BEST Gaming Ergonomics Setup: Step by Step Guide

Yo! My name is Franco and tonight I'm
going to show you step by step how you

can make your gaming setup more ergonomic.
Do you need to follow every step and have

the perfect setup? No. In the first video
that I ever put on this channel, I said

something I'm going to repeat right now
Perfection is the enemy of progress.

If you can make only one or two changes,
that's better than nothing at all. I don't

even check all of these boxes because
some of it just doesn't work for what I'm

doing. Also, just let me say that what's
best for ergonomics might not always be

what's best for gaming. Gaming is about
repetition and muscle memory, so changing

things may require some time to build that
up again. I'm going to present this info

in the order that you should make the
adjustments. One step will affect the

next, so it's best to do in this order.
I'll make sure this video also has

chapters in the timeline in case you need
to reference the info in the future. If

you have any questions about this stuff,
well then swing by Twitch where I stream 3

days a week. I regularly get questions
about this kind of stuff and I love

helping out when I can with people's
more specific situations. Your first

adjustment is going to be your chair.
You need to be adjusting your chair to

your desk so that you can support your
entire forearm on your desk with your

shoulders completely relaxed. In my carpal
tunnel video, I talked about why it's

important to support your entire forearm
on your desk. And what can happen if

you're not. So check that video out for
more info. A standing desk combined with a

really adjustable chair is the perfect
combination to really dial this first step

in. One thing that I want you to keep in
mind when doing this, consider the

difference between the ideal posture where
you're conscious of how you're sitting

and aiming for the right thing, and then
think of the realistic. How do you

actually sit when you're more focused on
playing a game than you are about how

you're sitting? Make your adjustments with
both in mind. If you're looking for a

chair with a lot of adjustability then
check out Secret Lab chairs. If you'd like

to support the channel in ways other than
subscribing and liking and all that

YouTube stuff, and you're in the market
for a gaming style chair, then check out

Secret Lab chairs with the link below.
I've had mine for over two years and in my

review of it I talked about how awesome
the comfort and quality is, and in my

opinion they make the best chairs of this
style. So check them out!

Once you've got your chair and desk height
set up with your shoulders relaxed and

your forearms supported, take a look at
your wrists. Again, a lot of this info

overlaps with my video on carpal tunnel
and I really don't want to be redundant,

but consider a wrist rest to keep your
wrists straight. A low profile mouse may

help you from getting forearm pain in your
mouse hand. Rotating your keyboard isn't

ideal for keeping your wrists in a neutral
position, but it isn't the end of the

world. Just make sure to take breaks from
time to time and if you feel like using

your keyboard like this make sure that
stretching is also a part of your daily

routine. Also consider a smaller keyboard
so that you don't need to rotate it as

much to make room for your mouse.
Alright, your chair height is good, your

forearms are supported, wrists straight
shoulders relaxed, what's going on with

your feet? Does adjusting your chair
leave your feet unable to touch the ground

or are you super tall and it feels like
you're squatting? You want to keep your

hips at a 90 degree angle and your feet
flat on the the ground. If you can't

reach the ground, then consider getting
some sort of footrest. I'll have some

linked below. If your knees are higher
than your hips because now you're too low

then you need to figure out a way to raise
your desk. Again, a standing desk really

helps with this, but if you don't have one
then you're just going to have to get

creative. Don't adjust your chair for
your feet, adjust it for your shoulders

and your arms. Speaking of chair comfort,
I've done reviews on different chairs and

I see comments all the time about what
chair is bad for you and what isn't.

Everyone is different. It's hard to go by
what one person finds comfortable.

You need to figure out what you like and
then pick the highest quality chair that

you can afford that has those features.
I'll just say this on the subject, gaming

chairs are not bad for you, neither are
ergo chairs and neither is the right

chair for everyone. The last things we're
going to adjust all deal with your monitor

how high, how far and where to put them.
And before we get into all of these

adjustments the biggest recommendation
that I can offer is mount your monitor on

an arm. It makes such a gigantic
difference and allows you to customize

the position so much more than if it's
just on a stand. Monitor arms are pretty

affordable these days and there are
options that don't require any sort of

drilling or tools, they just clamp to your
desk. If you don't have arms for your

monitor, you'll have to use some sort of
stand or just get creative with books or

something to prop it underneath to adjust
the height of the monitor. Keep your

monitors about an arms length away. I'm
going to be honest, I don't do that. I

like mine closer, but mostly prefer that
when I'm gaming. Neck pain from gaming

is almost always from looking down too
much because your monitor is too low.

I'm going to reuse something that I made
from my posture video to help you adjust

your monitor properly. I've made
the screen all grey. I thought about

doing it white, but I respect dark mode.
I'm going to put an X on screen dead

center of this video. If you full screen
the video and my math is correct, then

this should be the center of your monitor.
When your head is in a neutral position,

and you're looking straight forward this X
should be just below eye level. So eye

level should be about where this line is.
Obviously you'll have to adjust to what

feels best for you monitor and head, but
this is a good starting point. Alright,

this is the last thing that we're going to
adjust, where does your second monitor go?

Believe it or not, there's an ergonomic
spot to put it, but I'll be honest and

admit that I don't do this either because
of how I display my PC on my desk and the

side of the case that has the window.
You're second monitor should go on

whatever side is your dominant eye. This
is tricky for some people because you'd

assume that your dominant eye matches your
dominant hand - If you're right handed,

then right eye dominant. But there are
some people who are right handed but left

eye dominant. I'm going to explain how to
find out which is your dominant eye. Put

your hands like this so that there's a
small opening between them. Pick

something small on a wall or across the
room. Bring your hands up and position

them so that that spot or item is visible
in your opening between your hands. The

opening should be small enough that not
much else is visible. Now, slowly bring

your hands to your face while keeping the
spot or object in the opening and your

hands should naturally end up going to
your dominant eye. For me, my dominant

eye is my right eye, and if I wanted to
bring my hands to my left eye, I'd have to

shift my hands over so much that 1 it's
noticeable, and 2 the object becomes

covered for a split second. Now that you
know which is your dominant eye, you'll

want to place your second monitor on that
side. You're doing this because it's

easier for you to glance to your dominant
side without having to move your head so

much. You'll want the monitor turned a
little and high enough that you're not

looking down at it. Same as your main
monitor. If you really wanted to go all

in on this, you can center your main
monitor with your dominant eye instead of

centering it with the middle of your
vision. Let me know in the comments how

many of these things that you are already
doing and how many you plan on changing.

I think it's really interesting when you
find out that you've naturally been doing

something correctly because you noticed
that it just feels right. I hope this

info helps out and if it does then like
and subscribe because I've got plenty

of other videos like this and I have
plenty more planned for the future.

Until next time, peace!