4 ms·

At age 35, otherwise healthy and having spent 10 years in Herman Miller Aeron chairs, I had hip problems and a small but growing waistline. Then I transitioned

by blunte 6y ago

At age 35, otherwise healthy and having spent 10 years in Herman Miller Aeron chairs, I had hip problems and a small but growing waistline. Then I transitioned to working from home and built my own standing desk (sadly before the very affordable mechanical Ikea standing desk was first released... But which I have now happily used for years). The first few weeks were challenging, but within three months I could stand for 12+ hours a day, and my hip problems went away. Also my overall energy seemed higher, and afternoon energy dips became less noticeable. For 13 years now I stand for virtually all of my day, and I have no back or hip problems. I do have slight spider veins on my ankles and knees, and that may be due in part to the standing. But it is cosmetic and barely visible, and totally worth the trade.

grugagag 6y ago
How do you type standing for long periods of time? Do you rest your arms on the table?
- mattlondon 6y ago
  I tend to rest my wrists/outer corner of hand on the desk, just like I do when sitting. Can't say I've ever noticed a difference between sitting and standing when it comes to typing
  - grugagag 6y ago
    The best position for me that I find for typing and this might be my own body and preferences, is to have elbows tucked close to the rib cage and keyboard on my lap or as close to the body as possible and relax arms, not rest on them at all but having them hang from the shoulders. Having a standing desk is very tempting, the only thing is that I'm not sure how I'd replicate the typing position I just mentioned. I'm now very curious and I think I'll run some experiments.
    - svachalek 6y ago
      I can't stand and type for long, as soon as I start to zone into it my legs want to go off and do their own thing and it totally messes me up. But, turns out most of my day is reading text, reading code, meeting, debugging, etc and not nearly as much typing as I would have guessed otherwise. It's easy to find a few hours that I really don't need to be sitting. With a sit/stand desk you can start by standing up for meetings, phone calls, etc, that don't really require typing at all and then see what else you can do standing.
- chiefalchemist 6y ago
  If you're using a mouse my PT told me to "anchor" your elbow on the desk so you use your wrist to move the mouse, not your upper back. This is true whether standing or sitting. There was a good reason I was in PT and was told this ;)
  - blunte 6y ago
    I've always used a mouse with my fingertips, and my outer hand bone is resting on the mouse mat. Rarely am I pushing the mouse around with my entire hand or arm...
    - chiefalchemist 6y ago
      It's not your "entire arm" per se. It's that - per the PT - the shoulder and upper back aren't designed for repetitive micro-movements. That is, unless your elbow is anchored your shoulder is likely doing more work than it should.
- blunte 6y ago
  I have the desktop height at the level my hands would naturally rest at if my arms were bent less than 90 degrees (so the interior elbow angle would be about 100 degrees or so). My arms are resting comfortably at my sides, so the motions my hands make for typing/mousing are comfortable. I'm thinking of an Ergodox to alleviate some wrist rotation issues, but that's nothing to do with the desk. Do note that for some reason, in standing mode it is necessary to have the monitor higher so the head isn't looking way down and hurting the neck. When sitting, this isn't as much of a problem. However, I spend most of my time standing, so I have the primary monitor height such that I'm only looking very slightly down. My eyes are even with the upper third of the monitor. Also, it's important whether sitting or standing to not push the monitor too far away. That can lead to hunching forward or craning the neck.
neilsense 6y ago
It's due to the standing - my mum spent most of her life standing at the counter in our shop and she has suffered from vein issues since she was about 50. Lots of swelling as well. Like anything, sitting, standing, jumping - it's worth doing everything within reason. Possibly just switching between positions throughout the day. Of course, these things can be gene dependant as well, but if you already have some spider veins showing, hopefully you can be a bit more aware of the problems that can come about later. She really suffers badly from all those years and it's not something that's easy to fix.
- blunte 6y ago
  I don't have any swelling. That's an indication of other health problems. I also don't stand like I'm a statue, however. I'm often shifting around a bit, and usually I stand on a nice firm thick padded mat. If nobody is around and I have some good music on, I might even be dancing a bit.
akudha 6y ago
Could you please link to the standing desk you are using?
- blunte 6y ago
  Skarsta ($239 with mechanical crank): https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/skarsta-desk-sit-stand-white-s59324818/ https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/skarsta-desk-sit-stand-white-s5... It is well designed, sturdy, and meets both my sitting and standing needs. It does take about 70 cranks to move from one position to the other, but honestly that takes just one minute or so (and I rarely move it anyway).

by blunte 6y ago

grugagag 6y ago

How do you type standing for long periods of time? Do you rest your arms on the table?

mattlondon 6y ago
I tend to rest my wrists/outer corner of hand on the desk, just like I do when sitting. Can't say I've ever noticed a difference between sitting and standing when it comes to typing
- grugagag 6y ago
  The best position for me that I find for typing and this might be my own body and preferences, is to have elbows tucked close to the rib cage and keyboard on my lap or as close to the body as possible and relax arms, not rest on them at all but having them hang from the shoulders. Having a standing desk is very tempting, the only thing is that I'm not sure how I'd replicate the typing position I just mentioned. I'm now very curious and I think I'll run some experiments.
  - svachalek 6y ago
    I can't stand and type for long, as soon as I start to zone into it my legs want to go off and do their own thing and it totally messes me up. But, turns out most of my day is reading text, reading code, meeting, debugging, etc and not nearly as much typing as I would have guessed otherwise. It's easy to find a few hours that I really don't need to be sitting. With a sit/stand desk you can start by standing up for meetings, phone calls, etc, that don't really require typing at all and then see what else you can do standing.
chiefalchemist 6y ago
If you're using a mouse my PT told me to "anchor" your elbow on the desk so you use your wrist to move the mouse, not your upper back. This is true whether standing or sitting. There was a good reason I was in PT and was told this ;)
- blunte 6y ago
  I've always used a mouse with my fingertips, and my outer hand bone is resting on the mouse mat. Rarely am I pushing the mouse around with my entire hand or arm...
  - chiefalchemist 6y ago
    It's not your "entire arm" per se. It's that - per the PT - the shoulder and upper back aren't designed for repetitive micro-movements. That is, unless your elbow is anchored your shoulder is likely doing more work than it should.
blunte 6y ago
I have the desktop height at the level my hands would naturally rest at if my arms were bent less than 90 degrees (so the interior elbow angle would be about 100 degrees or so). My arms are resting comfortably at my sides, so the motions my hands make for typing/mousing are comfortable. I'm thinking of an Ergodox to alleviate some wrist rotation issues, but that's nothing to do with the desk. Do note that for some reason, in standing mode it is necessary to have the monitor higher so the head isn't looking way down and hurting the neck. When sitting, this isn't as much of a problem. However, I spend most of my time standing, so I have the primary monitor height such that I'm only looking very slightly down. My eyes are even with the upper third of the monitor. Also, it's important whether sitting or standing to not push the monitor too far away. That can lead to hunching forward or craning the neck.

neilsense 6y ago

It's due to the standing - my mum spent most of her life standing at the counter in our shop and she has suffered from vein issues since she was about 50. Lots of swelling as well. Like anything, sitting, standing, jumping - it's worth doing everything within reason. Possibly just switching between positions throughout the day. Of course, these things can be gene dependant as well, but if you already have some spider veins showing, hopefully you can be a bit more aware of the problems that can come about later. She really suffers badly from all those years and it's not something that's easy to fix.

blunte 6y ago
I don't have any swelling. That's an indication of other health problems. I also don't stand like I'm a statue, however. I'm often shifting around a bit, and usually I stand on a nice firm thick padded mat. If nobody is around and I have some good music on, I might even be dancing a bit.

akudha 6y ago

Could you please link to the standing desk you are using?

blunte 6y ago
Skarsta ($239 with mechanical crank): https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/skarsta-desk-sit-stand-white-s59324818/ https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/skarsta-desk-sit-stand-white-s5... It is well designed, sturdy, and meets both my sitting and standing needs. It does take about 70 cranks to move from one position to the other, but honestly that takes just one minute or so (and I rarely move it anyway).