Do you recommend kneeling chairs?

By Terry Cassaday

Terry is the Founder of ergoCentric Inc. and has been instrumental in designing the company’s extensive line of ergonomic seating systems. To date he has over 20 patents and patents‑pending. He also wrote and produced The Anatomy and Biochemistry of the Human Body in the Seated Posture and has published many articles on ergonomic seating. He was a member of the technical committee that drafted CSA Z412‑17, Office Ergonomics – An application standard for workplace ergonomics.

The benefit of a kneeling chair is that it allows you to sit in an open and upright posture. This posture is achieved by the extreme forward slope of the seat pan, and a cushion for your knees to rest on, keeping you from sliding off the seat.

Two of the negatives of kneeling chairs are the pressure placed on the knees and shins, and the difficulty of getting in and out of the chair.

Most kneeling chairs do not have a back support and none have arm supports, features that can assist you in staying in the open and upright posture. As a result some people who sit on a kneeling chair all day may end up slouching as they become tired.

Now that office chairs have the option of adjusting to a forward tilted seat angle, we believe that the negatives of using a kneeling chair (which was designed in 1979 and has barely changed since) far outweigh the benefits.

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