3 Simple Ways To Check To Sit Ergonomically At Work

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You spend many hours at work. While sitting and doing your job, you want to make sure that your posture is aligned ergonomically. This way, you will not only be productive during the workday but your back will be comfortably situated. If not, you could suffer from back problems.

Here are three ways to ensure that you are sitting ergonomically at work:

How Deep is Your Seat?

The depth of your office chair is the length between the front edge of your seat to the back end. With an ergonomic office chair depth, you will not suffer from back pain. The way to check for this is simple. The first thing that you want to do is sit all the way back in your office chair. Look at the room from the front edge of the chair to your calf.

Then make a fist and place it on the edge of your chair pushing it to your calf. If your fist fits between the front edge of your office chair and your calf, it is ergonomic. You have enough room for proper circulation. If this is not the case, your office chair is too deep. You can do things like adding a cushion or a backrest.

Sit Lower in Your Seat

Did you know that if sit high in your seat that it could cause ankle swelling? Your seat should be no more than 21 inches off the ground. To check to see if you're sitting too high, put your finger under your thigh towards the front of your chair. If you can do this easily, your seat is not too high. If the space between your chair and thigh is less than the width of your finger, your office chair is probably too high.

Watch Your Posture

As it turns out, what your Mom has been telling you all these years could also apply to your office chair. Make sure that you are as close to your desk as possible. With your arms on your desk check to see if your elbows are at 90° angle. If so, you are sitting ergonomically.

If not, you will need to move your chair so that your elbows are at this 90° angle. Check your knees too. They should also be at a 90° angle. Sometimes when you're working during the day, you may forget this posture. That is fine and happens to almost everyone. All you have to do is to make sure that you hold this posture as much as possible while giving yourself breaks during your workday.

The preceding three pointers are a checklist of sorts that will help you find out if you are sitting ergonomically at work. If you have tried them all but are still not sitting ergonomically, then it may time to invest in a new office chair. To learn more, contact a company like D&R Office Works, Inc. with any questions you have.


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