Do you know how to differentiate between a gaming chair and an ergonomic chair when visiting any home furniture? Yes. You are not alone because these chairs are almost equal in pricing, and physically they look similar, but their purpose is what determines them.
Thus, you should be able to differentiate them to avoid making the same mistake repeatedly whenever you want to purchase them to avoid buying the wrong gaming or ergonomic chair. This article has provided you with essential details that will help you understand these chairs, and in the future, you will be able to purchase the best product at a fair price.
What is a Gaming Chair?
A gaming chair is a type of chair that is designed with high backs, with flashy colors, and typically has a wide range of features that are more customizable offer maximum comfort while playing video games.
– Bucket seat
The seat of a gaming chair is designed like a car seat whereby its sides adopt the bucket design’s opening. The reason behind this feature is to secure the user’s body from shifting from left to right while gaming, thereby preventing slipping off the chair when he/she is concentrating on gaming. Besides, this feature also provides you with a feeling of participating in live gaming, thereby raising your emotions and puts you closer to the gaming scene.
However, the downside to this feature is that the bucket design of the seat limits large people from using it since the width and its bucket design create more restrictions in seating space plus the ability to move around.
Besides, it also restricts blood flow in your feet even more than a regular contoured seat if your feet are forced to press up against them.
– Raised front lip seat
The gaming chair’s front seat is elevated at the front lip to increase the seat’s depth, thereby propping up the gamer’s legs slightly to add more fun and make the gamer experience a liver gaming experience like a racer foot reaching the gas pedal.
Besides, it also keeps the user in the seat while gaming due to the increased depth. The disadvantage with the raised front lip is that it limits your knee from bending to 90 degrees and feet flat on the floor to reduce pressure build up in the back of the thighs.
– Fixed headrest
Most of the gaming chairs’ headrest is high and fixed to provide ample support. Besides, they even feature an adjustable and removable head pillow that cradles the neck, providing you with a better ergonomic posture while gaming limiting the probability of experiencing neck, shoulder, and lower back pain.
However, the primary reason for the fixed backrest in gaming chairs is to allow the gamer to lean back often. With an added support pillow, it provides more comfort and support than a chair without a reclined position.
– Detachable lumbar and head pillow
These features are essential for gaming chairs to serve as an ergonomic purpose to the gamer’s spine posture and comfort. The detachable lumbar and head cushion are adjustable up and down, as each individual’s body is very different, and customization is key to getting any benefits of using the chair.
These features’ functionality is to promote a neutral spine, comfort, and relief of lower back pain. The fact that they are removable (and some height adjustable) also makes the gaming chair more versatile than office chairs with fixed lumbar support.
– Winged backrest
What makes the gaming to be livelier and more fun is the gaming chair backrest designation, which is winged designed to keep you in place as you make sharp turns. You won’t probably have your body violently swaying from left to right while gaming the most thrilling games that gush your adrenaline.
However, the winged backrest has its downside despite contributing to the whole gaming experience; it limits large people from using it. since the width creates more backspace restrictions plus the ability to move around because you feel more cramped in a chair with wings and lacks ventilation at the back, making you sweaty and uncomfortable if you use it for prolonged hours.
– High level of back recline
Most gaming chairs come with a high backrest recline level, some even as far back as 180 degrees to create a makeshift bed. Thus, the significance of using this chair in a reclined position puts the least strain and wear on your spine discs, thereby helping you to avoid backaches and even injuries.
Furthermore, the backrest can recline at 135 degrees, which is a conducive position for gamers that offers long-term back comfort and avoidance of back pain. This feature makes the gaming chair more versatile since you can recline to a sleeping angle that will allow you to sleep comfortably.
– Highly adjustable arms
The gaming is designed with a highly adjustable arm that makes it versatile and flexible when using it at a different position and posture. Most gaming chairs possess a three-dimensional armrest that allows you to adjust them according to the height, reclined position angle, and depth.
The armrest’s adjustability goes hand in hand with increased ergonomics since it supports more of your arms in the common “v” posture, thereby providing you with the right shoulder posture and reduces stress on your neck because it eliminates slouching/hunching.
– Flashy colors
Almost 90% of the gaming chairs are designed with flashy colors, making them fancy and neat to complement your playing room’s theme and give you the desired feel and look when playing different games.
Besides, this goes a long way in making your play moments more pleasurable and relaxing.
Pros and Cons of Gaming Chair
Pros:
- The gaming chair comes in an ergonomic design, and it does not occupy a lot of space. Hence, when not in use, you can fold your chair or reduce its dimensions seamlessly.
- Most gaming chairs are made from fabric and leather, which are easy to clean and require minimal maintenance.
- It is strategically contoured to give the best support to your spine, reduces stiffness and neck issues. Thus, facilitating better posture and also enhances good circulation throughout the body.
- The gaming chairs are highly advanced and packed with unique features to enhance your gaming experience.
- Most of the gaming chairs are incorporated with an incredible swivel to help you relax amid intense gaming hours and can swiftly move and avoid strain to your back and beck while enjoying the best of your gaming sessions.
- Most of the gaming chairs are built from heavy-duty materials that can support a lot of weight.
Cons:
- Most gaming chairs are made of leather material, and it is not breathable, which makes your clothes shiny and leave a foul odor on the chair, especially if you sweat when playing games.
- Some gaming chairs have extra features that are not useful to you, and they are pricey. Thus sometimes it worth settling for the least expensive that can offer you a lot of benefits.
- The gaming chairs, Bucket seats, and winged backrests counterproductive from an ergonomic standpoint because it limits you from positioning your knee at a suitable angle, restricts movement, and its backrest also it doesn’t have ventilation.
- They are expensive.
Who is a Gaming Chair Designed For?
A gaming chair is designed for gamers to provide them with maximum comfort while playing video games because they possess customizable features that reduce fatigue and provide the correct sitting posture healthy for the spine, neck, and shoulders.
What is an Ergonomic Chair?
An ergonomic chair is a type of chair that is ergonomically designed with adjustable features to offer maximum comfort and promote proper sitting posture to relieve stress and pain to the various parts of the body, like, neck, knees, hips, lower back, and shoulders.
Pros and Cons of an Ergonomic Chair
Pros:
- They provide the right support for your body so that you put less stress on your body because it has all the necessary features, including a headrest and backrest that support your posture while sitting.
- Ergonomic chairs are any day more comfortable than ordinary chairs because they are user-friendly. Hence, you can adjust all the features individually to fit your needs until you’re satisfied.
- It reduces the risk of neck and back pain because it provides the right support for your body, thereby correcting your sitting posture, thus experiencing less stress on those regions.
- Ergonomic chairs are adjustable to accommodate different activities you may perform at your work desk, thereby making work easier for you.
- The ergonomic chairs’ versatility and flexibility allow you to remain seated for an extended period without feeling fatigued or in pain.
- The ergonomic chair seat is waterfall designed, reducing the seat depth to allow the user to ergonomically position her/his knee comfortably to help in relieving knee and hip bone pressure.
- Ergonomic chairs are designed with ventilation at the backrest and on the seats to allow free air circulation, thereby preventing sweating.
- They are reasonably priced.
Cons:
- Most of the ergonomic chairs do not have a high backrest, limiting people of extraordinary height from using it.
- Only a few brands of ergonomic chairs can support a weight of up to 400lbs.
Who is the Ergonomic Chair Designed For?
The ergonomic chair is designed for people who experience lower back pain and for those who work at the office for prolonged hours thus, eliminating fatigue, pressure build-up, and pain in various parts of the body like lumbar areas, neck, hip, and shoulder.
Gaming Chair Vs. Ergonomic Office Chair
– Design and aesthetic
A common observation when comparing gaming chairs and office chairs is that gaming chairs prioritize and emphasize style over comfort because they are designed after luxury sports car seats. Many gaming chairs have the flashy look of race cars, with bright accent colors.
Thus, making gaming chairs fancy and fantastic to complement the playing room’s theme and give a gamer the desired feel and look when playing different games. Besides, this goes a long way in making your play moments more pleasurable and relaxing. Contrarily, office chairs prioritize comfort over style and are clean and straightforward in design; thus, most of them are a lot more muted in colors and tone.
– Comfort
When it comes to comfort, the ergonomic office chair is heavily invested in its comfort from the height adjustment, reclining and tilting backrest, ventilated backrest, and seat, 2D armrest, waterfall seat, adjustable headrest, and footrest.
Contrarily, the gaming chair is designed with a massive and adjustable headrest, backrest, and a 3D armrest to offer comfort, but the bucket seat and winged backrest limit movement and flexibility, thereby making it a bit uncomfortable seating on it for a prolonged period.
– Ergonomics
Both gaming chairs and ergonomic office chairs are designed similar to offer the same benefit. Still, office chairs are considered to provide many ergonomic services because it ensures maximum comfort, versatility, and reliability from its swivels, footrest, ventilated seat and backrest, and many more.
While gaming chairs do not offer many ergonomic benefits as office chairs because it has ventilation making it uneasy to sit on when the room temperatures are extreme, and also it’s elevated lip seat and winged backrest restricts you from moving or changing posture, and it becomes uncomfortable to accommodate large people to sit in.
– Accessories
A gaming chair comes with accessories to make your gaming experience more fun and awesome while playing because it comes with steering wheel mounts, headphone output, built-in speakers, and Bluetooth compatibility.
Contrarily, an ergonomic office chair does not feature such accessories because it is only meant to offer maximum sitting comfort.
– Price
When it comes to pricing, they depend on the chair’s quality; however, high-quality ergonomic office chairs are expensive compared to gaming despite offering the same functionality.
However, at the lower end of the budget, a gaming chair is slightly more ergonomic than pocket-friendly. Even a cheap gaming chair comes with the basic blocks of a good ergonomic chair, such as lumbar pillows, full reclining, backrest, and 2D or 3D armrests.
What Do Gamers Say?
Both gaming chairs and ergonomic office chairs are good, and they offer the same benefit when using them. Therefore, your personal preferences matter most when deciding on a chair to use at your desk because both are champions when it comes to comfort.
But for gamers, it is recommendable to settle for the gaming chair with versatile features that make it flexible and comfortable and comes with accessories like built-in speakers or Bluetooth compatibility to make your gaming experience at cloud level. So take your time and decide which type of chair will perfectly suit your needs.
Conclusion
To refresh your mind, take a keen look at the chair you are sitting in and ask yourself, “Is the chair a gaming or an ergonomic office chair, and what makes you think is a gaming or ergonomic office chair?” if you are not able to define it for yourself. Then take your time and visit any furniture store to check out some of the best gaming and ergonomic office chair that will suit your need.
