Best Sitting Posture Tips with an Ergonomic Chair

Good sitting posture is an element related to your computer usage that you tend to not pay too much attention to. However, posture is far more than just how you carry yourself. Typical health concerns found in developers tend to come from poor posture. For instance, inadequate posture can limit blood flow and bundle your nerves up awkwardly. By comparison, sitting up relatively straight strengthens your core and can alleviate some muscle tension.

Naturally, how you sit depends on the type of chair you possess. Something like a ball chair differs from an ergonomic office chair considering the two seats have different functionality. Of course, this guide should focus on the latter type, as that is an ordinary chair for developers to use when working. In general, programming can be a long, arduous process of which you spend dozens of hours writing and testing code. It’s easy to overlook how you’re sitting, but your posture can greatly influence your work.

How to improve ergonomic sitting posture is easier than it sounds. As everybody’s body is different, you may have to ease into your ideal seating position. Good sitting posture can go a long way in preventing you from developing health conditions after hours of developing. Before discussing how your ergonomic sitting posture at a desk can influence your work, it’s vital to speak more about the need for better posture.

1. Why You Should Adjust to Get Good Sitting Posture

Poor posture can affect how your nervous system operates. As your nervous system is integral to your body’s overall performance, you need to protect it at all costs. Slouching or comically sitting straight can hamper your body’s reaction times via a limit to blood flow. This action, in turn, can lead to additional stress and anxiety, headaches, and exacerbating previous health conditions like heart disease.

Not only that, but slouching can also put a lot of pressure on your bladder. As you’re bending your body forward, you start to increase pressure towards your abdominal area. Over time, this can lead to bladder issues as it’s also moving the acid inside your body to unnatural positions.

There are other health concerns regarding poor posture and how it can affect your body negatively. However, this guide is more focused on how you can improve your sitting position so you can overcome these health risks. How to correct posture should become your next question, and the answer is that there are multiple facets to a better sitting position.

2. Common Misconception About Good Sitting Posture

Sitting straight is not ideal. A common misconception regarding good sitting posture is that you stand or sit perfectly straight. However, researchers at Woodend Hospital, Aberdeen, Scotland, found that sitting straight is the worst for your overall health. A better way to correct sitting posture is through sitting in a more relaxed, natural way.

Something most developers tend to do is slouching, and while the study may have found that to be less harmful to their backs compared to sitting straight, the relaxed position is overall more effective.

3. How to Sit Properly at Your Standing Desk

As previously mentioned, you shouldn’t try to force yourself to sit up straight at 90-degrees. Instead, try to be more relaxed and lean backward a few degrees or so. Don’t sway your body to the left or right. Leaning towards one direction can still misalign your spine, so try to center yourself.

How your legs are positioned can also influence your overall posture. Typically, you should try to keep it grounded or on a footrest while not crossing your legs together. As good posture heavily relies on your alignment, try not to move your shoulders and arms in unnatural ways. Relax your shoulders, and don’t put your arms too far back. Instead, keep your arms in an L-shape while typing.

Sometimes, you might need a different keyboard and mouse if your current one doesn’t assist you in your posture. If your keyboard requires you to type awkwardly, you should get a new one. Likewise, a lousy mouse that requires a lot of effort to move your arm around can cause nerve damages in whichever arm you’re using.

One aspect most people don’t consider in relation to proper seating is movement. You’re not supposed to sit around all day, so move about after 40 minutes to an hour or so of sitting down. Do some stretches, shake your body a bit, etc. Even the world’s best posture shouldn’t be sitting down all day.

Remember, sitting down applies pressure to your butt and lower body! Good sitting posture can significantly improve your upper half’s overall health, but you shouldn’t sacrifice your lower half to do so. Just remember to get a little bit of exercise in during your breaks before reapplying good posture.

4. Additional Items 

If you want to know how to improve your sitting posture further, keep in mind that everything correlates to your setup as ergonomic office accessories. For example, how you place your monitor can have a significant impact on your ergonomic sitting. Oftentimes, a lot of your equipment can be adjustable, so you can move your monitor on something flat like books to boost its elevation. It’s paramount that you get your monitor to your eye level, as you shouldn’t look down or up to it in an unnatural manner. Even if this technique isn’t directly related to posture, it is still a crucial health tip you should remember.

As previously mentioned, the type of mouse and keyboard you use can influence how you sit. As you might be used to programming, you’re probably aware of how often you need to use your keyboard throughout the day. These ergonomic peripherals may seem fairly obvious to you, but if you don’t have some of them, you may want to buy some new ones. Finally, you should have a light source of some kind that won’t cause glare towards your monitor.

4.1 ErgoChair Pro

Naturally, the most important part you need concerning ideal sitting is a comfortable chair. Autonomous offers several chairs, but for the sake of discussion, this guide covers how ErgoChair Pro can help you. This guide already covered how to sit in an office chair, so it’s time to discuss what the ErgoChair 2 can do to assist you in improving your posture.

The ErgoChair Pro is an ergonomic chair designed for multi-use functionality. Everybody ranging from artists to developers should appreciate the value a seat like this can bring to you. If you have prior back pain, ErgoChair Pro can provide you some ample comfort to ease your pain. Its polyester fabric is surprisingly flexible, allowing you to move about to get your blood flowing. This flexibility also gives the chair some excellent adjustability, in case you need to fix its height or move its arms support.

Speaking of arm support, you can keep your arms in a more natural L-shape if you have an adjustable chair. Ergonomic chair with adjustable armrests can keep your arms in an ideal position, allowing you to sit more properly. Like cogs in a machine, every little part helps to improve your overall health.

As the ErgoChair Pro can lean backward in a reclining position, you can sit in the previously mentioned relaxed state. If you have additional back issues related to your development, you can also lean forward a little. You don’t have to adjust your posture immediately; you can opt to change it over time.

Of course, the ErgoChair Pro is more than just a tool to improve how you sit. It’s a top-notch chair designed to be used for any task. Are you looking for a comfortable gaming chair at a low price? The ErgoChair Pro can act as one. Need a seat for general computer use? Again, the ErgoChair Pro can do that for you. Its flexibility allows you to have more options in how you use it. Naturally, its simplistic design should be easy to use and convenient for when you decide to improve your posture.

4.2 Alternative Chairs

Believe it or not, there are Autonomous office chairs for you to try out if you prefer something else. No matter what you’re looking for, you should always prioritize adjustability. Your health can change throughout the day, and perhaps developing has taken its toll on you. Try to look for a seat that can lean back a bit, as well as one you can adjust its height. Adjustable height can put you on eye level with your monitor. This aspect should limit how far back or forward you need to be to see it.

Autonomous offers several top tier chairs if you prefer something other than the ErgoChair 2. For example, you can choose MyoChair for affordability and a 24-degree incline. Alternatively, the Kinn Chair is a premium option capable of supporting up to 350 lbs. There’s also the AvoChair is a good, durable option for those tight on a budget. Finally, the ErgoStool is an innovative stool that can’t do much to support your back but is excellent for people looking for good sitting posture and movement in their life.

4.3 Additional Gear to Help Improve Your Posture

Aside from the obvious gears, you use for everyday work, some supplemental equipment can make your life easier. If you already have back pain or nerve damage, some of the following items can alleviate the pain, allowing you to work more efficiently. As somebody who uses your computer a lot, you should have an ergonomic standing desk that caters to your every whim. Productivity can influence your mood, which can also lead to you caring more about your body.

Of course, posture can positively influence your productivity. If your body feels better, you can work at maximum efficiency. Not only that, but good sitting posture can make it easier for your body to move around in cases you don’t feel too well. With better health and a better work station, you should be able to work less for the same pay. Additional equipment like an adjustable monitor can also make your life easier.

For people with back issues who need to work in front of a computer all day, you can also use a lumbar support pillow to make your work more comfortable. You may need to adjust your position, as it may not be possible to lean back slightly with a pillow on your backside. However, even following useful posture tips to a small degree is more beneficial than doing nothing. As long as you can support your body naturally, then that’s good enough!

If you cannot afford any of the supplemental gear to support your back, then you can always try to use some homemade solutions in its place. It won’t be as effective, but it can make your work less of a chore to go through. Aside from that, you should always try to do your best to sit properly.

5. What This Guide Aspires to Do for Good Sitting Posture

This guide is ideal for those people who need to improve how they sit for various health reasons. A list like this one should give you several pointers and offer you some solutions on how to get there.

Otherwise, you should be able to find out how to sit better after reading this guide.

6. When Should You Apply These Posture Tips

Ideally, you should try to ease all of these tips gradually over time. You don’t want to disrupt your body’s natural balance immediately, so try to incorporate some features over time. Once you have mastered the technique for better sitting posture, then, hopefully, you use it frequently.

7. Pros & Cons to Mastering Proper Posture

Predictably, there are numerous benefits to improving how you sit down. Of course, this guide includes some cons, as nothing is perfect!

Without further ado, the following below are the pros and cons for you mastering proper posture:

Pros:

• Significantly improves your overall health
• Can reduce pre-existing body pain
• Should enhance your overall productivity
• Can allow you to teach others as well
• Maximizes energy
• Makes you less likely to go back to the old, poor form
• Makes you look taller
• You can act more confident and assertive with better posture

Cons:

• Can’t be used by everybody (Including some severe back and nerve injuries)
• May cost you some money to get all the best equipment to ease you into it

8. Apply The Best Sitting Posture Tips to Your Life Today!

Ideally, you should be able to apply all of what you learned today to your work. You don’t need to code in agony anymore, for there are a multitude of solutions provided in this guide to make your work more accessible to you. After reading this article, you should know what to do, when to do, and why you should do it. For most people, the only limitation is whether or not they want to improve how they sit.

Hopefully, you don’t try to sit up straight as a wooden board at 90-degrees. The relaxed, yet reasonably straight position leaning backward is the best good sitting posture for your body. Above all else, remember to incorporate these tips at your own leisure. There’s no need to force your body to adapt in a minute. Take it slow, get any type of equipment you can obtain, and you should notice your developing skills improving significantly over time. You’re spending thousands of hours each year working, so why not try to do so safely?