slouching or bending your head down to look at the screen.
Neutral Positioning Is The Goal
Neutral positioning is an important aspect of ergonomic desk set-up. This means that the user’s body is in a neutral position, with the spine in a natural S-curve and the shoulders relaxed. The desk height should be adjusted so that your elbows are at a 90-degree angle, your knees are at 90 degrees, and your wrists can be in a neutral position.
Neutral is the goal for a set-up, but your body will want to change posture throughout the day as it gets tired in one position. A good chair will allow you to lean, sit forward, twist, and roll to keep your body feeling good.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes a desk ergonomic?
An ergonomic desk is designed to provide comfort and support while working. It could have:
- an adjustable height
- A bevel to reduce pain in the forearms
- A cutout to allow you to get closer and have the desk wrap around you if you rest your arms on the desk
- Use a comfortable material
- Have enough space for you to use a keyboard and mouse properly
What is the best ergonomic desk height?
The best ergonomic desk height is one that allows you to maintain good posture while working. This will depend on how long your legs are, how long your torso is, and the adjustments of your chair.
In general, your feet should be flat on the floor, and the knees should be at a 90-degree angle. The desk height should allow the user’s arms to rest comfortably on the desk, with the elbows at a 90-degree angle. When standing, the desk height should allow the user to maintain good posture and avoid hunching over. You might also need to play with monitor height to help with this.
Are adjustable desks worth it?
In my experience, they are worth it. I originally bought a sit-stand desk as I wanted to try standing throughout a portion of the day. I ultimately found it too draining to stand for too long, and I ended up just sitting and trying to go for a walk at lunch, which I found better than standing motionless indoors.
But even though I don’t use the stand feature on my desk anymore, I still love my desk. This is because getting the desk height absolutely perfect for the frame of my body is worth it. I am working at the desk all day, and getting those extra few inches and putting them in just the right spot is worth the money of extra focus I get.
The Wrap-Up
Ergonomic desks are worth it and are a great tool for developing a healthy home office. If you’re using a home office for an hour a week, you might be able to get by without a good ergonomic desk. But if you’re like me and your full-time income is from working at home, and you need a desk for 8+ hours a day, getting an ergonomic one is a no-brainer.
When selecting an ergonomic desk, it’s important to consider factors such as adjustability, size, material quality, style (solid wood, anyone?), and then find one that fits your budget. Aside from getting an ergonomic desk, you will also need an adjustable ergonomic chair and other accessories like a monitor arm or footrest.