We all know that our posture could use some work. We also may have noticed an increase in standing desks around the office, or at least heard stories of forward-thinking tech companies offering these “modern” workstation options to their employees. Well, these companies understand that the importance of your daily work posture is critical to your health!
However, while they do offer standing workstations as an option, often times they do little else to train you on proper usage of it. Most often patients come into the clinic reporting an increase in their symptoms as a result of getting a standing desk and using it for 8 hours straight on their first day with it. You may now see where the problem arises.
Many try to push through aches and pains because they think they’ll “get past it”. Those are signals that your body is trying to tell you it is not ready to stand all day. You may be asking yourself, “Well then why get a standing desk in the first place?”
To begin with, many standing desks offer the ability to go from sitting to standing. This is a great feature as it allows you the freedom to alternate between sitting and standing throughout the day. Therefore, take incremental steps to adapt to this change.
Set time goals each week and track your standing:sitting ratio. If you’re at one hour a day, great. Keep working at it! There are also many ways you can add to your standing experience other than simply switching back to sitting. Therefore, we have curated a list of our best pieces of advice in relation to using a standing desk!
Top 6 Tips
1. Set a stopwatch on your phone or desktop, so that you can track how long you are able to sit or stand before you notice discomfort.
2. Set timers on your watch/phone to regulate your standing:sitting ratio. This will help you avoid the aches and pains of standing for too long without adapting to it.
3. Understand that this may change as you become accustomed to standing more often.
4. Try getting a footrest for which you can prop one foot on at a time or stretch your calves on.
5. Use a golf ball, tennis ball, or lacrosse ball to mobilize the bottom of your foot (barefoot if your colleagues are ok with it!).
6. Try out an anti-fatigue mat (they even have ones shaped like a topographical map that allows for many postural changes. For example: http://ergodriven.com/topo/
Movement is your body’s nutrition! These often-subtle position changes are what your body craves! Though I would prefer you didn't have to stand or sit at a desk all day, that is not an option for many of us. Sit to stand desks can be a great help for improving your body’s posture and health, but you have to stay on top of it and not get stuck in one position for too long. Like many activities, you’ll get much better the more proactive you are.
It is not simply for your aches and pains either. There are multiple studies on how sitting affects your circulatory system, blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar just to name a few. According to Dr. James Levine, the co-director of the Mayo Clinic, for every hour you sit your life expectancy drops by 2 hours. Though this can be quite shocking, he also notes that 90 seconds of standing activates the muscular and cellular systems that processes blood sugar, triglycerides, and cholesterol thus reducing your risks of diabetes and obesity. So please, get up and get moving!
Pro Tip: Your Chiropractor can write you a recommendation for a standing desk at work!
Need more advice? Give us a call at 858-215-4485 for a FREE 15-minute Phone Consultation, where we can discuss your workstation pains and help you make this transition easier!