Three tips to get the most benefit from your standing desk
Three tips to get the most benefit from your standing desk
Dr. Joshua Kiely, Chiropractor
2020 was the year of working from home - and that won’t be changing for most folks in 2021. In Ottawa, tons of folks have transitioned to working from home, and in the chiro office, I’ve been seeing the consequences usually in the form of headaches, sore necks, and achy shoulders.
Over the last 12 months, I’ve fielded countless questions about ergonomics, working from a couch, and exercising at home. Of all the questions I get asked, the one that seems to come up the most is about sit-stand desks, and whether they are worth buying. (For some tips on managing the lowback pain that many experience while working from home, check out my last blog post here.)
In my humble opinion, any device or tool that allows you to use a wider variety of positions and postures throughout the day is going to be helpful - when it’s used correctly.
From my last search of the research related to sit-stand desks, most people are never taught how to use them so they end up either standing all day (and getting sore) or sitting all day because it’s a hassle to move it around - thus they don’t see much benefit.
This article should shed some light on how to EFFECTIVELY use your sit-stand desk so that you can feel better while working, and not have to deal with the headaches or pain that often come at the end of the day.
Tip 1: Find a position for sitting and standing that is comfortable and mark it down
If it’s a big pain in the butt to reposition your sit-stand desk, you’re simply not going to do it. It won’t be worth the trouble, you’ll put it off, and it’ll be the end of the day before you’ve even moved the desk from one position to the next.
Instead, use some tape or a marker and spend 10 minutes playing around with the desk to find a comfortable sitting height and a comfortable standing height, then indicate on the desk where these positions are.
Generally, you want the desk to be at a height that prevents you from needing to look down all day at your screen, you want your elbows close to ninety degrees, and you want your wrists comfortable without having to flex or extend them all the time to use your keyboard and mouse.
Next time you go to move the desk from sitting to standing or vice-versa, it won’t take more than a moment to dial into the perfect comfortable height that works best for you.
Tip 2: Slowly progress toward more standing and less sitting
If you are training for a marathon from scratch, you’re almost guaranteed to hurt yourself if you jump up from the couch and immediately run 26 miles. Instead, you’d be wise to start with walking/jogging intervals, shorter distances, and building up to longer runs over time until you can safely and effectively run a marathon. Steady progression over time is very effective for keeping us healthy and injury-free when we’re trying something new.
Transitioning from a traditional desk to a sit-stand desk should follow the same principles as training for a marathon. It is best to slowly increase the time standing during the day. The exact rate of progression should be measured by how you feel - if your feet, knees, and hips are absolutely aching after your first 3 weeks of using a stand-up desk, perhaps reduce your standing time slightly or break it up into several small bouts of standing instead of one long bout.
An appropriate goal for standing could be 5 minutes every hour for the first week. If you work an 8 hour day, try standing for 40 minutes cumulatively over the course of the workday. The next week, you could evaluate how that felt and either bring it down by a minute/hour or increase it by a minute/hour.
Tip 3: Keep some tools nearby that will make your sit-stand desk even more effective
One of the biggest benefits of working from home is having the option to move around without feeling weird in front of your coworkers. Take advantage of this freedom by keeping some handy tools around that can drastically improve your comfort and help you get through the day.
Keep a tennis ball, lacrosse ball, or golf ball near your feet and you can roll through your arches and practice picking it up with your toes to do some lower limb self-care.
Keep a foam roller under your desk and practice your balance by standing one-legged, eventually progressing to standing on top of the foam roller like a balance beam.
If you have some mini bands you can wrap them around your knees or ankles and perform hip-strengthening exercises like monster walks, hip abductions, or hip extensions (check out @spineottawa on Instagram for some inspiration).
Leave a pair of slippers beside your desk - these are just comfy and it’s nice to be comfy at work sometimes.
Start maximizing the benefits of your sit-stand desk
So there you have it: set yourself up for success by marking appropriate standing and sitting heights, build up your capacity for standing slowly, and keep a few tools nearby that will make the standing portion of your day more enjoyable and effective.
If you currently have a sit-stand desk if you are purchasing one for your home or office, please give some of these tips a try and let me know how it goes.
