Creating An Ergonomic PC Gaming Setup

I f you love to game, you probably spend hours in front of your console on the sofa or on your gaming chair. Whether you game on a sturdy console or a gaming PC, you need to follow the correct ergonomics for gaming so that you do not put your body under physical stress. This will prevent any sort of unnecessary pain, and make sure that you enjoy your gaming experience.

Upper Body

Try your best to keep your neck and shoulder muscles relaxed. This will make sure that the discs in your neck do not accumulate pressure. If they do, you will have a strain. If your gaming chair has a headrest, make sure that your head is rested against it. If you’re gaming on a sofa, try to use a neck pillow for support.

In order to avoid neck aches and other sorts of tension headaches, keep your ears on the same level as your shoulders, meaning that your head should be back, and your chin should be tucked. Avoid rounding your shoulders forward, as this can put you in pain. Do not shrug your shoulders. Instead, rest your upper body on your chair, and keep your shoulder blades towards each other.

Gaming Monitor

If you want a general rule as to how far your screen should be, look at the size of your monitor. If it’s 26 inches, place your monitor 26 inches away from your eyes. However, if your monitor is any smaller than 20 inches, do not decrease the distance to less than 20 inches. The top of your monitor should be at eye level, so you shouldn’t be “looking down” on your screen. In fact, the screen should be tilted a little upwards so that it meets your eyes properly. This will help you avoid eye strain.

Arm Rests

If you don’t have armrests, consider investing in them. If you do have armrests, their placement matters a lot in making sure you and your body are comfortable. Your elbows should be bent at approximately 90 degrees, so use that as a guideline to make sure your armrest isn’t too low or too high. Also, your arms shouldn’t feel forcibly placed on the rests, rather they should feel gently settled on them. If your armrest is not providing adequate support, you may end up with cubital tunnel syndrome.

Desk Positioning

While this truly depends on person to person and whether one is gaming on a console or a PC, ideally a desk should be placed in such a manner that it is in accordance with the ergonomics of the monitor placement. Your desk should be high enough to give you adequate legroom, but it should not be too high. This means that your forearms should be able to rest on your desk, parallel to the table and the floor.

You will end up straining your wrist if your desk is placed too high. As far as your chair is concerned, make sure it is an appropriate distance from your monitor but isn’t too far, as that would mean you have to lean into the screen to see properly and this would strain your back.

Back Rest

Depending on whether your chair has the option to, you should recline the back a little. Your seat should be around 90 to 120 degrees, whichever feels the most comfortable to you. In order to sit straight, try to make sure that your lower back is pressed against the chair, otherwise you will end up in some sort of slouched body placement. If you sit properly, as in upright and not slouching, you will reduce the pressure on the discs in your back and therefore reduce the chances of having chronic pain or some syndrome.

Lower Body

Your hips should be all the way in your chair. This will allow your back to be pressed, too. Your thighs should be flat in the chair, because if you try to sit cross-legged for too long, you may pull a nerve and have pain. The height of the chair should allow your feet to not dangle, but also not be forced into the ground. You should have enough space to comfortably rest your feet on the ground.

Make sure that your knees are bent at an approximate angle of 90 degrees and that your feet are both approximately below your knees. This will make sure that your legs have a natural posture, which will thereby lead to the least amount of strain on your body.

Conclusion

If you follow these tips for ergonomics for gaming, your experience will probably be elevated.