I was learning about the knobs and levers of an Office chair a couple of months ago, and I found many tricks to them. So, I have decided to research it and write a helpful post explaining what is the knob and lever for under your office chair and how to use them correctly?
After purchasing your office chair, you must be wondering, why the hell there is a knob under your chair? What is the purpose of this knob? How Do you use it?
Usually, the knob and lever under any office chair suggest that there are tilting and seat height adjustments are available. The tilting knob helps to adjust the tilt-tension and recline whereas the height adjusting level will allow adjusting the seat height of an office chair.
These adjustable options are really important for you if you have a desk job, and you sit at your desk for long hours like us. We will explain about the knob and lever below.
In this article, I will clear your confusion about the knobs and levers under your office chair, and help you understand how to use them properly, keep reading!!
Office chair Knob and Lever:
Office chairs come in different shapes and sizes. Manufacturers design the chair in such a way that almost everyone can use it comfortably according to their height.
That’s why the chair Manufacturers use a tilt tension knob and height adjustment lever. By using these two functions, a chair can use most of the person.
Sometimes, people buy these chairs without having the knowledge of how they work or what these knobs and levers are for. We will explain the Tilt tension knob and seat height adjustment lever. Let’s find out what they do and how to use them.
1. Tilt Tension Knob:
Before knowing about Tilt tension Knob, let’s discuss tilting. Tilting is basically allowing yourself to rock back and forth and also recline while sitting.
Adjusting this function is related to your height and weight. If you are taller or heavier, you will need a tighter tilt tension.
On the other hand, if you are a short or lighter person, then you will need less tight tilt tension. The tilting Knob helps you to just find the sweet spot.
You will find the knob at the bottom of your Office Chair. Every good and ideal office Chair has this knob, which will allow you to adjust tilting while you are sitting on it.
You can adjust to increase or decrease the required force for tilting. This feature will allow you to decide how much you want to recline on your Office Chair.
What does the tilt tension adjustment knob do?
The tilt tension knob allows adjusting the tension or firmness of the backrest while reclining. For example, if you are rocking on your chair, with this adjustment knob if you tighten the knob it will increase the resistance of the rocking motion and vice versa.
How to use:
- Find or locate the knob at the bottom of your office chair.
- Rotate the knob clockwise to tighten.
- Rotate the knob Anti-clockwise to loosen.
- Keep adjusting until you find a sweet spot which provides perfect tilt tension for you.
Also, if you sit on your chair for long hours daily, this feature will reduce your chances of developing back pain.
2. Seat Height Adjustment Pneumatic Lever:
Seat Height adjustment is one of the common features that can be found in every office chair. While sitting on a chair, almost all of us have the tendency to adjust the height so that we can sit comfortably.
If you are looking to purchase a chair, always check that the chair has this option or not. Having this feature enables us to work for long hours and make us productive.
How To Use:
- To lower your seat: Find the adjustable height lever(it’s usually on the right side of a chair or at the bottom), then place your body weight on the chair, and push the lever down, then it will gradually lower the seat height.
- To raise your seat: place your body weight to your feet and then pull the height lever up, then the chair height will gradually start to rise.
Why is it important: Sitting down on a chair properly is important. Generally, the best way to tell the proper seat height is to simply sit on the Office chair and adjust the height lever until your two feet touch the floor completely, and your knees are at a 90-degree angle.
If you are not using this method to properly sit on your chair, you might feel discomfort to your back and knee. It will ruin your back posture.
In the long run, you might suffer from back pain. When you are sitting on a chair, always try to adjust the seat height to your comfort position or if you don’t know what’s your comfort position, then simply try the method we mentioned above.
Benefits of Having These Adjustable options:
1. Increases Comfortability:
Fixed chairs don’t have these tilting and height adjustment options. So, they aren’t comfortable for everybody. Maybe it will be comfortable for certain people but won’t be for most of them.
If you are a taller person or shorter than the average, you might find it very uncomfortable to sit on them and work for hours upon hours. These two options can help you adjust the tilt tension and seat height to sit more comfortably.
2. Increases your Productivity:
Long hour job can be overwhelming as well as frustrating. While you are working for a few hours, you might want to recline or adjust the seat height to make you comfortable.
If your office chair doesn’t have these features, then you might have to go out and be relaxed as your sitting experience will not be comfortable. This might kill a lot of time while you are working, but the chairs with these options will help you stay productive for long hours.
3. Help You Sit Ergonomically:
These features will help you to sit properly and with correct posture for long hours. Thus you will get the ergonomic benefits and will be able to avoid physical and health issues that arise from prolonged sitting habits.
All the ergonomic chairs have these adjustable functionalities. Sitting on an ergonomic chair might help you to sit with proper posture for prolonged hours. To know more, make sure you read this article: Are Ergonomic Chairs Worth It?
4. Reduce Back Pain:
Back pain is a very common problem that we face every day at work. In this modern era of computing, we spend hours working in front of a computer, and bad sitting posture leads us to the back pain that most of us are suffering from now.
Ergonomic features on a chair are important to get a good sitting posture that can also reduce the back pain. Seat height adjustment and tilt tension are common ergonomic features that can be found on most of the office chairs.
Related Questions:
How to Replace The Tilt Tension Knob?
To replace the tilt tension knob, firstly get a new knob. Then keep rotating the knob anti-clockwise until it comes off. After that, attach the new knob that you just bought and rotate it clockwise.
I have found a cheap Replacement Office Chair Tilt Control Knob on Amazon, you can check it out Here.
How to Fix an Office Chair That Leans Back?
Most of the Office Chairs come with the Tilt controlling or adjusting Knob under the chair. This knob is used to restrict your leaning and rocking as much as possible. You have to tighten it or loosen it as per your requirement, as we mentioned earlier.
What to Do if Your Knob the Tilting Knob is Stuck?
If the knob is stuck and you can not rotate it effortlessly, then grab a wrench and adjust as needed.
Final Thoughts:
It is always preferable for everyone to buy office chairs with these adjustable features.
Tilting and height adjustments are really important for people who have desk jobs as people with desk jobs sit on their chair longer than they sleep daily.
There are also other ergonomic adjustable features that you might wanna know.
Thanks for reading!! Before you go, please take a minute to check out my article, How Does an Office Chair Tilt Work?
