Deanna Hoak

24 Responses to “Ergonomics for a narrow person”  

1. 1 sylvia_rachel Mar 15th, 2007 at 11:45 am

   Alas, I don’t know of any. But I will be interested to see if anyone else does, because I have exactly the same armrest problem. It’s weird, because most of the people I work with are not too much wider than I am (I just measured, probably not very accurately, and I think I’m about 14″ from elbow to elbow), yet on all the armrest chairs (some are armless) said armrests are at least 20″ apart.

   Of course, it’s quite conceivable that a chair with suitable armrests would be too narrow for my behind … :^P

2. 2 Deanna Hoak Mar 15th, 2007 at 11:50 am

   Yeah, what I feel we need, honestly, is armrests that adjust by sliding in or out, rather than just by swiveling.

3. 3 TemplarWolf Mar 15th, 2007 at 11:50 am

   I’m not sure of the model or anything, but when I worked at Liberty Mutual, some of the chairs might be more towards what you’d like. They were standard width, but the armrests had width adjustments, so you could pull them in for a narrower occupant.

4. 4 sylvia_rachel Mar 15th, 2007 at 12:00 pm

   My chair (as I have determined by feeling underneath the seat with my fingers) has armrests that can be adjusted, by means of a Phillips screwdriver, by a factor of about 2″ in either direction. Alas, they are 20″ wide at the narrowest setting.

5. 5 Deanna Hoak Mar 15th, 2007 at 12:03 pm

   Yeah, one of the chairs I tried out for a while was the same way–the arms slid outward, but not further inward than the seat, which was still way too wide for me.

6. 6 Mris Mar 15th, 2007 at 12:07 pm

   Oh. Oh! Oh, that’s the problem.

   I think of myself as broad-shouldered, and for a woman of my dress size I am. But not by that much, and the gap between my naturally-hanging elbow and my armrest is substantial.

7. 7 Deanna Hoak Mar 15th, 2007 at 12:12 pm

   See? Chair makers, are you listening up? We need some help here!

8. 8 Sanguinity Mar 15th, 2007 at 12:12 pm

   I used to fit chairs to folks for a living and… Good luck. :-/ I had an awful time finding armrests that would fit narrow people. And a lot of the in-out mechanisms on chair arms would rotate oddly, so that the armrest would go in and forward, or in and angled, or… I was just about frustrated enough to start hauling chairs down to the welding shop and tell them how I wanted the armrests changed.

   You might want to have a look at AliMed.com’s office ergonomics section. They started out as a medical-rehab supply company, and have become the specialty-hard-to-fit ergonomic equipment go-to folks. The section on chairs may or may not have anything useful to you, but there’s a section on free-standing armrests that MIGHT be helpful, mostly in that they have articulating arm rests that you attach to a desk or whatever, and thus can position exactly where you need them. Not sure if you can make that fit your own working-habits, but it’s worth having a look-see.

   Unrelated: the port-to-LJ software you use directs people to comment over here, but if it could set things up so that it turns OFF comments on LJ, there’d be less risk of people accidentally commenting there. I keep starting comments over there, then wondering how I came to be the first/only commenter, then remembering I should be commenting over here… :-)

9. 9 Deanna Hoak Mar 15th, 2007 at 12:18 pm

   That’s strange about the comments, Sanguinity; I do have them turned off, and when I look at it myself I can’t see any way of commenting on LJ (except on the older posts that weren’t filtered through the cross-poster). I never get comments on the newer ones, either (except for the one asking about LJ that I allowed them on) so I’ve thought it was working properly. :-/

   Thanks for the info on that site. I’ll check it out.

10. 10 Sanguinity Mar 15th, 2007 at 12:31 pm

    Weird. They ARE turned off. It would seem that I hallucinate links that aren’t there. Sorry. :-)

    Talk to a BodyBilt rep, if there’s one in your area. The chairs are wholly modular, which makes them good for hard-to-fit people. (And frankly, most people are hard-to-fit. I’ve met hardly anyone who fits a standard “ergonomic” office chair well.) BodyBilt out of someone else’s catalog isn’t going to help you much, I don’t think; you need to talk to BodyBilt itself, so that you can get the right combination of seat pans, arms, lift heights, etc.

    Be warned: they’re not cheap.

    Looking at their arms options, they’ve got a couple that look like they might be appropriate. They have a well-designed double-swivel (the Pivot! arms) that would allow the arm rest to come inside the vertical profile of the seat-pan without forward-back-angled-tilted weirdnesses. It’s not uncommon for women’s shoulders to be narrower than their hips, so that might be exactly the kind of adjustment you need.
    http://www.ergo4me.com/arm_options.php

11. 11 Kristine Smith Mar 15th, 2007 at 12:37 pm

    You may have already checked, but Herman Miller Aeron chairs come in 3 sizes. The smallest is A, and I am guessing that all models are available with fully adjustable arms. We have cheaper HMs at the day job, and the armrests can be turned to point in or out depending on the task.

12. 12 Deanna Hoak Mar 15th, 2007 at 12:47 pm

    Thanks, Kristine. I’m too tall (5′7″) for a size A, but a size B might work. Googling puts the seat width on that at 20″, which still seems a tad wide, but I suppose it depends on how the armrests swivel. I’ll look for a local dealer and see if I can try one out.

13. 13 editgirl Mar 15th, 2007 at 1:32 pm

    Hi Deanna! I looked into an Aeron chair, but just couldn’t afford one! Lo and behold, Office Depot has a remarkably good knockoff for under $300, delivered! The armrests are totally adjustable in how narrow they are — I just tried it out, and I can get them in pretty darn narrow, although they are slightly (not too much) angled inward. They also angle outward, and are height-adjustable. I’m super short, so it helps to be able to lower everything down. My husband was quite impressed with the quality of the chair when he put it together–metal construction, not plastic. I had borrowed his (much too large for me) Aeron for months, and I was pleased to get this one at Office Depot for so much cheaper. Here’s a link: http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?level=SK&id=510830&Nr=200000&N=201648&An=browse

    (Item # 510-830). Rock on.

    Also, you might consider getting an armless chair and then getting ergonomic gyroscopic armrests. My husband LOVES his. Made by Ergorest. http://www.ergodirect.net/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=235&gclid=CInhqMmn94oCFRAYgQod4Qd1kg

    I sympthize with the ergonomic problems. I have serious lower back pain, and I’ve gone through a number of chairs trying to get comfortable. This knockoff of the Aeron is working quite well for me. It takes the pressure off my lower spine by suspending me in bungie-like material, instead of my butt squashing padding and cardboard or plastic underneath the seat.

14. 14 Deanna Hoak Mar 15th, 2007 at 1:45 pm

    Thanks a ton, Laura. I know the one Office Depot I’ve been going to doesn’t have that chair in stock, or I would have bought it to try out by now. :-) There’s another one not too far away, though, and I’ll go today and see if they have it.

15. 15 sylvia_rachel Mar 15th, 2007 at 1:51 pm

    Wow, that chair looks awesome.

    :: ponders how best to talk boss into springing for US$300 chair…::

16. 16 Stacie Mar 15th, 2007 at 2:59 pm

    I work at a large software company, where we have a group that does ergo evals. One option mentioned above is the armless chair. Another option would be a standing workstation. Our company spends some good $ towards theirs, so they’re not cheap, but the desktop raises or lowers depending on your need and height.

    Hope your monitor(s) is at the correct height as well!

17. 17 Danny Adams Mar 15th, 2007 at 4:22 pm

    Hmmm…I was about to suggest a child’s chair, except that it would also be as short as it is narrow. And it’s been a long, long time since I’ve seen a stool that would be comfortable for long stretches *and* had arms, but you never know…

18. 18 Dan G. Mar 15th, 2007 at 5:10 pm

    Take a look at the Knoll ‘Life’ ergonomic office chair. The arm rests click-slide in and out. May be your ticket.

    http://www.knoll.com/products/product.jsp?prod_id=188

19. 19 Deanna Hoak Mar 15th, 2007 at 6:37 pm

    Laura: I went to Office Depot, and I had tried that chair out before, at least there in the store. There, it seemed that a) even at their lowest, the arms still felt a tad too high for me (I’m long limbed), and b) the armrests swivel, so only part of my arm is going to be supported if I bring them inward. I bought one to try out anyway; Office Depot is good about returns, and maybe it will work out better than I think.

    Stacie: I’ve considered setting up a workstation on a treadmill, just because I like the idea of working and walking at the same time. Plain standing, though, I don’t think I’d care for, unless I also had a sitting workstation and switched between them.

    Danny: Yeah, child’s or “petite” chairs definitely won’t work for me with my build.

    Dan: I’ll call and get some measurements on that chair; if the seat’s narrow enough or the arms will slide inward beyond it, it might work for me.

20. 20 Kendall Mar 16th, 2007 at 12:10 pm

    We just moved to a new (as in, we had it built) building and got all new chairs. The arms move in and out–and they do move in beyond the edge of the seat. They move in far enough that I can barely squeeze in, at their narrowest setting; and while I’m not slender, neither am I big as a house. Of course it’s still possible that my “wow, that’s narrow, how do you sit down” is still “wow, that’s huge, I can’t reach the sides” for you. ;-)

    Anyway, they’re one of the Zody Haworth chairs and they have so many adjustments they have to teach us how to best use them. ;-) Sorry, I’m not sure which one.

21. 21 Kendall Mar 16th, 2007 at 12:12 pm

    Oh and p.s. our chairs (wish I knew the exact model) have a ton of adjustments, including one the ergonomics trainer (yes, we had optional training; these are complex chairs!) said not to use…. ;-)

22. 22 Deanna Hoak Mar 16th, 2007 at 3:28 pm

    Kendall, that Zody looks amazing. I just called, though, and they don’t have any type of return policy if the chair doesn’t work out. :-/ Considering their price, I’m a bit leery of that. I’ll see, though. It looks exactly like what I need.

23. 23 Kendall Mar 16th, 2007 at 11:25 pm

    If you were in the DC area, I’d offer you a chance to try it out at my office. ;-) I didn’t look at prices, but I figured it’s expensive…sorry. ;-/

24. 24 Southern Writer Mar 18th, 2007 at 6:30 am

    Deanna, consider one of these:

    http://www.sitincomfort.com/knchhaknch.html

    I first discovered a chair like this in the late 80’s in Colorado. They had one (only one) in an office where I worked and the employees used to fight over it all the time. I tried it out, and loved it.

    A few years later, at another job, I suffered serious repetitive stress injuries (herniated disks in my neck) from computer use. If you’re using your mouse a lot, make sure you’re not reaching for it each time. If the pain gets too bad (I don’t know if you’re insured / I wasn’t), find a good reiki master. That’s what cured me after months of being totally incapacitated. Don’t laugh. I couldn’t dress myself, or brush my own hair or teeth, or even get in or out of bed on my own. I didn’t have $40 grand lying around for the surgery, and the chiropractor could only do so much. Two thirty minute reiki treatments later, I was good as new.

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