I have been standing to work for about a year, and I will never go back.
The biggest difference for me is that I'm now much more mobile. For some reason, the simple act of getting up out of a chair is a significant barrier for me, to the point that I'll be stuck in my chair all day, forsaking food, until I am forced by urinary needs.
But standing at my computer, my entire life exists on a single eye-level plain. The activation energy of rising from a chair is no longer a barrier. I step, pace, turn around. I walk out of my office every 15 - 30 minutes, usually just to look out a window and then promptly return. I talk to my colleagues more. And my body stays warmer; I used to wear knit caps all day in my office, but no longer.
A couple of other thoughts:
Legs swelling is a serious problem. The first clinical symptom is pitting edema, and the severity shocked me when I first noticed it. Turns out, your legs depend on regular contractions by the big skeletal muscles to pump blood back up toward your heart. Your veins are equipped with check valves for this purpose. Standing still puts the worst possible stress on these veins, as it both maximizes hydrostatic pressure and robs them of the muscle-pumping. I don't know how to stop this other than to wear compression socks, which in turn requires me to always wear pants to appease my vanity.
The low-back pain I had from time to time previously is gone. Not just better, but gone.
I had a lot of low-back fatigue (different than the chronic pain that previously afflicted me) for the first two weeks, roughly. After my back got stronger (or something), I can now stand for as long as I want. I'll work a 16 hour day with zero back fatigue. I do get minor pains in my feet and more significant pain along the medial aspect of my right knee, which I think is an old MCL injury that's being aggravated by my pronating foot. The more I move, the less these are a problem.
Edit: I use wire shelves, like a bread rack, for my standing desk. The kind where the shelves are adjustable in 1 inch increments, and you can add as many shelves as you want.
I get pitting edema from sitting too much - I actually get less swelling from standing. From the little bit of reading I've done on this, I think it's because my legs are more tired, and so I stretch every twenty minutes or so. Go figure.
For my hillbilly-engineering standing desk, I put a folding table onto two plastic totes. It's not terribly stable, but damn if it ain't cheap.
Maybe you should try standing like people do at a bar (the drinking kind). There's a leg rest or rail, which, if you put one foot on it, makes it easier to stand for long periods.
Not sure why it works. Maybe it supports your weight without making the muscles do it.
No and no, but that's pure conjecture since I've never tried a mat.
At work my office has the standard thin commercial carpeting over concrete, which makes for a surface almost as hard as bare concrete. I'm usually in my shoes at work, but I do sometimes kick them off.
I have a standing desk at home as well, where I work almost half my days. I stand barefoot (in my socks mostly) on a thick padded carpet. To keep the carpet clean I have a small area rug over it. Very cushy.
So I've noticed that I'm just as comfortable at work as I am at home. Particularly, the standing surfaces seem to make no difference to the aches in my feet and knee.
I've actually never understood how anti-fatigue mats are supposed to work if you're wearing shoes.
I've been using a standing desk for a couple of months now and will never go back. After a few weeks, I got a nice standing mat and found it to be a great help. This is especially true for me because many of the shoes I wear daily have very thin soles and little support. Yes, I could just wear a more supportive shoe, but at the cost of my excellent sense of style ;).
The biggest difference for me is that I'm now much more mobile. For some reason, the simple act of getting up out of a chair is a significant barrier for me, to the point that I'll be stuck in my chair all day, forsaking food, until I am forced by urinary needs.
But standing at my computer, my entire life exists on a single eye-level plain. The activation energy of rising from a chair is no longer a barrier. I step, pace, turn around. I walk out of my office every 15 - 30 minutes, usually just to look out a window and then promptly return. I talk to my colleagues more. And my body stays warmer; I used to wear knit caps all day in my office, but no longer.
A couple of other thoughts:
Legs swelling is a serious problem. The first clinical symptom is pitting edema, and the severity shocked me when I first noticed it. Turns out, your legs depend on regular contractions by the big skeletal muscles to pump blood back up toward your heart. Your veins are equipped with check valves for this purpose. Standing still puts the worst possible stress on these veins, as it both maximizes hydrostatic pressure and robs them of the muscle-pumping. I don't know how to stop this other than to wear compression socks, which in turn requires me to always wear pants to appease my vanity.
The low-back pain I had from time to time previously is gone. Not just better, but gone.
I had a lot of low-back fatigue (different than the chronic pain that previously afflicted me) for the first two weeks, roughly. After my back got stronger (or something), I can now stand for as long as I want. I'll work a 16 hour day with zero back fatigue. I do get minor pains in my feet and more significant pain along the medial aspect of my right knee, which I think is an old MCL injury that's being aggravated by my pronating foot. The more I move, the less these are a problem.
Edit: I use wire shelves, like a bread rack, for my standing desk. The kind where the shelves are adjustable in 1 inch increments, and you can add as many shelves as you want.