More thoughts before getting to the chairs…

Yep, you know it, what else would I say?

When it comes to sitting at your desk all day….

DONT MONKEY AROUND!

(My apologies to all the simians out there who actually sit right!)

As I said yesterday, there are other things to consider before purchasing an ergonomic chair….

Visual by www.PDImages.com

Today, it will be monitor arms.

With todays flatscreen monitors, people found they have all sorts of new real estate on their desks, and despite the recent decline in real estate values, the sort that’s on top of your desk will always be in short supply!

Soooo, they take the monitor, put it allll the way to the back of the desk, put the keyboard right in front of it, and end up having to lean out of the chair just to see the monitor!

Remember that rock from yesterday? Yep, for all the good any chair is going to do you….

Try getting a monitor arm, they really do work.

Now some are better than others, granted, but frankly, any of them is better than none!

I use, here at work, a humanscale M4 monitor arm, (another crass commercial ad: Available at SitBetter.com!) and frankly, I love it! It gives me tons of desk space, it’s very stable and it’s highly adjustable.

I can put paperwork underneath it, swing it out of the way when I want to, and bring the screen up close when I need to use it (fine fine fine, I’m always on the computer so it’s always right there!).

In other words, monitor arms are great space AND back savers.

It’s not just the chair….

Well hello again!

In the hunt for a good chair for you, one thing most people don’t consider is that how they work at the desk means they could be sitting on a rock, for all the good the chair is going to do you.

I’ve seen some rather…. interesting search terms on google- chairs for short, petite chairs, chairs for petite people, chairs for small, chairs for tiny people- you get the point?

If you’re not that tall, try using a foot rest. The type that move are great, allowing you actually move your legs while seated increase blood flow and reduce pressure points. In fact, had a 5′2″ customer in this morning, the second thing I showed her was a foot rest and she was amazed at the difference in how she sat.

Think about it, when you’re shorter, the weight of your legs is not supported, so they are actually pulling your body out from the back of the chair. When your legs are supported, you end up sitting back into the chair as you’re supposed to do. It really does feel good, try it!

Here’s a picture of the Humanscale foot rest (commercial plug- ) available at SitBetter.com

Some like how this rolls easily, but I’ve found that is not a universal preference. Sitting in a chair with wheels on very thin carpet, floor mat or hardwood floor, some people find themselves actually moving about a bit much.

This is not a problem in areas with thicker carpet, since the chair does not tend to move easily.

If you feel that may be an issue for you, try this sort. It does not move as easily, and there are little rubber stoppers on the legs to keep it stable, in fact.

Again, the main purpose of these is to give the feet a platform on which to support. There are many out there from which to choose, just consider that it’s going to help adapt your environment to your body type, which is a far better thing than trying to force your body to adapt to your environment!

For more information (of course, another crass commercial plug!), contact me here or at Sitbetter.com!

Chairs Chairs and More Chairs

First off, just a bit of humor…

 

 

Came across this at World’s Largest Roadside Attractions, and thought it just too much fun!

Now, the really interesting thing is that while that chair is going to be simply too big for most people, it’s the perfect chair for the Jolly Green Giant or Paul Bunyon!

Which is to say, there’s a chair out there for everyone.

Now, let me ask you a question- At the end of the day, are you going home with a sore back, shoulders, tired legs (even though you sat all day), tingling fingers, numbness…. or any combination of the above?

Consider how you’re sitting then!

Is your chair right for how you’re working? Are you sitting in front of a computer all day, typing away and sitting in a chair that’s not meant for the task?

Perhaps you’re sitting in a chair which is meant for conference rooms. Fixed arms, can only go up and down with a simple tilt mechanism and the back is fixed in relation to the seat.

Wrong!

Consider, then, a chair which has adjustable lumbar support, a back which can freely move, arms you can adjust, a seat-slider mechanism and comfortable padding.

There are other issues, of course, but I’ll leave that for another day, I just wanted to put the thought into the mind that your chair, which you spend more time in than anywhere else, is very important to your overall health!

Visit me at SitBetter.com and spend some time, heck, I’ll even chat with you!

Buying a New Office Chair

First off, I’ll always be honest, my site is sitbetter.com (I’ll try not to be too blatent, this’ll be good information!). That disclaimer over….

When buying a new office chair online, you can get overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of office chairs out there. Different sites categorize them in different ways, so how can you find the chair which is right for you? I am going to restrict this to chairs which are certified as business qualified by BIFMA (Business and Industrial Furniture Manufacturer’s Association).

First you have to define what chair you ‘need’ and ‘want’. Those two terms are separate, of course, what you want might be a big plush, poofy, leather office chair, while what you really need is a smaller task chair or an ergonomic chair. Do you spend a lot of time in the chair doing computer tasks or paperwork? If so, you might want to get a decent computer chair, which might be a task chair or ergonomic chair. If you’re the boss, and don’t really spend a lot of time on the computer, and prefer a comfortable chair that makes a statement, a leather office chair might be the choice for you. There are many different sorts of chairs- modern chairs with lots of chrome, rigid chairs, swivel chairs, big and tall (for those a bit more ample than the average), and the list can go on and on.

One very important point- many of those terms above are interchangable and have no real specific meaning.  Let’s face it… a swivel chair goes ’round and round and round (how many of those are out there!).  So one chair can be a lot different to a lot of different people!
In other words, you need to define what you need in an office chair long before you decide to purchase it.

That being said, how do you choose a chair from all the different internet companies out there offering office chairs?

I really recommend looking at their sites. Do they give you information you need to make an informed decision, or do they simply throw a chair at you and tell you everyone else is buying it? Do they give you a good variety of chairs, or just a handful done over and over again in different colors? Are they authoritative, knowing their product and caring what they give you or just out to make a sale.

You see, there are many different considerations to buying office chairs online, far more than could possibly fit here, so I will try to make sense of the process in future blogs.

Or visit me at sitbetter.com and I’ll help you out!