Chair too big for you? Setup fixes for shorter frames
Nicola Tik
Your feet do not quite reach the floor. The seat is so deep that you either perch on the front edge or feel it dig in behind your knees when you sit back. The back support seems to land somewhere around your shoulder blades rather than your lower back. If your chair feels like it was built for someone bigger, that is worth looking at, because a few small changes can make it fit you far better.
Here is the reassuring truth. Most office chairs and desks are designed around an average body, and that average tends to skew taller and larger than a lot of people actually are. So if you are on the petite side, the chair is not really wrong for you, it was simply never built for you in the first place. That is good news, because a fit problem is a fixable problem, and usually with a few cheap additions rather than a whole new chair.
The order matters here. Start by raising your chair up until your forearms reach the desk comfortably with your shoulders relaxed, rather than shrugged up to meet a desk that sits too high. On a smaller frame that will often lift your feet off the floor, and that is completely fine, because the next step takes care of it. Getting your arms and shoulders right first is what protects your neck and shoulders through the day.
Once you have raised yourself up, put something solid under your feet so they are fully supported, whether that is a proper footrest, a sturdy box or even a ream of paper. Dangling feet leave your weight hanging through your thighs and tend to drag you into a slump. Supported feet let your legs share the load, which takes the pressure off your lower back straight away.
If the seat is so deep that the edge catches behind your knees whenever you sit back, tuck a firm cushion behind your lower back. That effectively brings the backrest forward so you can sit right back and actually use the support, without the seat edge digging in. As a bonus, it usually brings the support to your real lower back rather than leaving it stranded too high up.
A couple of finishing touches help. If the armrests push your shoulders up towards your ears, lower them or take them off altogether. And even the best-fitting setup is happiest when you move, so getting up regularly still matters. If you would like to ease out after a long sit, VIDA has a short guided stretch video you can follow at your own pace.