How to sit at a desk: a 10-minute setup

Proper sitting posture at a desk is less about holding yourself straight and more about a setup that does not pull you forward, plus regular breaks. A good setup takes about ten minutes: chair first, then the keyboard, then the screen, then the habits. This checklist follows the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) workstation guidance, with the trial evidence where it exists.

Before you start

Set things up in this order, because each step depends on the one before: the chair sets your height, the keyboard follows your elbows, and the screen follows your eyes. You need about ten minutes and, ideally, someone to take a side photo of you at the end.

1. Chair (3 minutes)

• Feet flat on the floor, with the back of the knee slightly higher than the seat. Use a footrest if your feet do not reach.¹
• Seat depth: a gap of a few fingers between the front edge of the seat and the back of your knees.
• Lower back support at the curve of your lower back. Adjust its height if the chair allows.
• Backrest that lets you recline a little; OSHA suggests a chair that reclines at least 15° from vertical.¹
• Armrests low enough that your shoulders stay relaxed, or out of the way.

More on what matters, and what is marketing, in ergonomic chairs.

2. Keyboard and mouse (2 minutes)

• Elbows roughly at keyboard height, bent at 90° to 120°, close to your sides.²³
• Keyboard directly in front of you, close enough that you do not reach forward.
• Wrists straight, in line with the forearms, not bent up or to the side.
• Mouse next to the keyboard at the same height.

If the desk is too high for this, raise the chair and use the footrest.

3. Screen (2 minutes)

• Top of the screen at or slightly below eye level, so you look slightly down at the centre.⁴
• Distance of about an arm’s length, 50 to 100 cm (20 to 40 inches).⁴
• Directly in front of you, so head, neck and torso face forward.
• Perpendicular to windows to cut glare.
• Bifocals or progressives? Lower the screen further, or ask for single vision computer glasses.⁴

Details, including two monitors, in monitor height. On a laptop, this step needs a stand and a separate keyboard, see laptop posture.

4. Check your position (1 minute)

Sit back into the chair, hands on the keyboard, looking at the middle of the screen. From the side:

Check	Aim for
Ear	Roughly over the shoulder, not well in front
Shoulders	Relaxed, not lifted or rounded
Elbows	By your sides, about 90° to 120°
Lower back	Supported by the backrest
Thighs	About horizontal, feet supported

This is a starting position, not one to hold all day. OSHA’s own guidance stresses that sitting still in one posture for long periods is not healthy, and that you should change position and stand up and walk around periodically.³

5. Plan the breaks (2 minutes)

The setup matters less than how long you stay in it. In a randomised crossover trial, office workers who alternated sitting and standing every 30 minutes had about a third less lower back discomfort and less fatigue than when they sat throughout.⁵ A six month trial of sit-stand desks also found less fatigue and musculoskeletal discomfort in the people who used them.⁶

• Stand or move every 20 to 30 minutes.
• Put water, printer or bin a short walk away.
• Take calls standing.

See how often to take sitting breaks and standing desks.

After a week

Take another side photo, or check your numbers. If your head still ends up well in front of your shoulders by the afternoon, the fix is usually more breaks and some strength work rather than more adjustments. See how to improve your posture.

Footnotes

1. Computer Workstations eTool: Chairs (OSHA). 2024. ↩ ↩²

2. Computer Workstations eTool: Keyboards (OSHA). 2024. ↩

3. Computer Workstations eTool: Good working positions (OSHA). 2024. ↩ ↩²

4. Computer Workstations eTool: Monitors (OSHA). 2024. ↩ ↩² ↩³

5. Breaking up workplace sitting time with intermittent standing bouts improves fatigue and musculoskeletal discomfort. 2014. ↩

6. The effectiveness of a 6-month intervention with sit-stand workstations in office workers (SUFHA cluster RCT). 2024. ↩

7. Workplace-based interventions for neck pain in office workers: systematic review and meta-analysis. 2018.