Should i work standing up

Pace work appropriately. Allow workers suitable rest periods to relax; exercises may also help. Provide instruction on proper work practices and the use of rest breaks. Allow workers an adjustment period when they return to work after an absence for vacation or illness so they can gradually return to a regular work pace.

Different tasks require different work surface heights: Precision work, such as writing or electronic assembly — about 5 cm above elbow height; elbow support is needed. Light work, such as assembly-line or mechanical jobs — about cm below elbow height.

Heavy work, demanding downward forces — from cm below elbow height. Adjust the height of the work according to body dimensions, using elbow height as a guide. Organize your work so that the usual operations are done within easy reach. Avoid reaching behind the shoulder line.

Shifting feet to face the object is the recommended way. Avoid overreaching beyond the point of comfort. Avoid reaching above shoulder line. Your feet can only be as comfortable as the footwear permits.

DO wear shoes that do not change the shape of your foot. Keep work areas clean. Avoid standing on concrete or metal floors. Recommended for standing work are wooden, cork or rubber covered floors. Ensure that the floors are level and non-slippery.

Cover concrete or metal floors with mats. Slanted edges on mats help prevent tripping. Do not use thick foam-rubber mats. Get tips for sitting less at work to improve your long-term health. Learn more about vaccine availability. Advertising Policy. You have successfully subscribed to our newsletter. Related Articles. The Perils of Standing But, standing to work has long known to be problematic, it is more tiring, for men with ischemic heart disease it increases the progression of carotid atherosclerosis because of the additional load on the circulatory system.

Prolonged standing at work also increases the risks of varicose veins and accounts for more than one fifth of all cases of working age. So standing all day is unhealthy. The performance of many fine motor skills also is less good when people stand rather than sit. Ergonomists have long recognized that standing to work is more tiring than sitting to work. Standing puts greater strain on the circulatory system and on the legs and feet. Consequently, in industry we provide employees with ergonomic anti-fatigue to stand on, with anti-fatigue footwear, and with chairs to allow them to sit down during rest breaks.

In our field studies of sit-stand workstations we have found little evidence of dramatic widespread benefits and users only stand for very short-periods 15 minutes or less total per day. Other studies have found that the use of sit-stand stations rapidly declines so that after 1 month a majority of people are sitting all the time, so compliance can be problematic. Others have proposed a treadmill workstation or a bicycle workstation or an elliptical workstation or a hamster wheel workstation.

Treadmill, bicycle and elliptical workstations have been tested and typically shown to decrease computer work performance typing and mousing slows down and significantly more mistakes are made , although for reading and other non-manual motor tasks the effects are minimal.

But, before we accept them as better — or healthy — we should withhold judgment until we have the benefit of more experience and, ideally, well-designed research. As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. Spinal injuries and spinal compression are another reason to incorporate standing into what would normally be a sitting-all-day work routine.

Standing all day can have its drawbacks — ask a grocery cashier — like anything done for prolonged periods of time. I have benefited from being able to both sit and stand in my work place and physically could not continue to work if I were not able to stand at a computer. All of this is basically unnecessary if people actually did some exercise at relatively high intensity. The time required is not very much and this only is two or three times per week plus some walking on other days and every hour or so standing up for a few minutes while working.

And, the benefits of actual exercise far surpass a standing desk or treadmill desk. I lost 50 pounds in less than 18 months using an under-the-desk treadmill as my main tool, building up from 0. I can type at 1. Handwriting requires not walking. For the first nine months I did not change my diet and did no other exercise … and lost the first 30 of those 50 pounds.

I question the parsimonious mathematical assessments: calories per hour your number for one hour per day x The Journal you cite may be narrowly correct, but its analysis is woefully incomplete. The entire feed-forward mechanism is omitted.

A stand-up desk is not a panacea, nor a single-source solution indeed, it can create foot and back problems but it is an important tool the benefits of which go well beyond the mere direct weight loss it may provide.

Similarly for under-desk bicycles or peddlers. I do not have any beneficial interest in any companies providing such products — I just know what has worked for me and for many of my clients. What do you think about back and neck issues, from sitting all day? Could the standing in the office impact these issues positively? Most certainly yes. I started standing part time after having a constantly tight neck and shoulder pain that I was about to see an orthopedist for.