Office chairs

What Should You Check in a Cross-Legged Office Chair?

Published · By Ergocrew · Specs and guidance as of that date, from the pages under Sources

Summary

A cross-legged chair is a wide, often armless seat built so you can fold your legs under you. Check that it still works when you sit normally: the seat depth has to let you reach the backrest with your feet on the floor, and the chair has to fit under the desk. OSHA's four reference postures for computer work do not include sitting cross-legged, so the conventional upright position is the one the chair and desk still have to support.

Why the upright position still matters

OSHA's desk guidance asks that the space under a work surface accommodate "at least two of the three seated reference working postures," and one of them "must be the upright seated posture." A chair designed around folded legs does not remove that requirement. At some point in the day you will sit with your feet down to type for a long stretch, and the chair has to allow it.

Check the seat depth first. Some of these chairs are deep as well as wide, to make room for folded legs. With your feet on the floor, OSHA's test is support for most of the thigh "without contact between the back of the user's knee and the front edge of the seat pan." A shorter person on a very deep seat has to choose between the backrest and comfortable knees.

Arms, or no arms

Armless designs give the legs room but leave the forearms with nothing to rest on except the desk. OSHA's evaluation checklist asks for elbows "close to the body (not extended forward or outward unless supported by work surface or chair armrests)." On a desk at the right height, the desktop can do that job. On a chair with wide fixed arms, check that the arms pass under the desk edge so you can pull in close to the keyboard.

Fitting a wide seat under the desk

Measure the clear width between the desk legs or drawers and compare it with the chair's overall width, including the arms. Wide chairs also need more room to turn and roll back. If the chair has to stay pulled out from the desk, you lose the upright working position the paragraphs above are trying to protect.

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Related guides

Sources

  1. OSHA Computer Workstations eTool, Desks
  2. OSHA Computer Workstations eTool, Chairs
  3. OSHA Computer Workstations eTool, Good Working Positions
  4. OSHA Computer Workstations eTool, Evaluation Checklist

We have not tested these products. Specs and guidance are as published on these pages on the date above and can change; the manufacturer's page for your model has the current details.

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