"Kneeling" chairs - use one? How precisely do you sit in it?

I just bought a kneeling chair to use at work, where I sit all day. It looks like this.

I thought I knew how to sit in it, with my toes on the ground and my shins resting on the lower pads (and my hips and thighs resting on the upper pad). But due to the angle, there is a lot of weight resting on those shins, and they get tired and sore after not very long.

The store guy said something about “not resting your weight” on those lower pads, but I can’t figure out how to sit without doing that.

Right now I have hooked my feet behind the legs so that the part resting on the lower pads is the place where the shinbone joins the knee. This also seems to prompt me to sit up straighter (one of the reasons I bought this kind of chair). Is this ok? Is there a better way?
Roddy

We had a kneeling chair at home, my toes never once touched the floor. IIRC, most of my weight was still on my butt, not resting on my shins at all, or at least very minimally. You may need to adjust the seat. It kind of sounds like your weight wants to slide forward.

Lik with a bike seat. if the saddle is angled with too much of a downward slope, you end up resting too much weight on your arms. Like the bike saddle, the seat should e bearing most of your weight.

ETA: Weird, I looked at online images, and lots of times it does look like their toes are touching the floor. I don’t think mine ever did, even with my long toes. Or maybe they did but with no weight on them, I never noticed.

I had the same problem when I was using one of those. No matter how I adjusted the seat after a while my shins would hurt from sitting on it. Eventually I got rid of the chair and bought a regular office chair and have not looked back since.

I used to change my position on mine periodically though. Like sometimes, I’d sit like I was in a normal chair with my feet resting on top of the leg pads. It breaks up the monotony and takes pressure of the legs for a bit (although I never felt that much pressure on my legs at all).

I did poke around a website that said the chair should be “fitted to you”.

I have freakishly long legs and my feet aren’t really on the floor in kneeling chair. My parents have had one or another of them off and on for years. When I sit in it, most my weight is on my butt.

can you adjust the angle?

Getting the chair “Fitted” to me? Ha, ha, and I bought it at that store from the link (“Relax the Back”) in San Francisco. All they had left was a floor model, and since it is hard for me to get there except on the weekend, and I didn’t want to wait, I took it. There was no indication from them that personal fitting was an option.

The seat does adjust up and down, which also changes the angle. I have now lowered the seat about as low and as flat as it will go. Now my feet are way back against the chair legs, my toes are firmly on the ground, and my knees/shins are barely resting on the pads. Now I’m expecting that my bent toes will give me a problem after a while, but we’ll see.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback, I thought maybe I was missing some elementary point of chair-kneeling know-how.

**Cellphone’s **suggestion of changing position occasionally is probably going to be the one that works.
Roddy

I think the “fit” of the chair matters a lot. I used one when I was younger that I could sit in for hours without a problem, and then I bought a different one a couple of years ago. It was horrible and I ended up taking it back, I think. Unless the kneepads are the right distance from the seat and you’re sitting at the proper angle, it was horrible. I don’t remember my toes ever hitting the floor, but I’m short.

I’ve used one occasionally in the past . . . but that was before I started having knee problems.

I use them. They work for me but you do have to have it adjusted right. Your butt should be on the upper seat and should be supporting most of your weight. Your knees should be on the front pad but that should only be supporting the weight of your upper legs. If you have to brace yourself up with your knees, you’ve got the seat adjusted wrong.

I use one for meditation. It’s a cheapy I bought at Office Max for ~ $50, but it is adjustable. I’d say I have about 80% of my weight on my butt when I use it, maybe more. The knee part mainly just stabilizes you.

Everything I’ve read says not to sit on them too long; maybe an hour. I generally go for about 45 minutes.

That was news to me too. The one I used to sit in was my fiancee’s. She’s shorter than me and I never had to adjust it or have it “fitted to me”. I just plopped down onto it. Maybe there is a proportion thing and some chairs are better than others for some people.

Other than the angle, can the seat not move forward and backward? That would seem to be important for people with shorter legs and such, if you want your butt on the seat and your knees reaching without stretching you out or squishing you up.