I bought a desk chair, set it up, and sat wrong for three days. Back hurt, arms felt weird, I blamed the chair. Then I fixed one thing. That's the whole point of this.
The one decision that matters most in the first week? Whether your armrests stay or go. Seriously. Everything else is tweakable. Arms are a commitment.
Why armrests are the first thing to sort
Most desk chairs come with armrests bolted on. You can't slide them off without tools. And they're almost always too high or too wide for your desk.
I measured mine the second day. My desk is 29 inches high. The armrests sat at 27 inches. So I either raise my chair and hang my feet like a kid, or I smash my forearms into the armrests.
Sound familiar? That's why arms are the decision. Not lumbar, not tilt. Arms.
If your armrests are adjustable, great. But most aren't. So you're facing a choice: keep them and work around it, or remove them. I removed mine. Took ten minutes with a screwdriver. Now I've got a chair with no arms, and it's actually better for typing.
Adjust the seat height before anything else
Your feet should sit flat on the floor. Knees at 90 degrees. If your chair won't go that low, you need a footrest or a new chair. That's the second thing I did.
But here's the thing: you can't do this until armrests are sorted. Otherwise you'll keep fiddling with the height to fit your arms, not your legs.
Don't touch the lumbar for a week
Everyone flips the lumbar support on day one. I did. It dug into my back. After three days I turned it off, and my back actually felt better.
Leave lumbar on the least aggressive setting. Let your back tell you what it needs. Most adjustments you make this week will be wrong. That's fine.
What I wish someone told me before I bought
Measure your desk first. Seriously. IKEA Desks and Chairs: The One Measurement You Can't Skip is the exact mistake I made. My drafting chair didn't fit under my desk. I Bought a Drafting Office Chair Without Measuring My Desk. Here's the story.
And if you're pairing a chair with a new desk, don't buy either until you know the height range. I Bought a New Desk Without Measuring My Files taught me that.
The one thing to do tonight
Sit in your chair right now. Look at where your arms are. If they're not resting naturally at desk height, either adjust them or remove them. That's it. Do that, then come back to the rest of the adjustments tomorrow.
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