Orthopedic chairs -Gaming chair

The fastest growing new type of chair is the gaming chair used for playing computer games on a TV, PC, laptop or other media device.

Initially this kind of chair may not appear too relevant to the orthopedic chair group, however their increasing use along with the postures, actions and stresses that the users of these chairs experience whilst gaming make them significant.

What is a gaming chair

A gaming chair is a purpose designed chair that can be used to heighten the experience of playing many different computer console and online games. These may be race, action, sport or adventure based games, but there are no practical limitations.

The main attribute of a gaming chair is in its ability to be connected to the gaming console and become an interactive part of the gaming experience, i.e. it makes the gamer feel more connected with the game.

Once the connection has been made the big feature of the chair is its sound system.

Chair sound

These chairs have their own in-built speakers systems that can include several individual speakers from a sub woofer to high frequency tweeters. This means that the gamer experiences the sounds resulting from his or her playing directly from the chair.

Many chair suppliers claim that this produces something akin to cinema surround sound for the gamer, but with the sound emanating from the player rather than from some distant speakers in other parts of the room. When there are multiple players it is often possible to link the chairs (and consequently the groups interaction) together.

These chairs are highly flexible in terms of what can be connected to them and this means that a DVD player, a hi-fi, an MP3 player, an iPod or a TV can be connected to them for similar effect. For this reason it seems reasonable to assume that gaming chairs may be the first step towards a more general interactive entertainment chair. The more expensive game chairs are often wireless or rechargeable.

Position and posture

Although the sound system is the most significant component of the gaming chair, the seating position is very important and this is where some of the cheaper gaming chairs may not always be so healthy.

Many games, e.g. the car racing games, involve the gamer so much that they want to rock, lean and bend as they control the action. This in turn has produced a range of different chair designs intended to encourage or support these motions (but not necessarily the body).

The result of this chair design rivalry has seen a very varied mix of seats that, at one end of the spectrum offer gaming chairs designed around the beanbag concept, whilst at the opposite end offer chairs that resemble something close to a large and stylish lazyboy.

Some of these chairs have arms whilst others (most in fact) omit them in favour of unrestricted freedom of movement. Some are based on legs whilst others have a convex base that lets the gamer rock backwards and forwards (and even sideways).

Ultimately there does not appear to be an accepted or ideal design, but, all other things (namely the sound system) being equal, it would seem to be common sense to apply the same rules to these chairs as to any other chairs. Namely, to look for good back support, a stable base and a level of comfort that will not diminish after remaining seated for two, three or more hours.

To find out about posture and sitting correctly on a task chair (or using a chair and workstation) go to task chair sitting. There you will find some basic information about chair, monitor, keyboard etc setup.