A lot of desk jockeys are going full throttle with their future wellness practices. Meaning, they're going directly from sitting 8 hours per day to standing 8 hours per day. I love the ambition! But please keep these 5 key facts in mind...
1. Start off standing in small doses.
Let's run some quick #'s on just how much we've been sitting at a computer. Let's say we sit at a desk 50 weeks per year. If we times that by 40 hours per week, that puts us at the mercy of gravity and bad posture for 2,000 hours per year. Times 2,000 by the number of years in your career....
The point is, we've got a ton of repetitive strain to correct. It's not going to happen immediately by standing all day. If a person goes from one extreme to another (from sitting all day to standing all day), it's going to be a fast track to some very complex issues. The transition needs to be more gradual.
A sitting workstation causes repetitive strain injuries in certain muscles and tendons. A standing workstation also creates repetitive strain injuries, but in different muscles and tendons of the body. For that matter, doing anything, in any position, for any extended period of time, is going to create repetitive strain.
2. Use different positions throughout the day at your computer. For example:
2 hours standing
2 hours sitting in a chair
2 hours sitting on a balance ball
2 hours sitting on a stool
But make sure to lower/raise your keyboard, mouse, and monitor to appropriate heights with each position. Which brings us to #3 and 4...
3. Lower or raise your keyboard and mouse to appropriate heights with each position.
The keyboard should always be at the same height of your elbows, so that your forearms are parallel to the floor.
1. Start off standing in small doses.
Let's run some quick #'s on just how much we've been sitting at a computer. Let's say we sit at a desk 50 weeks per year. If we times that by 40 hours per week, that puts us at the mercy of gravity and bad posture for 2,000 hours per year. Times 2,000 by the number of years in your career....
The point is, we've got a ton of repetitive strain to correct. It's not going to happen immediately by standing all day. If a person goes from one extreme to another (from sitting all day to standing all day), it's going to be a fast track to some very complex issues. The transition needs to be more gradual.
A sitting workstation causes repetitive strain injuries in certain muscles and tendons. A standing workstation also creates repetitive strain injuries, but in different muscles and tendons of the body. For that matter, doing anything, in any position, for any extended period of time, is going to create repetitive strain.
2. Use different positions throughout the day at your computer. For example:
2 hours standing
2 hours sitting in a chair
2 hours sitting on a balance ball
2 hours sitting on a stool
But make sure to lower/raise your keyboard, mouse, and monitor to appropriate heights with each position. Which brings us to #3 and 4...
3. Lower or raise your keyboard and mouse to appropriate heights with each position.
The keyboard should always be at the same height of your elbows, so that your forearms are parallel to the floor.
4. Lower or raise your monitor to appropriate heights with each position.
The top one-third portion of the monitor should be at eye level, especially when standing.
The top one-third portion of the monitor should be at eye level, especially when standing.
If you're working on a laptop while standing, make sure to use an additional monitor to extend your screen. Many laptop users make a very common, yet destructive mistake while using a standing workstation. They raise their laptop so their forearms are parallel to the floor, but they don't use a second monitor. They're looking down at their laptop screen, which is going to cause a ton of problems. It compresses and shortens the muscles in the front of the neck, but extends and lengthens the muscles in the back of their neck. It causes massive dysfunction. Also, the curvature in their spine is improper, which'll cause spinal degeneration eventually (which is irreversible).
|
5. Keep your spine "stacked" any time you are in any position for an extended period of time.
Regardless of whether you're sitting or standing, you want to keep the standard curve in your spine. When looking at a side view angle from the person's right side, this standard curve looks like a very slight "s". This picture (to the right) shows a healthy curve, with all of the vertebrae stacked correctly on top of each other. Make sure to keep a healthy lumbar curve in the lower back, too. |
|
RSS Feed
