Adjustment of Your Stenning Active-Balance™ Office Chair

1. We suggest that the seat be either flat (horizontal) or else tilted down slightly to the front. It is recommended under most circumstances not to have the front edge of the chair higher than the back edge.

2. Now adjust the seat for height. You should be able to continue to feel the two bony prominences in your bottom, without the front of the seat cutting into the back of your thighs. Your heels should rest comfortably on the floor, not on a footrest!

3. The Stenning Active-Balance™backrest is designed to provide support firstly at the back of your pelvis, below your belt-line, i.e. lower than the lumbar support of most office seating. A man of average height could expect to have a gap between the back of the seat and the bottom of the backrest of no more than about 2 cms. The rest of the backrest will contact and support your back all the way to it’s top.

Other backrests should be adjusted to provide what support they can for the back of the pelvis, ie below the line of your belt, then angled so that as much as possible of the sitter’s back is also supported.

Note that many common “ergonomic” chairs simply will not adjust easily or adequately!

4. Now adjust the angle of the backrest to suit you, aiming at maintaining the firm supporting contact of the “wings” at the bottom of the backrest, while also having contact and support further up your back. Again, note that many common “ergonomic” chairs simply will not allow for this basic adjustability.

If you now lean forward, then slide your bottom firmly back into the corner of the chair while maintaining your lean, and then straighten up, you should be seated in a reasonably balanced and well-supported way.

Don’t expect to be able to maintain a “perfect posture” all day! Also, you may wish to alter the seat adjustment settings according to what you are engaged in. For example, you might adopt the above suggestions for many tasks at a desk, but if you were on a long telephone call you might wish to adopt a more “laid back” attitude, and use the right-hand rear lever to tilt everything back a little. Then when you have finished your call, tilt it forward again.

Need more help?

Arrange a one-on-one consultation covering not just chair adjustment, but also the broader ergonomics of your workstation, and instruction in how to approach sitting comfortably upright.