Should I use chair armrest or not?

Question

I am planning to remove the armrest of my chair because of it I cannot increase the height of my chair as it hit's the table.

Is it really effective to use chair armrest?

Answer 1

I often ask my clients to avoid the armrests.

Invariably, people end up with their arms like this for 8+ hours a day:

Often leading to leaning on the elbows, which can push the top of the shoulder upwards, recreating impingement. Notice her right shoulder pushing into her collarbone area,

    

Plus, abduction i.e. raising your arms out to the side, is when many with a shoulder history will have problems.

In other words, holding the shoulder in abduction all day isn't ideal when abduction is the source of many people's shoulder pain:

I've had people whose arms (deltoids) become stiff into this position to the point they stand like this,

                         

Now they're holding their arms in that position while typing and standing aka basically all day. Not a recipe for the shoulders feeling good longterm.

Images taken from: Why typing annoys your neck, shoulders, elbows and wrists, and what to do about it