Many chairs incorporate a lumbar adjustment that is focused on providing more comfort. However, many people decide to discard or uninstall it from the chair because it produces worse ergonomics over time. We are going to analyze if they are worth it, or if it is a dispensable element in our chairs.
Over time, we have seen many chair manufacturers have decided to incorporate a lumbar adjustment in their products. At first, this change caused some confusion on the part of the users because they claimed to worsen the comfort of the chair. If you are considering purchasing a lumbar adjustable chair, take a look at our approach.
Chairs with lumbar adjustment
An ergonomic chair should help us to adopt a natural posture aligned with the desk. Obviously, your cushion should be comfortable, but there are other elements that are very interesting, such as the lumbar adjustment.
It is a characteristic that we usually see in ergonomic chairs whose purpose is to help the spine of our back not to curve too much . Lumbar adjustment can be fixed or independent , although we highly recommend an independent adjustment.
It will only fulfill its function correctly if we place it in the right place. In theory, it should fit on the lower back , just above the belt. As its name suggests, it is an adjustment that tries to take care of our lower back.
Normally, the lumbar adjustment comes with a rubber that is passed behind the back of the chair, which allows us to place it at the optimal point of our back. However, we can see tweaks that come in several different forms.
On the one hand, there are chairs that have a lumbar adjustment in the shape of a cushion , as we usually see in the head of the same. On the other hand, it may not be a cushion, but a kind of elongated foam that is placed on the lower back. Also, we can find inflatable lumbar adjustments to further customize the fit.
We recommend adjustable lumbar supports because each body is different, so it requires a custom fit.
In case your chair does not have a lumbar adjustment, you can purchase it on your own and install it on the chair. As expected, it will always be better if it comes with the chair, but we want to inform you that you do not have to give up this possibility, there are portable supports.
Types of lumbar adjustments
To thoroughly analyze these supports we must attend to their different types. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, so they can all be of some use to us.
Chairs with fixed lumbar adjustment
They are lumbar supports that are integrated into the chair in such a way that they cannot be changed or modified . We usually see them in low-end or leather office chairs , offering basic ergonomics to the user.
It is always better to include a lumbar support than not to bring it. That being said, each person is different and this fixed mount may not be optimal for the curvature of certain people.
Chairs with adjustable lumbar support
They usually come with many chairs and allow us to manually adjust them in order to perfectly fit our posture. Everything will depend on the chair, but we can adjust them in the following ways:
- Height or vertically . This means that the lumbar adjustment can be slid across the backrest to bring it to an ideal height. Consider that each one has a different height, so the lumbar of a 1.90 m person will not be at the same level as those of another 1.70 m.
- Depth There are chairs that allow us to adjust it so that it places more emphasis on our lower back or so that they have less prominence.
- Firmness We will have some side tabs by which we can control its smoothness.
Chairs with dynamic lumbar adjustment
It is not easy to find chairs with this lumbar adjustment because they tend to belong to the high range . Basically, it is a support that automatically adjusts to our posture , having memory (as occurs in memory foam pads).
Perhaps, it is the most ergonomic lumbar adjustment on the market because we do not have to adapt anything, since it is the chair that adapts to us.
Portable lumbar supports
Finally, we have these supports that we can transport wherever we want . They are proposed as an interesting option to avoid having to adjust the office chair that has been occupied by another colleague.
Also, we can see them in gaming chairs , but not in anyone. Likewise, you can buy it in external stores and they usually come manufactured to be able to work in almost any chair.
The difficulty lies in knowing how to choose a suitable one , since several aspects are taken into account: body type, size, shapes, etc.
Are Lumbar Adjustable Chairs Worth It?
Personally, I have used chairs with lumbar adjustment, like others without it. The need to include it in our chair to improve ergonomics will be related to the back of the chair as such. There are chairs with rigid backs (such as gaming chairs) that require a lumbar cushion to offer better comfort. Likewise, if we do not use it and have a good natural posture, we will not miss them.
In my experience, certain cushion-shaped lumbar supports push us to the front of the chair. This causes the chair to degrade in a sloping way and we are unable to install our back on the backrest optimally. All of this translates into worse ergonomics , causing uncomfortable discomfort for a quality chair.
In contrast, band-shaped adjustments are much more comfortable because they are smaller and are often flexible. In this case, they are very worthwhile because they enhance our comfort, helping us to protect our lower back, which are the ones that suffer the most when we lean our body forward. In addition, its more compact size will not push us forward of the chair.
Dynamic lumbar adjustment is undoubtedly the best option , but chairs that include it are often very expensive. If the budget is not a problem, consider the option of one with this support. If your situation is completely the opposite and your budget is low , you can opt for a portable lumbar support .