At work, are you forced to sit in a painful office chair? So, how can office chairs be made more comfortable? There are actually a few things you can do right away to significantly increase your level of comfort, short of throwing the chair out the window.
Here are 5 practical suggestions for making any uncomfortable chair much more ergonomic and comfortable to sit in.
Why Is Your Office Chair Important?
A secondary factor related to comfort that you should be concerned about when it comes to your desk chair is: In addition to the fact that human nature favors settings and circumstances that are more comfortable: your health.
In addition to raising your risk for chronic illnesses, improper sitting can also affect your posture. Repetitive strain injuries and carpal tunnel syndrome can both be caused by poor posture while working. Your workweek can be comfortable if you have the right chair setup, which can help you avoid a number of health problems.
How To Make Office Chairs More Comfortable?
Adjust Your Seating Position
If your chair has built-in adjustments, use them to lower or raise the seat so that your feet are flat on the ground, your knees are at or just below hip level, and you can sit comfortably against the chair’s back. Try the following modifications if you can’t sit in the ideal position:
- Even at the lowest chair height, a footrest will do wonders if your feet are hanging out. Anything will work, even a foam roller or a cardboard box, but it’s worth spending $30 to $40 on something soft, stable, and made to encourage your feet to move.
- Even on the chair’s highest setting, if you notice that your knees are resting higher than your thighs, a seat cushion can help by raising your butt by an additional inch or two. Some of my long-legged friends extend their feet under their desks because many chairs are too short for them, but that isn’t the best position to hold for hours at a time.
- And get a lumbar support pillow if you can’t sit against the back of your chair comfortably. I often perch at the edge of the seat because I am only 5 feet 2 inches tall and the seat depths of most chairs are too deep for me. My posture at the keyboard is supported by a lumbar support pillow, which gently encourages me to lean back.
Cushions can make sitting on a cheap chair more comfortable in addition to improving fit. An excellent ergonomic seat cushion, for instance, can make up for a saggy or overly stiff seat in addition to lifting you up.
Although pillows can’t fix major issues like an inability to recline or make cheap office chairs less squeaky, wobbly, or unattractive, they are a cheap solution for making even a cheap office chair fit comfortably. Your body loves pillows.
Make Sure Your Chair Is Set To The Proper Height
Your two feet should be flat on the floor, and your knees should be bent at a 90-degree angle when sitting in an office chair. Your knees should be level with or just below your hips in this position.
Don’t undervalue the harm that an unbalanced office chair can cause.
Your feet will hang off the floor if the chair is too high, which will cause numbness, discomfort, and poor blood flow in the backs of your thighs.
Because your hip joints must flex to keep the knees above the hips when your chair is too low, your back is put under more strain. According to VeryWellHealth, this may result in back pain.
Add A Seat Cushion
The seat of office chairs is a typical additional source of discomfort. It could either lack the proper contours to evenly distribute your body weight or be too firm, too thin, or both.
Fortunately, just like with lumbar support, this is usually easy to fix by purchasing an external seat cushion.
Many outside seat cushions, like those from Everlasting or ComfiLife, have a raised center and a cutout at the back. When you sit, these features can support your pelvis and ease pressure on your coccyx. Such a seat cushion can be more comfortable than even the most ergonomic seat for people with sciatica, hip pain, herniated discs, etc.
Support Your Lower Back
Lower back pain is a common complaint among office workers, and the answer might be as close as the closest lumbar support pillow. One of these pillows can be positioned between your lower back and chair to provide additional support and lessen the pain that results from bad posture. At first, it might seem a little strange, but you should quickly get used to it.
Get An External Lumbar Pillow
There is a good chance that the lumbar support is one of the causes of discomfort in your chair if you can’t quite place the source of the discomfort. Lower end office chairs either have no lumbar support at all or have a fixed lumbar support that requires you to maintain a specific position in order to get the proper lower back support. Many of us experience back pain at the end of the day, so it’s not surprising.
Get an external lumbar pillow, that’s the answer. They transform an uncomfortable office chair into a higher end ergonomic chair and are portable and reasonably priced.
Studies have actually found that office chairs with external lumbar pillows significantly improve comfort for those with lower back pain. For best results, look for ones with a bottom cutout.
Raise Your Monitor To Eye Level
Neck pain is a sure sign that you’re looking down at a laptop or desktop computer screen all day while seated at a desk. Raise your laptop or monitor to eye level to reduce strain on your spine by only needing to look straight ahead to view your screen. You can do that with the aid of a laptop or monitor stand.
Use Armrest Pads
In case they are uncomfortable, consider changing the armrests on your office chair. The armrests on less expensive chairs are frequently made of plastic or are too short to properly support your entire forearms.
Approximately 10% of the body’s weight is made up of our arms, including the hands. Your discomfort may increase if that weight is unsupported or rests on a hard surface.
Armrest pads come in a wide variety of styles. To support your entire forearms in various positions, most people simply cover over the existing armrests with padding or lengthen them.
A good armrest pad can instantly transform the uncomfortable armrests on your office chair into the more luxurious executive chair armrests.
Use A Wrist Rest
Your wrists can suffer a lot if you type and use a mouse while sitting at a desk all day. You can greatly reduce wrist pain by including a gel wrist rest in your desk set-up. You might also think about purchasing a wireless, ergonomic mouse while you’re at it. Using a trackpad all day can strain your wrists and hands, which can be prevented by doing this.
Adjust Your Office Lighting
Glare can strain your eyes and make it difficult to see your screen clearly, forcing you to adjust your seating position. Your posture may be affected, which will add to your general discomfort at work. The good news is that you can improve your office lighting so it’s more pleasant to view your screen. Initially, spend money on a few lamps with various lighting options so you can control the amount of light and where it shines on your computer and desk. Invest in a screen filter to reduce glare if you can’t change the office lighting.
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