Ergonomic Kneeling Chairs – How Are They Different?

Conventional seating can leave you feeling tired after long spells of sitting and can cause back pain as well.

This is because the 90% angle that is created between the torso and the legs when you sit can put strain on the lower back region in particular.

So the kneeling chair was designed to overcome the shortcomings of conventional seating that many found strenuous.

What a kneeling chair does is it alters the angle of the seat itself. The surface that you actually sit on, the seat slopes forward about 30% which ordinarily would have you slide right off.

However, there are supports designed for shins to rest on and your thighs also are not in the usual parallel to the floor position.

The weight of the body is therefore distributed more evenly over the lower limbs as well, not just confined to the lower back. A kneeling chair is said to improve posture, reduce strain, strengthen lower back muscles and even increase flexibility.

However, there is a school of thought that says kneeling chairs or knee chairs are not ergonomic so to speak.

Further it is thought that they go against what is recommended by ergonomists when the correct sitting position is recommended.

It has been seen that risk of musculoskeletal injury may not significantly reduce due to these chairs, so any individual would have to take a personal decision whether this is the right chair for them or not.