Learn More – How To Adjust Your Workplace Chair What ergonomic features can I adjust on an office chair? Note: Not all chairs will have all of these features available, but the majority of them have at least some. Adjust chairs to allow freedom of motion in the spine. Learn what features your chair has and use them for better comfort. Tilt Tension: Infinite Tilt Lock: Pneumatic Seat Height: Back Height: Seat Pan: Seat Angle: Back Angle: Arm Rests: Knee Tilt: Multi- Depth: Increases or decreases the resistance of the chair’s tilt. Lock the chair into any tilt position for greatest comfort. Adjust until thighs and lower legs form a 90-degree angle. Set the lumbar support to the most comfortable support position for the lower back. When sitting all the way back in the chair, the end of the seat pan should be just behind your knees (about three finger widths). Tilt forward to allow proper blood flow to the lower body during intensive forward-oriented tasks. Adjust for optimum support, so the lumbar cushion rests comfortably against the lower back. Arm rests are not necessary, but if they are used, they should be height and width adjustable. Forearms should be parallel to the floor when keying. Recline with greater ease while allowing feet to remain comfortably on the floor, enhancing circulation throughout the lower body. Move seat forward or backward over a 4-inch range for shallow or deeper seat position. How should I adjust the seat height? Adjust the chair so that your feet are flat on the floor and your elbows are at a 90-degree angel when working at the keyboard or work surface. You may need to reaise your chair to achieve the 90-degree elbow angle. If so, you may need to use a footrest so your feet do not dangle. How do I achieve the correct seat depth? Adjust the backrest either forward or backward, or adjust a sliding seat pan. This changes the front-to-back depth of the seat. A shorter seat pan helps smaller people to use the chair's backrest, while a deeper one feels more stable to taller individuals. Learn More – How To Adjust Your Workplace Chair How can I lighten the pressure on my lower back? Adjust the seat pan angle to change the forward-back angle of the seat. The seat pan angle consists of a choice of fixed angles, rather than a free-floating recline. Often, this feature provides forward tilt, in which the thighs slope downward. The main purpose of forward tilt is to open the angle between the trunk and thighs, inducing a lordotic curve into the spine and reducing pressure on the discs. You can also change the backrest angle relative to the angle of the seat by using an adjustment mechanism, or by bending materials or springs in the chair shell. The backrest angle allows the chair to support different degrees of recline, which in turn transfers some upper-body weight to the chair backrest and reduces the load on the lower back region. The backrest angle also increases the angle between the torso and the thighs, causing the lower back to curve inward. This inward curve, called "lordosis," results in less pressure on the discs than a flat spinal shape. What does the chair recline or tilt feature do? This changes the angle of the entire seat relative to the floor. As with backrest angle adjustability, a reclined chair transfers some upper-body weight to the chair’s backrest. Should I adjust my chair’s armrests? Armrests, if you have them, should adjust to match your elbow height when your elbows are relaxed at your sides. If your armrests are too long or too high, they will interfere with proper keyboarding position. Your armrests should allow you to keep your elbows relaxed at your sides and should not interfere with access to the work surface. Padded armrests are better than unpadded because they reduce the pressure on the undersides of the forearms and elbows. If your armrests will not adjust for proper fit, consider removing them. Learn More – How To Adjust Your Workplace Chair What is the purpose of Lumbar support? The lumbar support is intended to prevent, to whatever extent possible, the flattening of the lumbar spine that occurs in most people when seated. You’ll notice lumbar support in your chair through gentle curves in the backrest shape. In this state, the spine is much more resilient. Is backrest height adjustability an important factor when selecting a chair? Yes. Although this feature is often interpreted to mean a change in height of the entire backrest, this actually refers to a change in height of the lumbar support area of the chair backrest. This feature allows you to position the lumbar support curve where it contacts your back to the greatest extent possible. What is lumbar depth adjustability? Lumbar depth adjustability affects the size, and sometimes the firmness, of the lumbar support curve in a chair's backrest. Like backrest height adjustability, it accommodates different preferences and body shapes.