How high should your chair be at your computer? If you get it wrong, you’ll regret it, as i found out…
Just How High Should Your Chair Be?
Ouch! I Thought My Chair Was Ergonomic?
Previously, I have posted about the importance of having the right setup at your desk.
This included having the right chair, at the right height for you.
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Well, I had an experience this week that really underlined it again for me.
At the office where I work, there is a cleaner (who I’ve never met) who tends to get a little bit over zealous with his work.
I regularly come in to find that my desk has been ‘cleaned’ such that my carefully cultivated setup for my monitor, keyboard and mice is all over the place!
The first thing I do is to check it all out again and reset it all to the proper angles for me.
So, How High Should Your Chair Be?
Higher, Higher! Lower, Lower!
The right height for you is based on right angles. Your knees and elbows should be at right angles and in line with your body. For a reminder of how to fully adjust your chair, see this post.
Of course, sometimes you can go through all that but still find issues. That was my story this week…
Despite going through the above routines, I found that my elbow was beginning to hurt.
I had a think about it over the morning, and came to the conclusion that the chair height must be wrong.
After lunch, I moved it up a little bit and my elbow improved by the end of the afternoon.
However, my feet were then slightly off the floor so my back was starting to hurt!
The following morning, I made a tiny (and I do mean tiny) adjustment down, so that my forearms were still straight but my feet were flat on the floor: bingo!
All sorted.
So it just goes to show that the smallest change in your setup can potentially make or break your ergonomic experience.
“The smallest change in your setup can make or break your ergonomic experience”
Have you checked your setup recently?
Let me know in the comments.
If you found this article interesting, you may like to see the rest of the series on Ergonomics and computers.
Follow the links below for more info:
- Part 1 – What Is RSI?
- Part 2 – Reduce And Manage Your Time
- Part 3 – The Evils Of Mice
- Part 4 – The Ergonomic Keyboard
- Part 5 – Mouse Alternatives (Trackballs)
- Part 6 – Mouse Alternatives (Tablets)
- Part 7 – Mouse Alternatives (Ergonomic Mouse)
- Part 8 – The Importance Of Posture
- Part 9 – Gripmaster Hand Exerciser
- Part 10 – 5 Free Software Tools To Prevent RSI
- Related Post – How High Should Your Chair Be?