Buying furniture, it must fit and support your body perfectly. Given the number of hours we slouch in front of the television, this is on par with choosing a comfortable bed.

Glancing over from my crouched position, knees up to my nose, on the ancient and enormous two-seater leather sofa, I took a long, considered look at my husband of 20 years. It was time.

Cocked to one side, gripping his hip with braced fingers, the failing bottom cushions mashed flat — why would his back not be completely undone? With a frenetic online search, we found two DFS recliners locally.

My heart soared. We set out over the dark, rainy streets after work, and galloping past our hosts, plunged into two fabulous burnt orange leather beauties in mint condition. The liquid action delivered with the touch of a control propelled us to prone. I stifled a sob. At 6ft 5in, his legs hung from below the knee off the raised foot support of his perch. I could have divorced him.

Buying furniture, it must fit and support your body perfectly. Given the number of hours we slouch in front of the television, this is on par with choosing a comfortable bed.

If the seating is fully articulated, the final position must be as pleasing and relatively healthy, as sitting upright.

Let’s start here, as though also acting as standard chairs, recliners as single chairs or integrated into your sofa, set in motion, are mechanically relatively complex. Sitting for protracted lengths of time compromises joint and muscle health. The wrong choice can put a lot of strain on your hips and back.

One chiropractor I spoke to put sitting for uninterrupted hours on par with smoking. Measuring the room to allow for a generous chair in full extension is important, but not as important as tailoring it to your body type. Ideally, we want a chair that is exquisitely comfortable, tough where it counts and where needed, with customisation where needed.

Shopping for any seating, you should know the length of your leg, from the back of the knee down to the heel, and the length from the back of your knee to the rear of your backside when seated well. Reputable suppliers will offer a range of heights and depths to suit a wide array of body figuration including your girth. Explore the showroom floor and take that ergonomic test-drive.

For most of us, when properly seated our feet will be flat on the floor, with the knees very slightly below the hips. A chamfered cushion can gently tilt us that way. The cushions should be supportive without being too hard — a highly personal choice.

If you have to slouch to have your feet flat on the floor or your knees have fresh air behind them, the chair does not fit you. The seat is too short or too deep. Walk away. If it reclines or rocks? Don’t swing yourself into the right spot; notice where your knees hit with your back upright.

Sitting in a natural alignment with electric or manual assistance, a recliner can put you into a good position and even right back on your feet (termed a riser).

A chair that moves as one should hit an ideal angle at all times. Fixing the legs and back positions independently by yourself — you are actually more likely to put yourself in a bad, braced place with a “dual motor” powered chair. Size is everything. 

La-Z-Boy (these chairs move as one back/seat) divide their sitters into four height groups, from Petite to Extra Tall (6ft 3in or more) so you can see this is akin to fitting shoes. Get this wrong and you could throw out the ligaments and muscles around your lower back. (La-Z-Boys From €895 thereclinershowroom.com).

With a chaise or recliner, ottoman or footstool, having our legs straight out, and completely supported, can actually be quite painful.

Most recliners allow you to leave your legs slightly contracted, relaxing the hamstrings. Having your legs overly contracted could lead to pressure sores, especially in older users with compromised mobility. Get it right and with the heels elevated, and gravity off-set, the inflammation and stress in tired legs can be neatly reduced and altered occasionally, while you relax in front of the Gogglebox.

The measurements given for a single chair may reflect the possible extension of the chair. For example at DFS, the Bilbury Rise and Tilt reads as 100cm-136cm in height and 101cm-161cm in depth (from €1,099). As the chair is altered for position, it should closely follow the form of your body — supporting that lower back area and spine. 

Your shoulders will be at the position of the mid-seam if it runs along two roughly matching cushion sizes, your head softly relaxing into the cushion or nicely on the crest if you prefer without extending back or pitching forward. Going into a full recline — even in full repose, the feet should not be on the support (note, a familiar mistake for shorter people) but will dangle gently just off at the heel.

First of all, it’s a question of budget and physical effort.

With an electric chair, you simply glance your fingers on the controls and you’re off on a gentle ride to Heaven. A manual chair will require a variety of push, pulls and shoves — with the worst providing a jolting full-body workout with a repeated kick to return the foot support.

With powered chairs, you are more likely to get a wider variety of available lockable positions, including a tipping head-rest for telly watching. The ratcheting system of a manual chair will be less accommodating, but you can still expect as many as 48 possible poses. Given the choice of a budget electric or quality manual brand, the manual chair may well win the deal.

When you are the power source, you don’t have to worry about plug positions or re-siting the chair. Rarer battery models are available. Electric-powered chairs offer further goodies including multi-point vibration massage and heat modes, together with a USB outlet to charge your tablet or phone. Pay attention to overall build quality before the toys.

They do wear like any other chair, and rougher family members will drag on the chair even where there’s no need to do so. Transformers and motors are generally easy fixes in most cases if the frame of the chair is quality.

Expect to pay in the area of €600-€1,100 for a faux leather, mixed material or fabric reclining chair in a middling size with manual ratchet action.

Price matters. Going lower than this price point, there are simple, space-saving, push-back recliners. The fabrics and frame of the chair are likely to be basic, with less luxuriant thread counts and certainly 100% synthetic.

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One revealing question: flipped over, does the chair have a four-sided base, preferably in a hard wood? Cheaper chairs will have two or three-sided bases that can rock and roll after years of heavy use.

Examine guarantees for springs and frames. Mortice and tenon joints will outprice simple block corners (again, get under the hood).

Stressless do a range of mid-century inclined manual recliners with separate footstools — worth a try if you want a more detached aesthetic.

Prices start around €1,699 for a Small Consul with Classic base. Custom fabrics will kick up the price by as much as €400 a chair, and that includes premium leathers.

Look for solid foams that spring back over blown-polyester that will inevitably sag, especially under the arms.

Electric chairs start in the area of €1,100 and can easily breach the €2,100 mark.

Like cars, their value goes down once you bump them out of the showroom, add some laid-back mileage and a bum-groove, so don’t think about this as a heritage investment.

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