Prolong sitting in an improperly adjusted office chair for many hours can result in poor posture, numbness, and a sore lower portion of the body. Due to these concerning issues, the office chairs manufacturers have introduced ergonomic features to allow a comfortable working experience. Take an example of a car, where you can adjust the car’s seat according to your liking for a smooth and comfortable drive.
Similarly, the reclining of the office chair is essential to alleviate the stress and strain of the lower body. You can achieve reclining with a tilt and tilt tension mechanism. Here is a guide for you to know how to adjust the office chair tilt with quick and straightforward steps, which I have tested and reviewed myself.
How To Adjust Office Chair Tilt
Adjusting the office chair tilt is pretty much straightforward and simple. You only need to follow the steps correctly. You can easily locate the adjuster. It can be found either under or on one side of the chair. Of course, office chairs come in various types and functions. Some include automated tension control as well. There are office chairs that offer more than just one function of tilt and tilt tension adjustments. In contrast, some perform only one function.
So whether your office chair tilt adjustment offers different functions or one function, in this regard, you need to consult the manufacturer’s instructions. The tilt function provides a reclining feature, where you can recline to your comfortable position and lock it so that the chair stays in that position. A knob is also integrated under the base of the chair’s seat, which offers suitable and desired adjustments on turning it in a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction.
A tilt tension knob is necessary due to the amount of force being reduced when the chair is reclined to the desired position. The feature of tilt lock makes sure that the chair remains in the desired tilting position. So when you lock a tiling position, the chair will stay in that position until you change or adjust it to another tilting position. However, it is up to you if you want to keep the position of the chair free-floating or a particular position by locking it.
To Fix Reclining
If your office chair won’t recline, then the knob probably is stuck. It happens mostly in old office chairs. What you can do is to reduce tension by the knob force it into opposite direction. You can use a pipe wrench, or you can also do it with your hands. With this, you will be to fix the problem of a stuck knob and recline back into the chair.
Sometimes, the chair will recline but not smoothly. For that, you can dislodge the chair base and take out the cylinder with the help of a wrench. Clean and lubricate the cylinder and install it again into the chair base by reversing the steps. By doing this, you can have a smooth recline without any popping sounds.
Steps For Adjusting Office Chair Seat Tilt
The first step is to ensure that your feet touch the ground and with your back, also rest on the backrest of the office chair. The space of two inches between the knees and the seat pan, a part of the chair where you are seated, should be maintained. The next step is to find the adjuster that is underneath the seat pan. Press the adjustment knob in a downward position while tilting the knob and simultaneously tilt your seat pan in the front.
Mainly the adjustment knob is located in front of the chair stem, so you need to lean forward to reach it. At the same time, some types of office chairs feature knobs on the side of the chair, so to get the knob, you need to lean to the side of the chair. The tilting is featured, keeping your health and comfort in view since it offers a better blood flow throughout the lower part of the body. It is pretty beneficial for sedentary individuals who need to perform work intensively.
This leads to the last step which involves tilting the seat in a backward position while pushing the knob downward. Let go of the knob once you think that you have achieved the desired reclining position. Also, make sure that your feet are touching the floor while reclining. Apply some pressure with your back on the backrest until you feel relaxed in that position, and you can lock that particular position as well.
Benefits
Nowadays, office chairs are manufactured by focusing on ergonomic features such as back reclining with tilt tension, height adjustability, swivel system, armrest, backrest, and headrest, etc. The ergonomic feature aims to provide safety, increases the efficiency of work, and offer comfort. The main feature to provide comfort and prioritize it is tilt tension. Since it gives desired back reclining to improve blood flow of the lower body. There are many other benefits of the tilt tension mechanism, which are as follows.
Posture
You cannot develop a good posture while you are seated or standing. However, prolonged sitting can result in bad posture. Therefore, the forward tilt mechanism is integrated into the office chairs to offer better posture. It allows for relaxing into the chair while working. Prolong sitting can cause tense muscles that can affect your range of motion, and core muscles of the back and sides are weakened. This results in poor posture as well as slumping balance and chronic injuries.
Backache
Back pain a common complaint of sedentary individuals caused due to prolonged sitting. It is also known as lumbago in medical terms. It surrounds the lower spine-related problems. Sitting in a particular position for many hours can cause an injury due to tensed spinal discs and damage the ligaments and muscles in the back. With lower back pain, you may feel pain in the hips and legs as well.
You may experience numbness in your legs and arms, due to which the walking or movement is quite painful. Muscle spasms are also accompanied by back pain. The office chair features forward tilt and tilt tension to alleviate the pressure on the muscles and spinal discs. The purpose of this feature is to eliminate stress and strain on the spine. With correct usage, you can avoid backaches no matter how many hours you sit.
Reduced Blood Flow
Poor sitting habits can lead to poor blood flow throughout the lower portion of the body as the lower body is mainly affected by prolonged sittings. Similarly, the legs are also the victim and suffer from reduced blood flow that causes numbness, tingling, and throbbing pain in the legs. The common symptoms of reduced blood flow are stiffed and cramped muscles.
The tilt tension feature installed in the office chairs offers to improve and promote better blood flow. The tilting action also makes sure that your feet are firmly on the floor while you are working. This is to promote better blood circulation in the legs to prevent numbness and allow comfortable working.
To Conclude
This was a detailed review about how to adjust office tilt with easy and simple steps. Tilt and tilt tension is a must-have feature that allows you to relax in an office chair and prevent lower back issues. You would feel fresh and relax even after working for many hours.
