Setting up your new swivel chair is essential to your well being. The longer you or your employees intend to be sat in swivel chairs the more critical it is to set up your chair correctly. Sitting with a poor posture over extended periods of time can play havoc with your back, shoulders and neck so you really should insure that you are sitting correctly.

It is impossible to create a guide that suits every one, but this article will hopefully give you some useful pointer to get you going in the right direction to setting up your swivel chair, lets start from the ground up:

1. Your feet
Your feet should be flat on the ground, you achieve this by adjusting the height of your chair.

2. Your ankles
This isn’t really to do with the set up of your chair, but more where your feet should be positioned when you are seated. Your ankles should be in front of your knees. I know it’s tempting and we all do it from time to time but to sit with your feet on the casters of the chair, but doing this for long periods of time puts unnecessary strain on your knees.

3. Your knees
Your knees should be at hip level. If you cannot achieve this make sure that they are slightly below hip level. This can be adjusted by adjusting the seat angle and/or height.

4. Your back
Contrary to popular belief your back should not be straight – i.e. perpendicular to the floor – as many people think. You should in fact be leaning back ever so slightly. This removes strain from your lower back.

5. Your elbows
Your elbows should be at the side of your body, and inline height wise with your keyboard. this will allow your forearms to be parallel to the floor. This is where the setup can get a little difficult, depending on your proportions you may need to adjust the height of the chair to suit this. Adjusting the height of your chair may mean that your feet do not sit flat on the floor, in this case you need to try and find a compromise, or invest in a desk that is height adjustable.

6. Your head and neck
As a general rule your monitor should be set up at a height where – if your seat is set up correctly and you are looking forwards – the top of the monitor should be aligned with your eyes. This means that you should be looking down slightly to view your monitor.

If you follow these simple tips you should be sitting comfortable and injury free for a long time to come.