Is it Better to Stand at Your Desk?
Going to the chiropractor when your back is in pain is not the best way to find out that you may be sitting at your computer way too many hours each day.
That is what happened to me.
Yes, it is way better to stand at your desk when you are working for at least a good part of your work hours.
This, of course, means that you also need to have comfortable shoes and an anti-gravity mat to help relieve standing tension.
But it is my opinion based on my experience that standing is better than sitting at your desk all the working hours.
I am not a doctor and I am not giving you medical advice. I also am not diagnosing any pain you may be experiencing.
In this article, I will share with you my experiences which helped me to choose to buy a stand up desk.
Does A Standing Desk Help Sciatica?
I have been blogging since 2006. I worked on my digital marketing company, my blog sites, my websites, and all things on the internet for years now.
And I paid a price.
At first, it was lower back pain. This was in about 2009. Soon the pain was getting worse. I have a very high tolerance for pain. There are several times where I kept on working even when the pain got pretty bad.
One day when I was actually sitting on my sofa blogging on my laptop and answering comments, the pain went from my lower back all the way down my right leg. It was so painful I cried. Then I could not move.
My husband and one of my adult children had to carry me to the car. I could not even sit in the car correctly. My husband drove me to our chiropractor who told me I had sciatica and that the best thing to do is to stand and walk.
He said I had been sitting too much to work at my computers.
It was the hardest thing I went through. I was using the heating pads, icing it down, and trying my best to stand and walk often.
Fast forward to years later…
I started to make little homemade DIY desk risers for my desks and counters around the house to help me stand while working.
When I visit one of my daughters, in her house, there is a pretty high counter bar in between her kitchen and dining room. It is the perfect height for my laptop and for me to stand to work on the computer.
This past summer I decided, this is it, I am going to buy a good and sturdy stand up desk.
Whenever my back starts hurting I know I have been sitting at the computer too long.
I now know what the pain starts as and I make my daily adjustments.
Typically I make sure I am alternating between standing and sitting when I am working.
I also take breaks after completing projects or tasks and walk around to help my back.
The one thing that is all the rage out there about stand up desks is that you will burn more calories when you stand and work than when you sit and work, but this is not the case.
According to the Journal of Physical Activity and Health, you may burn 24 more calories, and that is it. So don’t use the stand up desk for your weight loss program.
However, there are other benefits to standing up at your desk instead of sitting.
The Harvard Medical school says there are studies showing that after a meal, blood sugar levels return to normal faster when you spend more time standing.
Standing helps to lower the risk of back and shoulder pain. I can attest to this one. Standing and working has helped me so much with having less back pain, shoulder pain, and neck pain. This is one of the reasons I am doing all this research on which stand up desk to buy!
U.S.News reported:
“According to a 2019 survey out of the Society for Human Resource Management, a professional human resources membership association based in Alexandria, Virginia, standing desks are the fastest-growing benefits trend. In 2013, just 13% of employers provided or subsidized standing desks; 44% did so by 2017. The survey, conducted in April, showed that 60% of employers now provide or subsidize standing desks for their employees.”
A lot more research has to be done before they can say for certain all the benefits to using a stand up desk at work and in your home office, and time has to pass because there have not been enough years for studies since the popularity of stand up desks became popular.
I don’t need a zillion health studies to know how I feel when I stand for part of my working hours. Obviously other people don’t either.
Stand Up Desk Vs Sitting
Stand up desks are so popular that their sales are surpassing regular desks.
We know for sure that sitting can cause slouching and bad posture. I have bad posture. My posture has been an issue since I was a child. My grandmother would make me walk with my hands folded behind my back in a prayer shape in order to make me stand up straight. Little did I know back then, how wise she was. I fought her at every turn. Now I know!
Bad posture and sitting too much can also lead to knee pain, headaches, jaw pain, poor circulation, fatigue, and exacerbation of arthritis.
Another problem with sitting too much is your hips can get tight and you can lose some mobility in your hips. You put pressure on your joints.
I think I would rather spend a few hundred dollars to get a stand up desk to help me with my back pain and keep me from developing all those other issues.
U.S.News also reported:
“Using a standing desk encourages people to spend less time sitting and more time standing, according to a meta-analysis of 53 studies published in the journal Applied Ergonomics in February 2019. What’s more, a 2016 study found that call center employees with sit-stand desks were almost 50% more productive than their colleagues who sat in the office.”
Transitioning To A Standing Desk
When you first get your desk, don’t stand up all day on your first day of using your stand up desk.
Ease into it.
Start for about 30 minutes standing and keep working up.
Don’t overdo it.
Take your time.
And don’t stand up all day at your desk everyday. You need to take breaks and go for walks, do some exercise, jog around the block, and other activities.
Standing at your desk for 8 hours a day is really no better than sitting at your desk for 8 hours a day. You are just trading one set of health issues for another. So take breaks!
Related Questions
What does standing for 8 hours do to your body?
According to WebMD, standing for 5 hours a day can cause lower-limb muscle fatigue. This can potentially increase your risk of musculoskeletal disorders and long-term back pain.
Moving your body from time to time while standing is highly recommended. You can do simple stretching and taking a few steps away from your desk and a few steps going back.
Standing for 2 hours is okay but anything longer than that may cause detrimental effects to your health in the long run.
What happens to your feet when you stand too long?
Standing too long can lead to health issues such as:
- muscle fatigue
- slouching
- varicose veins
- joint compression
- cardiovascular diseases.
According to a study conducted in 2000, prolonged standing causes blood pooling and reduces the volume of circulating plasma in your lower extremities which leads to hemodynamic changes that greatly affects your body.
These hemodynamic changes progressions of carotid atherosclerosis.
I am excited to be getting my stand up desk. I will post photos of it as soon as I get it.
If you are trying to decide on which stand up desk to buy, download my free chart on stand up desk brands and pricing ( pricing is subject to change).