The term ergonomic office chair is widely used throughout the office chair industry and yet if you asked a group of office chair manufacturers and suppliers to define what is meant by ergonomics when applied to office seating chances are you would get many differing answers and opinions.
The truth is that an ergonomic office chair is really just a concept, a convenient term that has found favor with the office seating market. Dictionary definitions of ergonomics vary widely stressing words like productivity, fatigue, discomfort, efficiency, safety etc. So, here is a definition of ergonomics in relation to an office chair. "An ergonomic office chair is an office seat that has been carefully designed for the user to be able to work productively, efficiently and safely as well as minimizing any feeling of fatigue or discomfort." So now we have some idea of what an ergonomic office seat needs to achieve to be worthy of such a description lets consider the features and functions a chair needs to meet our criteria. Let me caution by saying that just because a chair is described as ergonomic this in no way means it satisfies the above definition. There are some truly abysmal examples of office seating that sport the epithet ergonomic. The must have list of features required in an ergonomic office chair Pneumatic Seat Height Adjustment Gas lift height adjustment is almost universal in modern office seating. However, when correctly adjusted your feet should be firmly on the floor with your upper legs angled slightly downwards, if you are tall you probably want to avoid cheap imported chairs as they don't tend to cater to your needs. Conversely, if you're not very tall you may need to buy a footrest to help you achieve the correct seating position. If you are a large framed person make sure that the gas lift cylinder rating is suitable, normally they are rated around 18 - 20 stones. Up rated gas lifts are generally available for better quality Office Seats. Height Adjustable Back Back height adjustment is important and good ergonomic office seating will enable you to adjust it to give good lower back support. Avoid chairs with exaggerated lumbar foam infill supports, a slightly curved foam back shell is all you need provided you adjust it to suit your back. Some Office Chairs come with adjustable ergonomic lumbar supports and the majority are fine if correctly adjusted. Seat Depth Adjustment This is a feature that is missing from many Office Chairs, nonetheless I consider it to be an essential requirement. People come in all heights and sizes and so the ability to adjust the seat depth to suit your leg length is an important one. When correctly set up the seat depth of your Ergonomic Office Chair should be adjusted so that you are able to place your clenched fist between the edge of the chair's seat pad and the back of your knee. Arm Height Adjustment For the most part it is a good thing to have arms on your office chair, individual users may prefer to not have arms on their chair though, particularly those who like to get their chair close up to their desk. Nonetheless, properly used, height adjustable chair arms are definitely beneficial particularly for minimizing or relieving Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). You should set up the chair arm height to make sure that your lower arms are level with your desktop. Keyboard and mouse use should be comfortable and you should not be stretching or straining to reach them. Adjustable Tilt Tension Cheaper Office Chairs come with a fixed tension setting for the seat base and this is often combined with a permanent contact back pad. This means that the seat and back move in ratio with each other. This is fine if you are the correct weight for the chair's mechanism. For anyone falling outside the fixed mechanism weight design getting comfortable in this type of chair is just not practical If you are light framed moving forward in one of these chairs feels as though it is attempting to catapult you out of your chair. They are also very difficult to lean back in as your body weight is insufficient to move the back easily. On the other hand, if you are large or heavy framed you may well find the opposite problem as your chair has you bouncing around all over the place. So, make sure that the tension on your Office Chair can be adjusted to suit your own weight. Also, try and avoid permanent contact back chairs instead select a chair that has independent seat and back tension adjustment. Here's a summary of the key features for an Ergonomic Office Chair . Pneumatic height adjustment to suit your size, with up rated gas lift if needed . Back height adjustment to ensure your lower back is properly supported . Seat depth adjustment to meet your leg length . Arm Height Adjustment to minimize RSI and for ease of movement . Adjustable tilt tension to enable the correct pressure for the individual user If you apply the above criteria when selecting a new Ergonomic Office Chair you will have an excellent chance of choosing a chair that will give you many years of good service and can rightly be described as an Ergonomic Office Chair. How To Seat Yourself Correctly, Adjust And Set Up Your Ergonomic Office Chair It doesn't matter how good your office chair is if it isn't properly set up and adjusted to your requirements it will be uncomfortable and likely give you posture problems regardless of how good an ergonomic office chair it is. So, lets consider how you should go about making sure your ergonomic office seat is optimally set up for your personal use. I am assuming that you will be using your chair mainly for computer work. To better understand how to adjust your chair you need first to examine the ideal seating position in relation to your desk and computer. We'll begin by starting from floor level and working up your body. Your feet should be flat on the floor, or if you aren't very tall resting on an ergonomic footrest. Your knees should be set so that your lower legs and hips are at right angles with your thighs pointing slightly downwards. To check if you are correctly sitting in your ergonomic office chair, place a sheet of paper on the chair seat pad once you sit down you should be able to pull the paper out relatively easily. Additionally, when sitting on the seat pan your lower back and bottom should first be at the back of the seat. Next, it should be possible to place your clenched fist between the back of your legs and the chair's front edge. The lower part of your back should be well supported and in contact with the chair back. Your neck and shoulders should be relaxed, avoid craning your neck forwards as well as raising or lowering your shoulders unduly. Finally, your lower arms should be approximately at right angles or slightly more open, preferably resting on your office chair's armrests such that your wrists are straight when addressing your keyboard from your office chair. So, now you know how your body should ideally be seated in your ergonomic office chair let's look at how we adjust your ergonomic office seat to achieve this. First, adjust your office chair seat height, begin by raising the chair's gas lift to its full height with the height adjustment lever or button. Using the height control lower yourself gradually until you have the correct seating angle outlined above. As previously stated, use an ergonomic footrest if you have a problem attaining the correct leg position. Next, adjust the office seat back height so that it gives good support to your lower back and maintains your spine's natural curvature, known as the lordosis. Then, adjust your chair's armrests (where fitted) to give the right angle arm position. Next, you need to set up your monitor, mouse and keyboard to suit your newly set up ergonomic seating position. Both monitor and keyboard should be directly in front of you when sat at your desk in your office seat. Monitor height should be set such that the top is in line with your eye level and you don't have to strain your neck up or down to view the screen. You will find that your eyes will naturally settle around the centre of your monitor's screen. The monitor should be set approximately 18" - 24" from your eyes such that you aren't straining to read it when sitting in your ergonomic chair. Of course this has been written for sighted people but the instructions are valid for us as well. Your keyboard and mouse should also be in front of you and slightly under your lower arm level, you shouldn't need to strain to reach either of them from your office seat. You likely have a preference for which hand you use with your mouse, however if you use your mouse extensively it's not a bad idea to train yourself to be ambidextrous to lessen the chance of any RSI issues. With a little practice you will find you can do so comfortably when correctly seated in your ergonomic office chair. Finally, position your ergonomic office seat, desk and monitor to minimize glare from you screen. If you can see things reflected on your screen before you even switch it on then you need to consider re-positioning your chair, desk and monitor to eliminate or minimize this. Try and avoid placing your office seat and desk with outside windows directly behind you as this can cause real glare problems and can even render your screen unreadable in very bright sunlight. So to summarize how to seat yourself correctly, adjust and set up your ergonomic office chair. Run through this top to bottom body check to ensure you are correctly positioned in your ergonomic office seat. . Make sure your chair's seat height is properly adjusted.. Make sure your chair's backrest is set correctly giving support to your lower back. . Shoulders, neck and arms should feel natural and unstrained if your seating position is correct. . Position your monitor, keyboard and mouse properly in relation to your seating position.
