Switching to a standing desk several years ago had a significant positive impact on my stamina and energy level, and probably health overall.
I always used to get tired walking around a city, like on vacation. After a few months of standing, I went on vacation to Paris and immediately noticed a gigantic improvement in my standing and walking stamina. I was the last person to get tired, instead of the first. I could walk around a whole day and be fine!
Beyond that, there were ergonomic benefits for me. I have always found it difficult to use a computer properly in a chair. I'd find myself leaning on a hand rest, or on the desk, etc. These postures are more likely to strain the body. I found myself in minor discomfort and thought: "if I'm going to be doing this job a long time, then I had better find the optimal posture".
The proper posture according to my company's ergonomics advisor is: allow your arms to hang limp at your sides; then without moving your elbows, rotate your forearms to bring them up in front of you, parallel to the ground. Your keyboard should be under your hands in this position. Again without moving your elbow, rotate your primary hand outward (staying parallel with the ground). Your mouse should be comfortably reachable with this movement. If you must extend your elbows, reach, etc., then those motions put you at greater risk for stress injury.
It is very difficult for me to achieve that posture while sitting in a chair - the keyboard and mouse need to be in your lap, basically. (Try the motions I described while sitting and standing and you'll see what I mean.) It was difficult for me to get the right posture while sitting; keyboard trays can do it but are clumsy.
Getting the correct posture in a standing desk is easy: make that "arms out front" motion I described. Imagine yourself standing at a counter with your arms just over it. A keyboard sits under your hands. That's where the standing desk should be, and getting it right primarily entails selecting the correct height of standing desk. The man in the picture/video in the article seems to be demonstrating this pose.
If you work at a computer all day, and likely will for the rest of your life, then you owe it to yourself to get a standing desk. Best office improvement I made in my life. Hope this helps! Happy to discuss further with anyone interested - reach out!
The ergonomic problem isn't about standing vs. sitting. It's about having a properly designed desk. The traditional 29 to 30 inch high writing desk isn't ergonomically correct for extended computer use.
Many years ago, after developing intense pain in my wrists and shoulders I decided to look into it. I was spending 14 to 18 hours a day in front of the computer (which was part of the problem, of course).
After many experiments I finally arrived at a desk design that worked wonders. I welded the frame out of mild steel for rigidity --which I found was important-- and surfaced it with plywood and formica. It's a two level desk with the front dropped down to about 26 inches. The drop alone wasn't enough. The front edge of the keyboard shelf has a 1.5 x 1.5 inch piece of oak running the entire width. This piece has a generous radius and is highly polished and waxed.
During use your arms hang naturally on your sides. Your forearms are pretty much parallel to the floor and a point just behind your wrists rests on the oak support. Picture your hands lightly hanging into a cavity that contains the keyboard and trackball. No muscular tension to speak of.
This made ALL the pain go away and the carpal tunnel soreness evaporated. I went from being on a road to surgery to, well, feeling perfectly normal, even after extended sessions. And, BTW, ditching the mouse was a huge part of this. Mice introduce tension. A thumb operated trackball does not (after you get used to it).
I also like to work standing up but recognize that comes with it's own set of issues.
Do you have pictures of this anywhere? I'm pretty young (28) and worried a bit that I might be going down this path. I seem to be dealing with injury after injury while training for my running races and am fairly convinced that part of it is due to muscle tightness and tension from sitting so much during the day in a bad setup.
Any luck with those photos reboot? I'm building a desk myself and have found that a shorter desk than typical has been a game changer for rsi issues I had. Would be very interested in seeing what you've done.
Caveat to others from my personal experience: take it easy and go see a doctor if you have any problems while transitioning to standing. Standing caused nerve damage in my legs. I have the stamina to walk around all day but not to deal with the possible pain arising from it. Makes me sad and there was no way I would have known this would happen beforehand.
> It is very difficult for me to achieve that posture while sitting in a chair - the keyboard and mouse need to be in your lap, basically.
I found that I could manage that posture with a sufficiently adjustable chair and height-adjustable desk. I adjust the chair until it provides the correct height off the ground (feet touching, hips at the right angle), then adjust the desk and the chair arms until the chair arms go just over the edge of the desk, allowing arms to rest on them and use the keyboard naturally.
(Also, I use a USB ThinkPad keyboard, so my mouse is on home row, not off to the side.)
Personally, I can't get into the 'proper' position when sitting at all, my arms are too long. I'm 6'2" ~190lb and when sitting in an ergonomic chair with proper posture, my elbows are within an inch of the top of my quads. Attempting to sit properly at a desk requires my quads to be jammed into the underside of the desk which is horribly uncomfortable. The only thing that is comfortable when sitting is raising the desk up a lot and extending my arms way into the desk to the point where my arms are nearly at shoulder height.
> I use a USB ThinkPad keyboard, so my mouse is on home row, not off to the side.
I switched a tenkeyless keyboard for the same reason... my mouse is now a lot closer to the center of my body and this has reduced shoulder strain immensely.
I always used to get tired walking around a city, like on vacation. After a few months of standing, I went on vacation to Paris and immediately noticed a gigantic improvement in my standing and walking stamina. I was the last person to get tired, instead of the first. I could walk around a whole day and be fine!
Beyond that, there were ergonomic benefits for me. I have always found it difficult to use a computer properly in a chair. I'd find myself leaning on a hand rest, or on the desk, etc. These postures are more likely to strain the body. I found myself in minor discomfort and thought: "if I'm going to be doing this job a long time, then I had better find the optimal posture".
The proper posture according to my company's ergonomics advisor is: allow your arms to hang limp at your sides; then without moving your elbows, rotate your forearms to bring them up in front of you, parallel to the ground. Your keyboard should be under your hands in this position. Again without moving your elbow, rotate your primary hand outward (staying parallel with the ground). Your mouse should be comfortably reachable with this movement. If you must extend your elbows, reach, etc., then those motions put you at greater risk for stress injury.
It is very difficult for me to achieve that posture while sitting in a chair - the keyboard and mouse need to be in your lap, basically. (Try the motions I described while sitting and standing and you'll see what I mean.) It was difficult for me to get the right posture while sitting; keyboard trays can do it but are clumsy.
Getting the correct posture in a standing desk is easy: make that "arms out front" motion I described. Imagine yourself standing at a counter with your arms just over it. A keyboard sits under your hands. That's where the standing desk should be, and getting it right primarily entails selecting the correct height of standing desk. The man in the picture/video in the article seems to be demonstrating this pose.
If you work at a computer all day, and likely will for the rest of your life, then you owe it to yourself to get a standing desk. Best office improvement I made in my life. Hope this helps! Happy to discuss further with anyone interested - reach out!