Importance of an Office Chair to Your Back

As modern life and high competition in all aspect, most of us spend all time from 9 to 5 stick on our office chairs. Employees are chasing for their achievement and working hard. Imagine, your work life as officer, clerk, programmer, or animator, you have to spend hours at your desk, working on the computer on your desk, sitting in an uncomfortable pose which causing severe harm to your body.

In fact, office chair should be designed to provide the right kind of support to our backbones so that the backbone is able to maintain its natural posture when we are sitting on such office chairs for hours on end. Sitting in an office chair for long periods of time can absolutely result low back pain because sitting in an office chair is a static posture with not much move that increases stress in the back, neck, shoulders, arms and legs.

Furthermore, when sitting in an office chair for a long period, most people tend to slouch over or slouch down in the office chair, and this posture can overstretch the spinal ligaments and strain the discs and surrounding structures in the spine. This incorrect sitting posture can harm spinal structures and contribute to or improve to back pain. We will discuss some guiding principles for setting up one's office chair. The office chair is certainly a key attributor to workstation ergonomics to help prevent back strain and promote overall good back health.

There are many concern we can choose an office chair to fit our own need. Firstly, seat height should be easily adjustable. For most people, a seat height should range from about 16 to 21 inches off the floor which allows the user to have his or her feet flat on the floor with thighs horizontal and arms on the level of the height of the desk.

Seat width and depth, other complement, should have enough width and depth to support any user comfortably. Generally, the standard of seat width is during 17-20 inches wide. The depth from front to back of the seat must enough for each person to sit with his or her back against the backrest of the office chair while leaving about 2 to 4 inches between the back of the knees and the seat of the office chair. The forward or backward tilt of the seat should be able to adjust.

Lower back support or lumbar support in an office chair is very essential as the lumbar spine has an inward curve, and sitting for long periods without support the lumbar spine curve tends to lead to slouching and strains the structures in the lower spine. An office chair should have a lumbar adjustment for both height and depth. So each user can get the proper fit to support the inward curve of the lower back.

The backrest of an office chair should be 12 to 19 inches wide. If the backrest is separate from the seat, it should be adjustable in height and angle. It should be able to support the natural of each person spine curve and the lumbar region. If the office chair seat and backrest is not just one piece, the backrest should be adjustable in forward and back angles, with a locking system to safe it from going too far backward once the user has determined the suitable angle.

Office chair armrests should also able to adjust. They should allow the user's arms and shoulder to rest comfortably. The elbows and lower arms should rest lightly, and the forearm should not be on the armrest while typing.

A right office chair is not only good for you back but it also good for your work life. Find an appropriate office chair to fit your own to fresh up your working life.