The Benefits Of Gaming Chairs Beyond Just Gaming

Ergonomic studies suggest that at lower budgets, gaming chairs blow office chairs out of the water in terms of long-term comfort and ergonomic support. Everything from a high degree of recline to take the pressure off the discs in your back, to headrests to support your spinal positioning allow for greater long-term office comfort in a standard gaming chair than in a standard office chair.

Add in more adjustable armrests and external lumbar support and the gaming chair looks like a champion.

When you start going up the budgetary scale though, custom-designed office chairs claw back some ground. Elements like waterfall seating – as opposed to the upward-facing seats in most gaming chairs – give better, more ergonomic support. And while every gamer loves a bucket seat, their raised edges do little to help long-term office users find comfort.

In short, then, gaming chairs are great for office work on a budget, but if you’re pushing out the boat, a better-designed office chair wins.

Sciatica is a collection of symptoms including pain, numbness, and tingling emanating from the sciatic nerve and spreading out into the hips, the back, and the outer legs.

Getting a gaming chair can help with the symptoms of sciatica – but it has to be the right gaming chair.

Find a gaming chair with a high backrest and one that has significant neck and lumbar support. That will take the pressure of long-term sitting off your spine, and stop that pressure from being funneled towards your sciatic nerve.

In addition, look for a gaming chair with a five-pointed wheelbase to distribute the weight evenly throughout the chair when you sit, rather than aiming it like an arrow-point towards your lower back.

If you can find one that also gives you adjustable height and armrests, you’ll be a long way towards alleviating sciatic pain, because you’ll be minimizing the pressure on the lower back and maximizing your posture support.

Gaming chairs bring a lot to the party in terms of supporting your back, aligning your posture, and preventing back pain.
Bucket seats can be useful in terms of aligning you from the base of the spine.

Additional lumbar support up the spine can give your back the help it needs over prolonged periods of sitting. The frequent cradling of a gaming chair can stop you from twisting unnecessarily too.

Extra padding in the seat also often fights the spinal pressure of long spells of sitting. And a high degree of back recline can take the pressure of the discs in your spine, to give you periods of relief throughout the day.

It’s rare that gaming chairs deliver the perfect ergonomics for your back, and there are elements like the attractiveness of waterfall seating where advanced office chairs sometimes score better. But the fact that gaming chairs are designed with long periods of comfortable sitting in mind means they’re better for your back than many options.

If you already suffer from non-sciatic back pain, what you need is a chair that supports, cradles, and keeps your spine in its best, least aggravating alignment.

For that, gaming chairs are generally excellent, because they’re designed to be comfortable over long periods of time – rather than, say, office chairs, which are designed to maximize productivity. Find a gaming chair with height adjustment, and adjustable armrests, to minimize stress throughout the body.

The usual lumbar support is pretty much custom-built to take the strain of prolonged sitting and minimize any pain you have. The cradling nature of the bucket seat too – with its minimizing of your ability to twist painfully – will help alleviate any back pain that would be exacerbated by other types of chair in the longer term.

Ideally, keep your legs uncrossed and your feet flat on the floor – unusual in a gaming chair – unless you’re also using a footrest, to help minimize pain in both your back and legs.

Gaming chairs can be excellent for your posture, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, they generally cradle you in a bucket seat, which means you’re rarely slumping forward, especially to use a keyboard or mouse. That fights curvature at the top of the spine, with its resulting neck and shoulder pain.

Second, they usually come with lumbar support, neck support, and headrests, which maintain the right angles of the spine all the way down.
As with everything though, correct use is important in getting the most ‘back-benefit’ out of your gaming chair. Ideally, don’t be tempted to cross your legs. Use a footstool when reclining, so as not to force undue strain up your legs. Move your screen to the right height to make sure you don’t have to slouch forward, and so on.

Correct ergonomic posture is possible in most chairs. But overall, gaming chairs align your spine in relatively good posture and minimize your likelihood of pain.

Gaming chairs can be great for studying, because they combine the best of both worlds – upright comfort, so you’re not putting undue pressure on any part of your body, and you’re also not lying down, encouraging lethargy and mental drift.

Quite apart from anything else, gaming chairs are designed for an activity that involves concentration and engagement. As with gaming, so with studying. The lumbar support and padded seat keep you comfortable, but the adjustable height and armrests keep you focused on the material you need to study.

As and when you need a brain-refresher, simply tilt the chair back so you can either have a brief mind-wipe or better still, challenge yourself to recite as much as you’ve learned, without looking directly at the material.

While gaming chairs are conspicuously designed for long-term fun while sitting, they can make the most of your learning. Also, every couple of chapters you study – give yourself maybe a ten-minute gaming break to refresh, because after all, a change is as good as a rest.