All good ergonomic office chairs will have features built in to them to allow them to be adjusted for your comfort. But how to adjust the back of an office chair? It can be a little tricky to know where to start when today’s office chairs have a multitude of levers and adjustments. With this in mind, here’s a useful guide to how to adjust your office chair for your ultimate comfort.
1. Seat height adjustment
Regardless of where you work or what you do, most people will do the bare minimum of adjusting their seat height. Most office chairs will have a pneumatic seat height adjustment function to allow it to be raised and lowered.
To adjust the seat height, you should find a paddle or lever underneath the seat cushion on one side. This will allow you to adjust the seat via the mechanism which works through a pneumatic cylinder which is attached to the seat cushion.
Adjust the seat height so that you can sit comfortably at your desk without feeling like you’re perched too high, or equally like you’re so low that you’re craning your neck to see the top of your computer screen; this is the first step for choosing your perfect office chair.
2. Back height adjustment
When it comes to how to adjust the back of an office chair, many office seats have a back height adjustment feature nowadays. This allows you to adjust the backrest’s lumber support. To adjust your back height, turn the knob located on the backrest stem or frame. Once loosened, you can then adjust the backrest lower or higher to the desired position, before tightening it to hold it in place.
In some instances, your office chair may have a ratchet back height adjustment, whereby you adjust the height and lock it into place through a ratchet style frame stem.
3. Tilt and tilt tension
These are two functions of your office chair which are closely related. They work as follows:
- Tilt: this enables the user to rock or recline backwards in the chair.
- Tilt tension: this controls the amount of force needed to make the chair rock or recline backwards.
These are usually adjusted through a large round knob found underneath the seat towards the front of the chair, or via a lever or dial usually found at the front the chair but sometimes found elsewhere. You may need to turn the knob or dial several times in order to loosen or tighten the tension enough that you’ll notice a difference.
4. Tilt lock
Tilt lock is used to lock out tilt completely when the chair is upright. It can be a difficult function to get right, with one of the problems being that many chair manufacturers use different levers or locate the levers in a different location on different chairs. This also means that the way that the levers or paddles operate can be different, and in this instance, we would advise consulting the manufacturers manual to help with the adjustment.
Looking for a new office chair? Look to ADD office.
ADD office sells an extensive range of ergonomic office chairs, from entry to executive level, and all with various features to aid your ultimate comfort. Ready to purchase your next office chair? Get in touch with our expert sales team for bespoke advice today.
