What hurts you when you sit at your computer? My body’s aches and pains changed for the better when I bought myself a desk chair that was ergonomically designed. The purchase made all the difference in the world, since like many of us I spend hours and hours every single day sitting at a computer.

Here are nine tips for pain-free and ergonomic computer workstation setups:

1. For your chair, choose a five-legged base on casters for stability.

2. Make sure your chair is on a carpet or chair mat.

3. A swivel chair makes multiple tasks easy.

4. Get one with an adjustable height.

5. Does the chair have a backrest adjustment? Your lower back should be flush against the back of the chair. If you don’t have enough support for your lower back you can buy lumbar cushions.

6. Place the computer monitor 28 inches from your body, to reduce your exposure to electromagnetic fields.

7. Adjust the resolutions to your monitor to be easier on your eyes. Maybe if the screen is darker it feels better. Flat-panel monitors have less flicker.

8. Don’t raise the back of your keyboard so that you tilt your wrists. Consider an adjustable keyboard tray. You want your forearms to be parallel to (level with) the ground.

9. Consider a mouse with a scrolling wheel in the middle of it, to save dragging the mouse around with your hand.