Ergonomic Chair: the Ultimate Solution to Combat Back Pain

Basically, sitting in the same position for long periods of time causes the pressure on the back muscles and spinal discs to increase significantly.

And this large amount of pressure on the back muscles and spinal discs is the major cause of why you often encounter back pain. And it’s not restricted to back pain anyway; often time you also may encounter various aches and pain in the legs, shoulder and neck due to sitting for long periods of time at the workplace.

Indeed, that condition will give you major hard time considering that when you’re at work you are expected to work hard in order to meet the expectation. High enthusiasm and dedication will mean nothing if the back pain hit you again and again.

That’s why, when you are supposed to focus your energy and time on getting things done, you focus on what happen to your back instead. If this happens then your productivity will decline and you will not meet the expectation.

If that’s not what you want or you don’t want to make everything worse then it’s time for you to throw your traditional office chair and start embracing an ergonomic office chair. An ergonomic chair is viewed as one of the solution for back pain you often encounter at the workplace since by using ergonomic chair the pressure loaded on your back will be distributed.

Also, by using ergonomic chair, your back will be well supported so that you will sit in the correct posture all the time. Please note that correct sitting posture is vital because if you don’t, it will worsen your back pain.

However, as cited in Spine-Health.com, having sophisticated office furniture like ergonomic chair will be useless if you don’t adjust it properly.

To find out whether or not you adjust your ergonomic chair properly, let’s check it by answering the questions below.

Are your elbows are at a 90-degree angle when you place your hands on the keyboard?

You’ve adjusted the chair height properly, if your elbows are at 90-degree angle when both of your hands are placed on your desk or computer keyboard.

If your elbows are not at 90-degree angle or close, you can adjust the height of the chair up and down till you get your elbows at 90-degree angle. And don’t forget to make sure your upper arms are parallel to your spine by sitting as comfortable and close as you can with your desk.

Is there a fist-width gap between the back of your knee and the front edge of the chair?

If you want to know whether or not you’ve adjusted the seat depth correctly, you can measure it by putting your clenching fist in a gap between the back of your knee and the front of your ergonomic chair.

If your clenched fist can’t easily pass through, it means your chair is too deep. But don’t worry, when you’re using an ergonomic chair, you can fix it easily by adjusting your backrest forward. You can also add an extra pillow to put in the back if you want. If your seat pan is too shallow, you pick a wrong chair.

Does the backrest fit the curve of your lower back?

You’ll know you got a proper backrest when you have your back well supported. Your back will be well supported if your backrest fit the curve of your lower back.

An ergonomic chair commonly provides an extra support for your lower part of your back, which is called a lumbar support. With height-adjustable lumbar support you will get a desired height that fit perfectly your lower back.

This lumbar support is very useful and vital since it can reduce the load of pressure on your back. It also prevents you from slumping and slouching forward in the chair.

Those are several things you need to highlight when you adjust your ergonomic chair. However, no matter how perfect your office chair can be, still, sitting for long periods of time is dangerous to your health. That’s why, it’s strongly suggested to take lots of short breaks by moving around, walking around so that you will not deeply affect by the danger of prolonged sitting.