Long Legs/Short Legs – Fitting in a Massage Chair

June 3, 2021
 By Dr. Alan Weidner
June 3, 2021
 By Dr. Alan Weidner

Long Legs/Short Legs – Fitting in a Massage Chair

One of the challenges of buying a new massage chair is finding one that fits folks with short legs and long legs. Body proportions can vary from person to person, thus making it a challenge at times to fit taller and shorter bodies. But, the legs never lie when it comes to fitting in a massage chair. Here are some tips to make sure that a chair fits you if you have long or short legs. Don’t give up just because the legs don’t seem to fit in the chair when the chair reclines to it’s default positioning when you turn on a program.

Long Legs

Let’s start with fitting someone with long legs into a massage chair. All chairs have a maximum extension distance of the foot massager as it moves away from the calf massager. Some also have an extension distance of the calf massager working away from the chair body (check Luraco iRobotics 7 Plus). What differs from chair to chair is the amount of the extension distance.

If you are sitting in a massage chair and the foot rest is fully extended out, but your knees are still sticking up, so that your calves aren’t fitting completely in the calf wells, then you need to lower the ottoman using the remote control to bring the legs down. This allows the legs to lengthen out thus allowing the calves to slide into the calf wells. See the images below of the Daiwa Supreme Hybrid for a demonstration of what I am talking about.

Long legs in massage chair

Ottoman too short in extended position – knees too high

Ottoman dropped down to fit legs better in calf wells

Short Legs

When you have short legs, make sure you sit in the chair to fit your body, not your legs. What this means is that you should focus on sitting with your body snugly fit in the chair, regardless of where your feet end up. Short legs will not reach the bottom of the foot rollers when you first sit in the chair. But…despair not if that is the case. Just worry about getting your body fit snugly into the chair.

When you turn on the chair and select a program, the chair will recline to a default position and, for many of you, the foot massager will come up to meet your feet and you will get a full foot massage. If your feet still do not reach the bottom of the foot rollers, then just use the remote control to do the exact opposite of what the long-legged people do, which is raise the ottoman up until the foot rollers meet the whole surface of the soles of your feet. The shorter your legs are, the higher you need to raise the ottoman.

Here is one problem, though. Some chairs do not have the capacity to raise the ottoman higher than horizontal. If the ottoman is raised as high as it can and your feet still do not meet the foot rollers, that chair will not work well for you, unless you are ok with slouching/sliding down a bit in the chair to bring your feet down to meet the foot rollers.

Some chair have an ottoman that raised quite a bit above horizontal. Those chairs will usually come up to meet your feet. Below are some OHCO M.8 images of short legs before starting the chair, legs too short in a reclined position, and then the ottoman brought up all the way to meet the feet.

Legs too short to reach the foot rollers

Feet still don’t reach the foot rollers even when the chair is reclined to the default setting

Feet finally reach the foot rollers when the ottoman is fully raised

I hope you found this article helpful in your search for the right massage chair.

Dr. Alan Weidner

P.S. Give us a “Like” or “Share” and leave me a comment or question below to share what you learned or ask any questions, so other folks can benefit from this material.

 

11 Things You Absolutely Need

DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY! GET MY FREE REPORT.

11 Things You Absolutely Need to Know Before You Even Consider Investing in a High Quality, Robotic Massage Chair
DOWNLOAD NOW
Massage Chair Relief BBB Business Review
Shopper Award
Since 2005, Massage Chair Relief has been selling the highest quality massage chairs for home and business use. We offer a wide selection of chairs and information to help you choose the brand and model that is right for you
© 2023 Massage Chair Relief. All Rights Reserved
magnifiercross