My experience with IKEA has been disappointing. A number of years ago I bought their two most-expensive models - I ended exchanging the less expensive because despite having a wealth of adjustments, I wasn’t able to find a comfortable position, and kept their high-end model.
To make a long story short, despite looking sturdy enough, it fell apart: first went the fabric, then the padding, finally the mechanism. It was more comfortable than the one I returned, but not as much as I would expect by a chair that expensive.
This may be kind of moot as both models have been retired, and I don’t remember the names anyway. Let’s say I’m not sure I’d be in too much of a hurry buying something like the Volmar, despite the 10 years of warranty.
I’m always tempted by those kneeling chairs… their sitting position places the thighs diagonal with respect to the floor, so your hips will stay less closed than on an ordinary chair. Sitting for a long time on a regular chair is generally regarded to make hip flexor muscles get shorter and tighter, affecting posture and setting up for back pain: short hip flexors tend to make the pelvis become angled forward, thus the lower back experiences a greater curvature, making the muscles in that area too shorter and tighter.
If you’re wondering, tightness in the Quadratus Lomborum is regarded to be a prime reason for back pain, and it’s relatively hard to hit muscle because it’s not readily accessible, by virtue of being covered by other muscles. There are stretches, of course, but they’re not the easiest or most comfortable.
That said, every time I’ve seen someone buy one, they inevitably end up setting it aside in favor of a more traditional set-up.
Given my experiences with sitting on a Swiss Ball, I would reckon this is mostly due to
conventional chairs providing back support. Not having it means you’re going to have to prop yourself up, and at some point you will get tired. And it’s not like you cannot make a mental point of maintaining a straight back when sitting on an ordinary chair, too. The point about hips, however, stays.
PS: I like sitting in a Poang though!
