Kneeling chairs -- what do I need to know?

Hi all, I'm considering the purchase of a kneeling chair for sitting in my office several hours per day and I wonder if any Permies know things I should know before I spend any money.

First, this is the kind of thing I'm talking about: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kneeling_chair

My roommate Erik, had one in 1991 and I sat in it a fair amount. I found it comfortable. But I haven't spent any real time in one since then and my back and posture have degraded over the intervening decades. I currently switch between a folding chair, the largest yoga ball, a rocking stool, and standing.

Do you sit in one? What do you think about it? What factors should I be considering when deciding what to buy?

I see that some are on rockers and others on wheels, and others just sit on the ground. Do I care about that? Some have backrests, but most don't. Some seem to have adjustable height/angle, but most don't. How are those features? What else do I care about?

One of my friends was into them for years. She said to avoid the ones with a seat back (for core muscle health reasons.) She preferred the rockers, but they don't mix well with pets who are stupid with their tail. If you're a bigger person, check the weight limits on them.

I don't like the rockers, personal opinion. I DO like the wheels, BUT that chair takes up a LOT of floor space compared to my desk chair on wheels. Even if you are not using it.

I have one like the 3rd one from the left in the top row, and I like it a lot because I can adjust the height of the chair and knees, although if I could design exactly what I wanted, they would adjust separately, I made a really solid seat cushion about 5 inches high to get my angles exactly right for me.

I would recommend go to someplace and try a few to see what your body likes at this point. You are used to using no back at least sometimes, but where your center of gravity is vs the chair might be a factor to think on. If your weight and position push hard onto your knees, you'll hurt them. If you have to lean forward to reach your computer on the desk, it's going to injure your back more. So you want your center of gravity to feel balanced when your knees are not taking any strain, and you are sitting up straight and can reach the desk properly.

One more thing, they do flip over backwards easier than you expect, I was surprised with the long wheelbase length just how easy it went over. Consider if you tend to get hurt if you fall badly vs what you'd hit if you did flip, what's behind you at your desk? Anything you care to hit? And if you have to adjust the seat and knees high, that shortens the wheelbase and makes it easier to flip.  Worth considering.

In general I love mine, helps my back etc, and I used it for years. In specific, I don't have the space for it right now, and I got hurt badly when I flipped it and landed on painful things.

i also had one in college in my house and we all fought over it. i would love another one.
i'd also say, avoid the backs and the rockers-- as mentioned they do fall over. I wanted stability. I second pretty much everything Pearl said above.

I used one similar to the third from left, top row, with a height adjustment, in my office for awhile.  It was OK but clumsy to get in and out.

I have never heard of such a thing--maybe I should get one myself. I wonder if it is better to stand at a desk if possible or use a chair like this? I read on the exercise bike but I couldn't teach that way, so I am looking for something useful.

I have never seen or used a kneeling chair. I kneel enough without a chair though, sometimes using an ordinary firm cushion but oftentimes just on a floor, carpet or earth.

Some people put a cushion or blanket under them, and then use another cushion between their heels and bottom.

There are also low "meditation benches" that some people use as well, which would probably be quite easy to make. All these options are with the lower legs relatively flat to the floor so I'm not sure how much use they will be in this circumstance but I thought I would mention them anyway.

Well, I got one! It’ll be a while before I know whether I like it. I settled on this one because it is heavy duty and adjustable.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSYPT8NR

How are you liking it? I got a very similar one about a year ago and I was happy with it for a while, but then I realized I was getting lazy about sitting in it the right way and I also found the inability to lean back got to be annoying. Currently I rotate between the kneeling chair, standing, sitting in a cheap plastic office chair with no cushion and using the kneeling chair improperly to lean on with my feet up on my bookcase haha. On the topic of desk ergonomics in general, I think I'm realizing there is no "ergonomic" way because human's aren't meant for this. I think (for me anyway) the solution might be to just keep changing positions and move around a lot, to never actually get comfortable as a means to never settle into bad posture. Although it makes it hard to refocus on concentration every 30-60 minutes. Curious what other people think about this.

Sunny Kahlo wrote:I think (for me anyway) the solution might be to just keep changing positions and move around a lot, to never actually get comfortable as a means to never settle into bad posture..... Although it makes it hard to refocus on concentration every 30-60 minutes.

As someone who has a sitting job, I have to agree with you 100%. I also rotate between everything (currently leaning back in my office chair with my feet up on the corner of the desk!!) I do call a break every 30-60 min as a rule, depending on the complexity of what I'm doing. Otherwise my work suffers, and at the end of the day I can't walk at all. I get up and do something, anything, and occasionally I use a timer to do just that (pomodoro method).

One of the bolt receivers (I'm not sure what the right name is) pulled out of the seat-frame and I just got the replacement. So I liked it for three weeks and then was annoyed. If it keeps being shoddy, I'll have wasted a bunch of money.

However, I like having it when it's not broken. My shins get sore if I stay in the prototypical position too long, but there are three main ways that I use it -- 1) ass on the seat, shins on the bottom cushion, 2) ass on the seat, feet on the bottom cushion, rocking, 3) ass on the seat, feet on the rocker rails. I also swap out for any of: standing, stooling, and sitting on a yoga ball.

I linked you above to the exact chair I bought. I am prepared now to suggest against it -- at least if you're heavy. I bought it because it's rated to 300 lbs. and I'm a little heavier than the 250 that most of them claim. And I might be entirely happy with it if I lost 50 lbs., but it's not really holding up.

Also, someone might have called it out up-thread, but the rocker makes me nervous as hell when my damned cats are hanging out right around me.

Yeah, there it is:

K Kaba wrote:She preferred the rockers, but they don't mix well with pets who are stupid with their tail.