Today, armrests are one of the dominant features in most gaming chairs.
However, one of the common questions among the gaming community is whether armrests are good regarding productivity and comfortability when gaming?
So, Should You Use Armrests While Gaming?
Normally, armrests are important in providing extra comfort to your elbows and arms whenever you need them. They have also been designed for improved posture to reduce neck and back pains. The armrest helps in lumbar support to keep the spine well aligned in its natural position. Gamers game for about eight hours, but they also do other things such as watching movies, sit and chill on discord which will be more comfortable with armrests.
Why Are Armrests Important?
Armrests are very important in offering support for your hands and arms when gaming.
They will help guide both your hands and arms into a relaxed position, helping to ease the muscle tension that often results when they aren’t properly aligned.
Using armrests when gaming helps keep the forearms parallel to the desk when gaming.
However, an elbow posture and neutral shoulder should be met for the armrests to serve you right.
Otherwise, they might restrict arm movement, which decreases crosshair maneuverability.
Resting your wrist wrongly on the gaming desk can cause numbness and tingle in the hand, also referred to as a carpal tunnel.
This mostly happens when your desk is too low or too high, making it flex your wrist when using your mouse.
However, you can avoid this problem by putting your arms on your desk or combining your desk in line with your armrest.
Adjust your armrest to the same height as your desk and let it touch the table.
This way, you will have a level platform that will prevent you from being comfortable or having a carpal tunnel.
However, cutting off armrests is not a perfect idea but instead, resizing the armrests into the level of your desk is the best thing.
What Is The Best Armrest Position On A Higher Desk?
The best way to achieve a comfortable armrest position is by reducing the armrest’ height or increasing your desk’s height.
To explain this, a higher desk height means you can go closer to the desk.
This means that the armrest can go under your desk easily, which will enable you to put your arms on the desk.
Regardless of whether you aim with your wrist or your arm, a straight arm is the best and ideal position for aiming.
By placing your arms on the desk, you will have proper lumbar support because you will be sitting straight.
If your position on your arms is straight on the desk, you will not have an angled wrist hence no aches or carpal tunnel.
Forearms in level with the desk surface are the best, particularly when gaming, as it enables your arm to move and do a wide range of adjustments freely.
If the table is very high, its edge will raise the forearm to an angle, decreasing arm movements.
On the other hand, if the desk height is too low, your body might be forced to take a bad posture, such as leaning backward or forward to maintain the forearm leveled with the desk.
What Is The Best Armrest Position On A Smaller Desk?
If your desk has a smaller space or is not large enough, what armrest position offers a comfortable gaming experience?
First, you require to level your armrest with the desk and rest the forearm on it.
This position allows you to play for several hours, and you will still rest comfortably on the armrest whenever you want to relax or lay back and watch a video.
The second way to do it is by increasing your sensitivity.
Doing this enables you to do more in-game movement with much lesser arm movements.
This is particularly best for wrist aimers. Even so, this requires plenty of muscle memory adjustment, which makes it hard for some people to cope with the high sensitivity.
However, you should first give it a try.
The third solution to achieve the best gaming experience on a smaller desk is removing your armrest.
Armrests are often designed for ergonomics, but it might decrease your KD.
For most gamers, including arm and wrist aimers, their hands are mostly on the desk.
If you are one of them, you can consider cutting the armrests off. If you still sometimes use them, the best solution should be upgrading to a better gaming chair setup later.
Four Factors to Consider When Choosing Quality Armrest for Your Gaming Chair
1. Armrest Design And Type
One of the essential features to consider when selecting a gaming chair is that the armrests are categorized according to the number of directions you can move or adjust them.
More adjustability translates to enhanced comfort and maneuverability.
The available armrest designs according to directions levels include;
- fixed
- 1D
- 2D
- 3D
- and 4D armrests.
2. Your Needs
If you require a higher gaming chair, you will need to find more adjustable armrests.
Fixed armrests are entry-level armrests that do not adjust or move to your repositioning needs.
It is recommendable to get a gamer chair with a minimum of 1D armrests for more flexibility and comfort when gaming.
Much more expensive, 4D armrests are adjustable in 4 different dimensions;
- up-down
- back-front
- lateral
- and rotational adjustments.
Therefore, in any case, you should consider buying a minimum of 2D armrests gaming chairs for optimal comfort.
3. Budget
There are different models of gaming chairs with armrests available at a wide range of prices.
This means that your budget will determine the type of armrests on your gaming chair.
Mostly, the highly-priced armrests are customized to feature more comfort and adjustability.
On average, the price of fixed armrests is 100 euros and below while 4D armrests can be as expensive as €300-350.
4. Brand
Another important factor when choosing the best armrest for your gaming is the brand.
There are lots of brands on the market out there with different models and varieties.
This can make it difficult to find the right armrest model.
To simplify your search, it is recommendable to conduct thorough research on every brand and their gaming chairs and desks before you can make the purchase.
Go deeper into the brand, look at the several tests and customer reviews available online, read the product details carefully, and inquire any questions by contacting the brand directly.
Only by doing this will you make the correct choice when it comes to selecting an armrest gamer chair with guaranteed comfort.
Conclusion
We hope that this article will help you understand whether you should use armrests while gaming or not.
However, the armrests of your gaming chair help enhance your health through effective distribution of the body’s pressure points, increase your comfort and even provide a worthy and ergonomic design.
While most gamers use armrests, some remove them to get closer to the desk. Therefore, armrests or no armrests all depend on what is most comfortable for you.
Related
References
Are armrests really good for gaming? – Tom’s HARDWARE
Chair for desktop gaming – with or without armrests- LINUS TECH TIPS