How do I set up a desk so it does not hurt to sit at?

Setup order matters, because each adjustment depends on the previous one. Chair first, then desk relationship, then screen. Adjusting the screen before the chair means redoing it, which is why most improvised setups end up wrong.

What you'll need

• Adjustable chair or cushions
• Books or a stand for the screen (optional)
• Separate keyboard and mouse for a laptop (optional)

Step by step

1. Set the chair height first.Feet flat on the floor, thighs roughly parallel to it, knees at about a right angle. Everything else follows from this.
2. Use a footrest if your feet do not reach.A box or a stack of books works. Dangling feet put pressure on the backs of the thighs and cause discomfort within an hour.
3. Set the relationship between elbows and desk.Forearms roughly level with the desk surface, elbows at about a right angle and close to your body. Raise the chair and add a footrest if the desk is too high.
4. Raise the screen so the top is at eye level.This is the change most people need and most people skip. A low screen means looking down all day, which is the main cause of neck pain.
5. Put the screen about an arm's length away.Roughly 50-70cm. If text is too small at that distance, increase the text size rather than moving closer.
6. For a laptop, use a stand plus a separate keyboard and mouse.A laptop cannot have both screen and keyboard at the right height. Raising it and adding peripherals is the only way to fix that, and it is inexpensive.
7. Support your lower back.A cushion or rolled towel in the small of the back if the chair does not provide it. Sitting back into the support rather than perching forwards.
8. Move regularly.The best posture is the next one. Standing up every half hour matters more than any single adjustment on this list.

Tips

• Position the screen at right angles to a window rather than facing or backing onto it. Glare and backlighting both cause eye strain and unconscious head movement.
• The 20-20-20 approach helps eye strain: every twenty minutes, look at something about twenty feet away for twenty seconds.
• Persistent pain despite a good setup is worth medical advice rather than more adjustment.

Common mistakes

• Working on a laptop on a table with no stand — The screen is far too low and the neck is bent for hours. It is the most common cause of desk-related neck pain.
• Setting the screen height before the chair — Chair height changes eye level, so the screen has to be redone. Chair first, always.
• Buying an expensive chair and leaving the screen low — Screen height causes more discomfort than the chair does, and raising it costs the price of a few books.

Questions people ask