Office Chairs: With Armrests Or Without Armrests?

When you spend a lot of time sitting at work, you already know that you need a good office chair that delivers the comfort and support that you need. After all, the human body isn’t meant to spend a lot of time n the same position. So, when you sit for many hours straight, you need to ensure that you keep moving throughout the day. This can be done either by adjusting the different settings of your office chair as well as taking frequent breaks and just walk around the office for a couple of minutes.

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One of the questions that we keep getting is whether people should buy an office chair with armrests or without armrests.  

The question is why remove them? Is it necessary or helpful to use armrests with computer use? Is it bad to use chair armrests? There are many myths and half-truths around the use of armrests. 

Some Background About Armrests

The truth is that armrests have been on chairs for hundreds of years. You just need to think about the King and Queen thrones. Looking at the present, you also see that the Board of Directors usually sit at the board room table in office chairs with armrests. In many cases, these are also status symbols. So, are they really important or should only be seen as a part of the past?

According to the most recent research, armrests are important especially when you need to spend a lot of time sitting as it happens with most office workers. But what are the main benefits of sitting on an office chair with armrests?

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Benefits of Office Chairs With Armrests

#1: According to Peter Opsvik, the author of “Rethinking Sitting”, there are many different benefits of using an office chair with armrests. These include:

• To ease the load placed on the back by the weight of our arms and hands.
• If we are to use our hands to carry out an activity, some form of support can in many cases reduce the strain on the muscles that results from holding our hands in the area where the activity is to be carried out.
• Having support for our hand and underarm can also provide more strength and precision for the work that is to be done.

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#2: Rani Lueder conducted the “Impact of New Input Technology on Design of Chair Armrests: Investigation on Keyboard and Mouse” study. Since most office workers tend to type a lot on their computers, it makes perfect sense to evaluate the need for the armrests for these employees. 

According to this study, height and rotational adjustable armrests provide superior forearm support during mouse use. For keyboard work, armrests reduced neck and shoulder fatigue. He later also stated that there are other reasons that should lead to the use of armrests:

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• Relieve loads on the neck, shoulders and arms.
• May help promote good postures.
• Alleviate stress on the back by reducing about 10% of user’s body weight.
• Alleviate stress on the lower limbs and help to facilitate rising from a chair cutting hip forces in half.
• Help prevent excessive pressures on the seat.
• Stabilize posture and help us do our work.