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Well, we're really designed to walk/run. Sitting at a bar school or standing still all day comes with its own set of health issues (not saying if they're equal

Well, we're really designed to walk/run. Sitting at a bar school or standing still all day comes with its own set of health issues (not saying if they're equal or not, but they're present).

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
- hugh3 16y ago
  Lots of folks stand up all day for work. They tend to complain about their feet hurting. We're obviously designed for some kind of sitting. Our bodies bend very comfortably that way. If you walk uphill for ten miles, your body really wants to sit down on the nearest log or rock to take a rest (though how this was supposed to be comfortable back when we used to be naked is a mystery to me). I have no doubt that our ancestors used to sit down to rest. Probably to eat, and to drink water, and to talk, and to weave those loincloths which would be necessary to make sitting down on a log much less uncomfortable. Our backs and feet suck for standing all day. Mind you, our backs and feet suck for pretty much everything.
  - shantanubala 16y ago
    Well combine that with the fact that we weren't really living very long. Our ancestors certainly did not live up to the age of 80 (even within the last century), so the adverse health effects of sitting down can really just be a result of the fact that most people are now surviving long enough to experience them.
  - keeptrying 16y ago
    Don't wear shoes. Walk around barefoot as much as possible - it will fix your back, knee and feet issues. Hard to do in corporate America but possible
    - hugh3 16y ago
      [citation needed]
    - mr_justin 16y ago
      Unless you already have feet (plantar fasciitis is super common) problems, in which case it will make things much worse.
      - keeptrying 16y ago
        Agreed. Use a tennis ball to get rid of the plant fasciitis first.
    - georgieporgie 16y ago
      I've been using a standing desk for about a month now. I tend to move in place quite a bit, shuffling my feet around, hooking a foot or thigh over a stool, and shifting weight between my legs. The two things I've noticed are significant tightening in my lower back and discomfort leading to pain in my heels. If I stand barefoot for much of the day, the heel pain can be so bad that there's a sort of burning sensation as I lay in bed at night. Wearing comfortable, supportive shoes has greatly reduced the heel pain. You could counter that I simply need to spend more time on my feet to condition myself, but as I saw no improvement in the pain over the course of weeks, I'll be disinclined to believe you. :-)
      - lutorm 16y ago
        I used to have the kind of heel pain that you describe when standing barefoot, and used Superfeet insoles in every pair of shoes I used. Ever since I started massaging the bottoms of my feet by "standing" (without full weight, obviously) on a 1" bounce ball and rolling it around under the arches and the front of the heel, that has almost totally gone away. The first time I did it, it was incredibly painful, but I noticed improvement almost immediately. Give it a try. I also find that massaging the soleus and gastrocniemus muscles in the calf by using the knee of the other leg helps.
      - keeptrying 16y ago
  - joe_the_user 16y ago
    Mind you, our backs and feet suck for pretty much everything. I tend to think that apparent effect comes from habitual misuse of the body. It's possible that millions of years of mammalian evolution could have just screwed-up and puked-out some creature that was mal-adapted everywhere but somehow took-over the earth. But I suspect that what's happening is that human are pretty adapted to many activities but we are so darn flexible to we put themselves in situations even beyond our adaptability.
  - eru 16y ago
    Our ancestors probably squatted down (http://www.t-nation.com/portal_includes/articles/2007/07-210-training.html http://www.t-nation.com/portal_includes/articles/2007/07-210...) more than they sat.

Well, we're really designed to walk/run. Sitting at a bar school or standing still all day comes with its own set of health issues (not saying if they're equal or not, but they're present).

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

hugh3 16y ago
Lots of folks stand up all day for work. They tend to complain about their feet hurting. We're obviously designed for some kind of sitting. Our bodies bend very comfortably that way. If you walk uphill for ten miles, your body really wants to sit down on the nearest log or rock to take a rest (though how this was supposed to be comfortable back when we used to be naked is a mystery to me). I have no doubt that our ancestors used to sit down to rest. Probably to eat, and to drink water, and to talk, and to weave those loincloths which would be necessary to make sitting down on a log much less uncomfortable. Our backs and feet suck for standing all day. Mind you, our backs and feet suck for pretty much everything.
- shantanubala 16y ago
  Well combine that with the fact that we weren't really living very long. Our ancestors certainly did not live up to the age of 80 (even within the last century), so the adverse health effects of sitting down can really just be a result of the fact that most people are now surviving long enough to experience them.
- keeptrying 16y ago
  Don't wear shoes. Walk around barefoot as much as possible - it will fix your back, knee and feet issues. Hard to do in corporate America but possible
  - hugh3 16y ago
    [citation needed]
  - mr_justin 16y ago
    Unless you already have feet (plantar fasciitis is super common) problems, in which case it will make things much worse.
    - keeptrying 16y ago
      Agreed. Use a tennis ball to get rid of the plant fasciitis first.
  - georgieporgie 16y ago
    I've been using a standing desk for about a month now. I tend to move in place quite a bit, shuffling my feet around, hooking a foot or thigh over a stool, and shifting weight between my legs. The two things I've noticed are significant tightening in my lower back and discomfort leading to pain in my heels. If I stand barefoot for much of the day, the heel pain can be so bad that there's a sort of burning sensation as I lay in bed at night. Wearing comfortable, supportive shoes has greatly reduced the heel pain. You could counter that I simply need to spend more time on my feet to condition myself, but as I saw no improvement in the pain over the course of weeks, I'll be disinclined to believe you. :-)
    - lutorm 16y ago
      I used to have the kind of heel pain that you describe when standing barefoot, and used Superfeet insoles in every pair of shoes I used. Ever since I started massaging the bottoms of my feet by "standing" (without full weight, obviously) on a 1" bounce ball and rolling it around under the arches and the front of the heel, that has almost totally gone away. The first time I did it, it was incredibly painful, but I noticed improvement almost immediately. Give it a try. I also find that massaging the soleus and gastrocniemus muscles in the calf by using the knee of the other leg helps.
    - keeptrying 16y ago
- joe_the_user 16y ago
  Mind you, our backs and feet suck for pretty much everything. I tend to think that apparent effect comes from habitual misuse of the body. It's possible that millions of years of mammalian evolution could have just screwed-up and puked-out some creature that was mal-adapted everywhere but somehow took-over the earth. But I suspect that what's happening is that human are pretty adapted to many activities but we are so darn flexible to we put themselves in situations even beyond our adaptability.
- eru 16y ago
  Our ancestors probably squatted down (http://www.t-nation.com/portal_includes/articles/2007/07-210-training.html http://www.t-nation.com/portal_includes/articles/2007/07-210...) more than they sat.