We spend many hours at our desk. Have you ever thought how important the chair you sit on is for your health? Anadolu Medical Centre Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Specialist Prof. Dr. Semih Akı points out that unsuitable desk chairs cause severe neck, back, shoulder and lumbar pain. Prof. Aki says that taking some simple precautions prevent discomforting pain and increase working performance.

Prof. Dr. Semih Akı lists 6 basic rules in choosing the ideal desk chair for good posture.
• Chair height: Ideal seat pan width should be 45-50 cm. Once you sit down and both your feet are completely touching the floor, the space between the seat pan and your legs should be wide enough for your fingers to pass through. If your fingers cannot easily pass through this gap lower your seat until the right distance is attained. Ideal chair height should be 40-50 cm and must be adjustable.
• Chair seat pan depth: Sitting down whilst leaning your back completely on the backrest there should be a fist size (5-7 cm) gap between the front edge of the seat pan and back of your knees. Don’t forget that seats causing compression on the rear part of your legs will affect the local nerves and circulation to cause numbness. Use an additional back and lumbar support (pillow) to reduce the seat pan depth should your chair fail to provide this gap.
• Back-support: Your chair’s back support must be of adequate width (30-50 cm) and be capable of supporting lumbar arch (lower back). A suitable lumbar support should be used if necessary. The chair should help maintain the natural “S” shape of the spine whilst in a sitting position and design of the chair’s back-support should be able to support this posture.
• Armrests: Your chair’s armrests must be capable of slightly supporting your shoulders. Make sure your upper arm (shoulder to elbow) is parallel to your body and thus the spine, whilst your forearm (elbow to wrist) is at 90 degrees to the body from you elbow onwards. Make sure to adjust your armrests to maintain this position.
• Chair legs: There should be 6 legs to the chair all with casters allowing easy manoeuvre in all directions.

You spend long hours at the office but is your desk, chair and computer at the correct position?
Incorrect positioning of and relation between your desk, chair and desktop computer cause significant pain in the neck, back and lumbar area. It isn’t that difficult to prevent pain and increase your performance with some simple adjustments.
• The first step is to position your chair as close to your desk as possible at all times.
• Make sure your upper arm (shoulder to elbow) is parallel to your body and thus the spine, whilst your forearm (elbow to wrist) is at 90 degrees to the body from you elbow onwards. Make sure to maintain this position continuously even as you’re typing on the keyboard. Adjust seat and armrest heights to support this position.
• Close your eyes and take the most comfortable position you can take sitting on the chair. Then open your eyes and stare at the computer screen. You should ideally be looking at the middle of the screen or slightly towards the top corner of the screen. Adjust your screen to establish this position.