Why Floor-Sitting Might Be the Missing Piece in Your Mobility (According to Leading Experts)
Most of us don’t think twice about how we sit. We spend years working, commuting, eating, studying, and scrolling in chairs. And yet, many of the aches we blame on “getting older” or “bad posture” come from something much simpler:
Our bodies aren’t getting the movement they need.
Tight hips, stiff backs, a cranky neck, the “robot walk” after a meeting, knee pain after a long flight… sound familiar?
We stretch, we buy ergonomic chairs, we try gadgets—but the tension keeps returning.
That’s what led us to rediscover floor sitting, a practice deeply rooted in human history, and one that modern mobility experts and chiropractors are now bringing back into the conversation.
Before we get into how floor sitting helps, let’s look at why chair sitting causes so many problems, starting with one of the most well-known voices in mobility today.
What Star Physiothearapist Dr. Kelly Starrett Says About Floor-Sitting”
Star physiotherapist Kelly Starret has applauded the benefits of floor-sitting for years. Here’s why he sees it as a powerful antidote to our chair-bound lifestyles in his latest book Built to Move
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Chairs disrupt the natural stability between your pelvis and femurs
When you sit in a chair, your weight settles onto your hamstrings and thighs instead of your sit bones—the bones meant to support you.
This disrupts the natural relationship between your pelvis and femurs, a foundational source of stability in the body. With your pelvis “offline” and your hips locked in one angle, your spine loses the support it needs to stack comfortably.
Callout: When the pelvis doesn’t support you, everything above it works harder.
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Your body compensates by overworking other muscles
When the hips aren’t giving you support, your body recruits backup muscles in your:
- Lower back
- Hip crease
- Front of your thighs
These muscles tighten to keep you upright—doing a job they were never meant to do all day.
Over time, they become chronically tight and continue pulling on your spine even after you stand up. That’s why you often feel that stiff, achy “robot walk” after long sitting sessions.
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Chair sitting often leads to knee pain (“theater sign”)
The front-of-thigh muscles stay shortened for hours while you sit. When you stand up, they pull on the kneecap, giving that familiar dull ache people feel after movies or long desk sessions.
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Long sitting slows circulation and makes everything feel “gummed up”
Sitting compresses the backs of your legs, which slows blood flow and lymph movement.Tissues become stiff and stagnant instead of sliding smoothly — leaving your legs heavy, tight, or sluggish when you finally stand.
What Happens When You Sit on the Floor?
Floor-sitting unlocks the positions your joints were designed for: cross-leg, kneeling, side-sit, squat. These shapes let your pelvis and hips reconnect naturally, help you stack your spine more comfortably, and load your joints in healthier ways.
Getting down to the floor and back up again also builds mobility, balance, and strength — core components of the Sit-and-Rise Test.
In short: floor sitting breaks the rigidity of chairs and brings movement back into sitting itself.
I can’t help “fidgeting” when I sit…..
Good!
Kelly actually encourages fidgeting: Your brain nudges you to move for a reason. When your body says, “shift,” go ahead. That’s healthy.
I sit a lot, but I also do Yoga……
Yoga is wonderful, but as Kelly puts it, it’s “extra credit.”
A 30-minute class can’t erase eight hours of sitting. The fundamentals still matter: how you move (or don’t move) throughout the day.
What other experts say?
Chiropractor Dr. Kimbra Runyan reminds people that it’s okay to “sit like a banana” — as long as you keep moving. No single posture is perfect.
Mobility coach @PostureGuyMike breaks down the ripple effect of long sitting: tight hips, sleepy glutes, rounded back, collapsed shoulders, cranky neck.
Once you see the chain reaction, the antidote becomes obvious: keep changing positions.
Bringing It All Together: Your Body Wants to Move
If mobility experts and chiropractors agree on one thing, it’s this:
Your body isn’t built for stillness. It’s built for variety.
Floor sitting adds movement back into sitting.
Standing adds movement back into work.
Transitioning between the two is what keeps your joints, muscles, and posture happy long-term.
And that’s exactly why we created the Flow Desk — a floor-to-standing workspace designed to help you sit, stand, kneel, stretch, and shift through the day effortlessly.
Move more. Sit better. Work in a way your body actually loves.
