Sit to stand desks – worth it?

Doesn’t everyone just have desk envy when one of their colleagues has a sit to stand desk in an open floor plan office, so much so that you feel the pressure to make up an injury to justify getting a new electric sit to stand desk. As technology takes over, so do bad habits. Smart phones are causing the famous “tech-neck” which we don’t have a good ergonomic solution for yet, however we believe we have found the solution to sitting at workstations….standing…genius!

Well sorry to burst your bubble, but your new sit-stand workstation will not only get rid of your problem from sitting, but create a new problem…standing!

The science behind sitting says that a static sitting posture increases load and disc pressure in the spine, particularly the lumbar spine. Furthermore, static postures mean we are less active and therefore at risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

BUT, yes there is a but.

Standing workstations lessen the impact on the lower spine but they still increase load through the spine, they also add increased load through the hips, knees and ankles. Here in lies the problem with our “proposed solution” and just to continue with the low blows, your posture standing is still static but without the support of a seat pan and back rest putting you at greater risk of fatigue and adopting a poor posture.

As you can see, sit-stand workstations are a bit like those power bands you use to buy that help you balance better, they don’t work unless you believe they work.

So a piece of advice to those who have already made the investment in a sit-stand workstation: sit AND stand, rotate your postures, sit for longer than you stand, vary your standing postures, ensure your desk is setup correctly at both heights (it’s likely your leg and torso lengths are different, so you need to adjust your whole workstation including your monitors when swapping from sitting to standing).

For those who haven’t wasted their money on a sit to stand workstation yet: congratulations, by reading this we have saved you about $1500, and a bad back, neck, hip, knee and ankle.

The take home message: sitting and standing are as bad as each other, they both have their negatives and positives. What the body really likes is:

1. Variation;

2. Dynamic postures;

3. Rest.

So apply these three things everyday regardless of whether you are sitting or standing, combine it with exercise daily and a healthy diet and your will be as healthy as water.

If you have a workplace that is potentially looking at investing workstation ergonomic, please consult before you do anything, you will save yourself a lot of money and prevent a lot of injuries.

Click here if you would like an Ergonomics 101 consultation.