We Are Here To Answer Your Kneeling Chair Questions.
Kneeling chairs have been around for the better part of 50 years, but even still there’s a lot of questions surrounding them. They have never been able to replace the mainstream right angle office chair (yet!!) so if you’ve never come across one in the wild without ever having tried one, it can raise a lot of questions… and in our experience, they tend to always be the same 5 questions.
We get several emails a week asking
- “How do kneeling chairs work?”
- “Can I use a kneeling chair full time?”
- “Will a kneeling chair hurt my knees?”
- “Will a kneeling chair work with my current desk?”
- “What’s the difference between rocking and rolling models of kneeling chairs?”
Over the last few years we’ve been perfecting our answers to these top kneeling chair FAQ’s and today we’re sharing them with you publically. How exciting!
The health benefits are seemingly endless with a kneeling chair. The most important thing to note is the open hip angle the seat puts you in automatically. The angled seat pushes your pelvis forward which allows your back to effortlessly maintain it’s natural S shape. This acts like a chain reaction that works its way up your back. It also engages your core which provides you with back support, without requiring a backrest.
You’ll feel the tension release from your shoulders, neck, and back almost immediately. Keeping your spine healthy is the key to overall, long-term health. Now that you’re comfortable you’ll also find yourself focused for longer periods of time getting more done in your day.
2-Can I Use A Kneeling Chair Full Time?
The short answer is: Yes!
The long answer is: Yes! But not right away.
Here’s the deal- when you sit in a kneeling chair your body will be confused. A kneeling chair asks different things of your muscles. It asks your shins to take some of your weight (a job they’ve never been required to do) and your core to engage and provide support (something it usually only does when standing) and it asks your back to completely reconfigure its usual position (a pretty big ask). This is going to be a bit of an awkward transition and it almost always causes discomfort.
Discomfort, while you work, is the thing we’re trying to eliminate with the kneeling chair, so we urge you to keep another chair close by as you introduce your body to this new way of sitting. It can get distracting and make it harder for you to get anything done if your back starts to fatigue halfway through the day.
We usually suggest starting using it an hour or two at a time, taking a break either in a different chair or standing and working your way up until you’re using it full time.
For the majority of the population, the answer is: No, not at all. Most of your weight is still in your glutes, and your shins are used mostly as a counterbalance. If the chair fits you properly your knees will barely be involved.
We are also strong believers in the idea of the “the next posture is the best posture” and that we should always be changing the position we’re sitting in. If you sit still for an extended period in any position you will experience stiffness, and the same goes for your legs in a kneeling chair. We encourage you to move your legs in and out of the chair and get up and walk around every 30 minutes or so.
The answer to this question gets even more complex if you have any past or present knee injuries. Sometimes the bent positioning the chair places you in is not comfortable for any length of time. If you have any mobility limitations in your knees or hips a kneeling chair will likely not be for you.
4- Can You Use A Standard Desk With A Kneeling Chair?
YES. If you are between 5’2” and 6’5” you’ll find you'll be very comfortable at any standard desk in any of our kneeling chairs.
Our chairs are specifically designed to be used with a standard 29” desk.
5- What Is The Difference Between The Rocking And Rolling Models?
Not be coy, but the biggest difference is that some roll and some rock!
More specifically, the rocking chairs do a really good job of encouraging “active sitting” by allowing you to rock, fidget, change the position of your legs and move gently side to side by moving with you. The split knee support gives a lot of different sitting options.
The rolling models have the adjustability (both in height and angle) which gives you a lot more room to play around and find the setting that feels best for your body. The rolling models do force you into a more stagnant position compared to the rocking models, but there’s still plenty of ways to switch up your posture and change the position of your legs.
Everything covered in this article was based on very general questions about this style of sitting, but one BONUS question that I want to include in this post is one we get that’s a bit more specific to Sleekform, which is “Why should you choose Sleekform and what specific Sleekform model is right for me?”.
Our favorite questions!!
The answer to them is very dependent on what you are looking for and what your main issues are. It’s definitely tricky to help people with this without getting a lot of details about their bodies and history and current work set up, but the good news is, we made this chart to help you narrow it down and find what chair is perfect for you.
If you’re left with any lingering questions please do not hesitate to reach out to us- either leave a comment below or send us an email a hello@sleekform.com. We LOVE to hear from you and we doubly love talking about posture, ergonomics and kneeling chairs!
