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Using a Standing Desk: Good Or Bad?
Ergonomic standing desk systems are being prescribed more frequently these days, with more patients increasingly asking about them. It is very obvious that using a standing desk gives us many benefits including reducing work injuries and body symptoms. Also, it is increasingly popular for new office settings to come with automatic standing desk workstations.
However, there are some patients using a stand desk who still complain of their lower back pain and neck pain. Also, some of them complain of new symptoms with a standing desk. Is it really so great – should we all use a standing desk at work?
There are some studies and surveys that show us advantages vs disadvantages with using a standing desk.
Let’s talk about the advantages. Here are the benefits of standing at work:
- It makes us burn more calories and gives us an energy burst. It helps us stay more active, awake, and alert. Then, we get more productive.
- It improves our posture and reduces back pain. If you’re regularly standing, the right posture position will start to become second nature and doesn’t put the compression on your spine that sitting can. Sitting for more extended periods can put pressure on your back and discs, leading to back, shoulder, and neck discomfort.
- It keeps and maintains our circulation. If we look back at human evolution, our bodies were made to move. When we stand, we improve our leg muscles, our balance, and our core strength. We also prevent blood clots from forming in the legs. When people sit for a long time (such as on a plane), blood may slow and pool in their legs. In the worst cases, this can lead to a blood clot.
There are also some disadvantages of using a standing desk.
- Much like excessive amounts of time spent sitting down, standing up too much can have a negative impact. It can put a lot of pressure on the lower part of the body, especially on the legs and feet, which can eventually lead to muscle stiffness and fatigue.
- Last but certainly not least, using a standing desk can often be detrimental for employees working on a laptop rather than a PC. This is because a standing workstation set-up is optimized for the use of monitors, with the keyboard and mouse resting on a lower level. For laptop users, a standing desk can actually do more harm than good, as it naturally encourages users to lean in when using the laptop keyboard, leading to bad posture.
The conclusion is quite simple. Using a standing desk is a much better choice with many benefits, but we can add some considerations to get much better results including an adjustable standing desk and desktop computer. Automatic height adjustable desks are a wonderful choice so that we can stand and sit alternately to reduce risk factors with excessive standing or prolonged sitting. Also, the desktop computer workstation setting would be giving us a much better ergonomic setting with proper monitor height and a wrist convenient keyboard.
