The benefits of a kneeling chair

Christmas has come early to my home office.

On Saturday we visited friends, and spotting a kneeling chair in their sitting room, I immediately went and sat on it.

For a while now I’ve been thinking a kneeling chair would be better for my posture than my conventional office chair, so I wanted to try it out.

What I didn’t expect was for my friend to say, ‘You can have it if you like. Someone gave it to me, but we don’t really need it.’

Needless to say I accepted his offer with alacrity, especially as it’s been recovered with a blue striped fabric, one of my favourite things, so was immediately appealing.

Not only does it fit perfectly under the table I use as a desk, it also allows me to tuck my knees under my old sewing machine table, a tricky fit for an ordinary chair, making a new place for me to work in the sitting room.

So my office chair has now literally taken a back seat and been relegated to spare, and I’ll be rocking gently backwards and forwards on my new kneeling chair while I pause to think.

The chair has a Stokke label, which will be familiar to those of you with small children, as they’re a Norwegian company famous for their pushchairs and highchairs. The part of the company that makes office chairs is now run separately and is called Varier Furniture.

Apparently a kneeling chair uses your tummy and back muscles to keep your spine upright, which strengthens core muscles and prevents tension building up in the back and shoulders. It also increases the angle between the upper and lower body which helps improve circulation.

All good news after a year of reading that ‘sitting is the new smoking’.