Modern gaming chairs mainly model after the design of racing car seats, making them easy to discern.
Before diving in on the question whether gaming chairs are good – or better – for your back compared to regular office chairs, here’s a quick comparison of the two types of chairs:
Ergonomically speaking, some of the design choices of gaming chairs work in their favor, while others don’t.
Are Gaming Chairs Good for your Back?
The short answer is “yes“, gaming chairs are in fact good for your back, especially relative to cheaper office or task chairs. Common design choices in gaming chairs such as a high backrest and neck pillow are all conducive to providing maximum support for your back while encouraging good posture.
A Tall Backrest
Gaming chairs often come with a high back. This means that it offers complete support for the entirety of your back, along with your head, neck, and shoulders.
The human vertebral column, or spine, runs the entire length of your back. If you have back pain, a tall backrest (versus mid back) in a chair is better to support the entire column as you sit, versus just the lower back that many office chairs are designed to do.
Robust Backrest Recline
This is one of defining features of most gaming chairs that make them so good for your back- robust tilting and reclining.
Even a sub $100 gaming chair lets you tilt, rock, and recline the backrest past 135 degrees, some even to a near 180 horizontal. Compare this to budget office chairs, where you’ll usually find a mid backrest that only tilts around 10 – 15 degrees back, and that’s it.With virtually all gaming chairs, you’re able to achieve a back friendly recline angle, while this is usually only possible in more expensive office chairs.
Pro Tip: Do not confuse reclining with slouching. In slouching, your entire body slides forward, leading to compression of the neck, chest and lower back. Slouching is one of the worst positions for back pain.
External Neck Pillow
Virtually all gaming chairs come with an external neck pillow that do a good job of supporting your neck, especially in the reclined position. This in turn helps relax your shoulders and upper back.
The neck pillow on a gaming chair fits right in the curvature of your cervical spine, since all of them are designed to be height adjustable. This allows you to lean back while still maintaining your spine’s natural alignment and neutral posture.
Having said that, you will find even better neck support in certain office chairs where the neck support is a separate component that is both height and angle adjustable. Still, the cervical spine support that you see in gaming chairs are in the right direction ergonomically.
Pro Tip: Pick a gaming chair that has a neck pillow with straps that go through the cutout in the headrest. This will allow you to move the neck pillow up or down, right where you need the support.
Lumbar Support Pillow
Almost all gaming chairs come with an external lumbar pillow to support your lower back. Some are better than others, though overall they are an asset for your lower back I’ve found.
The lower part of our spine has a natural inward curve. Prolonged sitting tires out the muscles holding the spine in this alignment, leading to slouching and leaning forward in your chair. Eventually, the stress in the lumbar region builds up to the point that can create back pain.
A lumbar support’s job is to take some of the burden off these muscles and your lower back. It also fills in the space created between your lower back and backrest to prevent your from slouching while gaming or working.
Gaming chairs offer the most basic of lumbar supports, mostly being just either a block or a roll. However, they are advantageous for back pain in two ways:
1. Almost all of them are height adjustable (by pulling on the straps), letting you target the exact region of your back that needs support.
2. They are removable if not comfortable.
Pro Tip: Since the lumbar pillow on gaming chairs are removable, if you don’t find it comfortable, replace it with a third party lumbar pillow instead.
Post time: Sep-27-2022