An uncomfortable office chair can cause many health issues apart from causing discomfort while sitting. Therefore, you need a chair that can give you comfort while also preventing chair-induced problems. But, what should you do if your chair is not very comfortable? Reject this chair and buy a new ergonomic chair. Not at all?
A few techniques can enable you to improve your uncomfortable chair to a comfortable level dramatically. This article, will tell you some specific ways to make your office chair ergonomic, which will give you the utmost comfort while sitting and doing your work on the computer.
11 Ways to Make Chair More Comfortable
1. Make Sure Your Chair Height is Appropriate
Your feet will need to be appropriately planted on the ground for the height of your chair to be appropriate, and in that position, your knees should be bent at a 90-degree angle. In this posture, your knees must be at or slightly beneath your hips.
Your feet will hang off the floor if your office chair is too high, which will cause numbness, soreness, and improper blood flow in the backs of your thighs area.
On the other hand, if you use a chair that is too low, your hip joints will flex to put your knees higher than your hips, which will put more strain on your back. Back pain may result from this. Therefore, finding the right chair seat height for your height is crucial.
Height of desk also matters. If the desk is low and chair is high then also back pain will occur. So, you should know about the standard desk height and then adjust the chair according to it.
2. Experiment with the Settings on Your Office Chair
You should check everything out using the numerous knobs and levers that several modern office chairs have to find the most comfortable arrangement. Finding the ideal settings can take several days, but it is crucial.
An example of experimenting with the setting of your chair is to adjust the back of your chair when you sit slightly. The pressure on your spine may be significantly reduced with this easy twist.
3. Use an External Lumbar Pillow
Lumbar support can be the source of your discomfort while sitting in an office chair. Lower-quality office chairs usually don’t have full lumbar support, so in that case, you have to hold a specific position to receive the proper lower back support.
The only option is to purchase a quality external lumbar pillow and install it on your office chair. They transform an unpleasant chair into a great comfortable chair for work. The external lumbar pillows are portable and come at a low cost, so you can easily afford one.
According to studies, the chairs with external lumbar cushions or pillows significantly improved comfort for persons with lower back discomfort.
But, buying a lumbar support does not finish the job. One should know it’s correct place on the back. This easy to read article will guide you to place the lumbar support on your back.
4. Use a Chair Seat Cushion
The seat of the chair is considered a significant source of discomfort. It can be overly firm, too thin, unpadded, or lack the suitable shapes to distribute the weight of your body effectively. However, installing an external seat cushion on the seat would quickly fix the chair seat issues.
A number of external chair seat cushions have a raised center and a cutout at the backside. When you sit on the chair, these characteristics can support your pelvis and ease pressure on your coccyx.
Such a seat cushion can be more comfortable for those with sciatica, herniated discs, etc., than even the most ergonomic office chair.
Hence, purchase a quality seat cushion, and add it to your chair to make your chair seat more comfortable.
5. Raise the Armrests
Your arms’ posture might significantly impact how comfortable your office chair is overall. The armrests are typically the source of the issue. While this happens, the body is compelled to slump down, leading to poor posture and chronic discomfort.
So, what you should do to fix the problem is add armrest supports to your office chair. Your armrests will be raised by these supports, assisting you in maintaining correct office chair posture and avoiding uncomfortable poses.
6. Add Armrest Pads
If you find your office chair’s armrests unpleasant, you need to consider replacing them. The armrests on less expensive chairs are frequently constructed of plastic materials. Also, they may be too short of supporting your whole forearms fully. The weight of human arms makes up about 10% of the body.
So, your discomfort may increase if that weight is unsupported or rests on the chair armrest. The perfect step would be to add additional armrest pads on the chair armrests. Armrest pads come in different designs. Most people just add padding or length to the existing armrests to support the entire forearms in various situations.
With the use of an adequate armrest cushion, your chair’s uncomfortable armrests may be suddenly transformed into those of more expensive executive chair seats.
7. Make Sure Your Chair is Big Enough for Your Body Size
Your chair should be big enough for your body size, but the truth is that not every chair can accommodate every body type. Some office chairs are tiny and intended to provide the most basic support. More prominent people usually cannot be accommodated by these office chairs.
This is due to the fact that the chairs are not strong enough to hold the weight and not tall enough to support your shoulders.
Another advantage of chairs for big and tall guys is that it typically allows smaller individuals to adjust them. Hence, always discover the chairs that suit you.
8. You Should Consider a Footrest
The degree of comfort in your office chair is influenced by more than simply the chair itself. Additionally, the position of your body related to the earth can have a seismic impact. You might think about using a footrest if you have short legs.
An under the desk footrest will enable you to place your feet flat on a solid surface conveniently. Also, the rest of your body will get excellent support to sit straight.
People who can’t establish a solid foot base must typically use more of their core. This frequently causes back problems in addition to weariness. And, of course, that is not a good scenario.
9. Practice Good Posture
When you sit in your workplace chair, you must maintain good posture. If you neglect to sit in the chair correctly, it doesn’t matter how much equipment it has. The truth is that any opportunity you have of finding a convenient seating position might be shattered by your situation alone. Hence, it would be best if you did it correctly.
To ensure that your body weight is distributed equally from your heel to the toe, it is best to sit with your feet flat on the floor. Your knees must be 90° bent to make sure the upper legs are parallel to the floor, and the lower legs are perpendicular to the floor.
About the neck, your eyes must be straightforward, and your channel must be parallel to the floor. The screen of your PC screen shouldn’t require you to look it up or vice versa to see it. It ought to line up precisely with where your eyes are.
10. Raise the Monitor to Your Eye Level
Neck discomfort is inevitable when you spend the entire day seated at a desk and staring down at your laptop device or desktop computer screen.
Hence, raise the laptop or monitor to your eye level to reduce the strain on your spine by only needing to look straight ahead to view the screen. You have a great option to use a laptop or monitor stand in that case.
11. Always Keep Reference Documents at Eye Level
This is crucial, and if you keep reference documents at your eye level, you won’t have to look down to read from the paper constantly. It will also lessen your neck strain.
Moreover, you will be able to easily view documents without straining your neck with the use of a straightforward desk director.
Conclusion
There is no certainty that a quality chair will always prove to be comfortable. And most cheap office chairs are not very comfortable in terms of the seat, lumbar support, and armrests.
But, you can customize your chair to suit your height and comfort. I Hope these techniques mentioned in the article will guide you to convert your most uncomfortable chair into a comfortable one.
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I am an Interior Designer and founder of MyComfortHaven.com. Love for ergonomics and content creation made me pivot my career from interior designing to writing.
I like to write compelling, well-researched, and unique content about how commonplace things like chairs can greatly impact pain relief and productivity.