Why I killed my standing desk

I think there's some good information in this article, but the elephant in the room is "why didn't he just use an adjustable standing/sitting desk?" You can't make a transition to standing all day cold turkey, I'm shocked anyone thinks they could.

When I stand at my desk, I'll do it until I feel uncomfortable/fatigued. When I sit at my desk, I stand when my back and legs get tight. It's that simple.

Anecdote here: it took me around 3-4 weeks to get fully acclimatized to my standing desk, a period during which I was often tired and sore. However, once I got used to it, standing became a normal part of my day. Because I'm already standing, I have an easier time walking away from my desk - to get a drink, go to the bathroom, confer with a colleague, go for a walk, etc. - and I've also been incorporating squats, calf raises and stretches into my daily movements. Several months after going all-standing, I feel better than I have in years. My posture is better, my back no longer aches, my knees have stopped hurting, my mood is better and my productivity is as good as, or better than, it was when I sat all day.

Humans assume that standing, walking or running (or even sitting!) is something that you just pick up along the way. It is not. Doing it right requires practice and technique.

Couple of months ago I was in Bali and I saw local women weaving fabrics. They would sit for hours with their legs straight on the ground and a perfectly straight back, like a letter L; no back support of any kind (try it!). Bad back? That's western problem. We sit in our "comfortable" chairs with "lumbar support" and slowly decay.

When I started doing deadlifts I found the posture quite strange and the motion felt very unnatural. Too many things too keep track of. But my trainer would point out all my mistakes and I'd improve, bit by bit. After few months the results are great.

Standing is in the same bucket. It is a physical activity. One shouldn't assume it is something that humans are just supposed to be able to do right without practice. Most certainly not after years of bad habits. If you don't have the proper physique it's going to hurt. If your posture is bad it is going to hurt. So figure out what are you doing wrong and fix it!

Of course you're going to get fatigued if you're not used to standing for long periods of time. You're constantly engaging muscles that you let lie comfortably for most of the day when you get into the office and sit or slouch into your chair.

Of course it's going to take training, as building up any muscles does, and it's going to be tough while you're doing it.

I'm glad to see others here saying they're happy with their standing desks. It's something I've been really eager to try but haven't been able to for a number of reasons yet.

Whatever the future is, I don't think it's sitting at 90 degrees at a small desk for long periods of every day.

Personally I find it very hard to recline and get work done. I find it harder to engage with what I'm doing, get drowsy more quickly, etc.

"Even though I was fighting some pain, I thought it was good pain — like the pain you get when you’re building muscle when you workout. It felt like I was training my muscles for better posture and this was all part of the process."

Completely the wrong approach. Fighting chronically tense muscles with more tension is not going to help anything, standing or sitting.

It worth noting that muscles can only pull. He should have been trying to relax the tense muscles rather than trying to counter with more tense muscles. This is not easy though. Have a look into the Alexander Technique or Feldenkrais Method, or the book Somatics by Thomas Hanna for some different approaches to re-educate your sense of kinesthesia.

http://www.amazon.com/Somatics-Reawakening-Control-Movement-...

These are popular with dancers, who generally move with a lot more grace and less effort than the average computer geek.

I built a standing desk and a sitting desk at the same time when I moved into "downtown" office from my home office. For a year I had them in an "L" and didn't really use the standing desk as much as I thought because like the author I would get sore/tired very quickly and the nice chair was always a couple of feet away.

About 2 months ago I decided to reorganize my office and I put the sitting desk across the office looking at a wall and the standing desk by a nice window view. With that little bit of change I started using the standing desk more and more and now I use it all day.

One important note: I've also been taking a break every 1.5 hours (I have several alarms set on my phone) to do some hamstring stretches on the floor. I bought some cheap interlocking foam flooring that I sit on for stretching. On the days I ignore the reminders to stretch I do start getting a tense back by the mid/end of the day. Maybe I should add some squats...

When I built my standup desk, I paired it with an elevated chair that resembles a saddle for horseback-riding[1]. The hip position is adjustable and IF the monitors are at the right height, the back is straight even though the chair has no back support.

With that setup, I could switch between sitting and standing, while keeping a straight back.

[1] http://www.wayfair.com/Office-Star-Products-Height-Adjustabl...

If you are finding it difficult to stand for extended periods, consider getting your feet checked, and if you have already, using your prescribed orthotics (insoles/shoes/other supports) whilst standing.

When I come home, I routinely take my outdoor shoes off. I spent most of my time at home sitting at my desk, but last year I began to learn bass guitar. I found that standing to play for less than an hour was enough to wipe me out for the entire evening, with knock-on exhaustion until the next day.

I have pes cavovarus - a deformity of the feet characterised by high arches and inward turned heels. When I finally got orthotics and placed them into my outdoor shoes, walking suddenly became easier and instances of debilitating cramp reduced in frequency and severity.

Following my experiences with playing my bass, I placed a spare pair of orthotic insoles into my slippers. This was not something my medical team had suggested previously. Suddenly I found it less exhausting to stand for extended periods. The change was actually quite immediate and significant.

Flat arches are far more common than what I have, but I suspect the same concept still applies - and orthotics for flat arches are far more widely available to consumers!

I don't understand the attraction to non-adjustable standing desks. Standing all day seems just as bad as sitting all day, especially if you start standing all day after sitting for years. As long as you're relatively active (~3hrs of exercise/wk) you're probably OK just standing an hour or two a day.

I opted for an adjustable standing desk that I love. After doing a lot of research I ended up going with a brand called EvoDesk (http://www.evodesk.com). Their parent company is NextDesk, which has nice products, but cost more than I was willing to spend for what I wanted.

I ended up getting the smallest desk they have (48"). With all of the options, including the speakers it came out to around $1,000, which I consider reasonable for a tool I use ~14hrs a day, ~everyday. Though, I ordered the keyboard platform add-on, but didn't like it (I'm fairly tall) so it's sitting in the closet.

I've had it for a couple weeks now and love it. I stand anywhere from 1hr - 6hrs/day depending on what's going on. This isn't the best image of the desk, but I took this picture the other week for a "show us your office" thread: http://imgur.com/ybIEoqB The desk is at sitting height. The bubble looking thing under the desk is the subwoofer for the Harman Kardon sound system option that came with it. You could probably order it for $30 or so cheaper separately on Amazon, but I didn't want to hassle with drilling/finding my own screws. It has 4 height memory presets. I'm 6'1" and the highest desk height is about 6" higher than what I use standing.

Now that I have a standing desk I can't imagine going back, but I'd definitely want an adjustable desk. If I had to choose between a fixed sitting desk or a fixed standing desk I'd choose a fixed sitting desk.

I know at least one workplace where they use desks that can be adjusted to a standing or sitting position. If you feel like standing, you stand. If you prefer sitting, you sit. Isn't this the best of all worlds?

I tend to find the reclining & feet up posture described near the end the most comfortable for me, though it also tends to make me drowsy. Ergonomics "experts" however have told me again and again that the sitting upright position is the best for my back, which seems to contradict this article.

I had a standing desk for several months - and it was a mixture of good and bad. When I had a delayed flight though Dubai and ended up stuck in a queue for 4 hours waiting to rebook tickets, it meant I didn't feel too much more fatigue than a normal day at work. :-)

I think it was helping me not slouch so much - so probably good for my back.

But then, with our newborn (colic, etc.), I was just so exhausted in general, that I found I'd arrive at work and not have the energy to stand upright for more than an hour or so, and sometimes just walking upstairs to my desk would make me feel out of breath and floppy.

So when I had to move offices, I simply couldn't be bothered to re-set up all the stuff I'd need for a standing desk, and resorted to a chair. I've only been back in the chair for a month or so, so I don't know if my posture will end up as awful as before. Maybe the thing to do is to use a standing desk half the year, and a sitting desk the other half... An adjustable desk would be best, but either expensive, or complicated.

I am sorry to say this, but the entire article sounds like you are rationalising an irrational decision. As the studies show sitting is bad for you and while is understandable that not everybody can get used to work standing, just arguing against the research will not do any good. The final conclusion:

"The key is to do some activity every day. It doesn’t have to be a five-mile sprint. A walk to and from work, taking the stairs, or some squats while you’re waiting for your lunch can be enough to do the trick."

Sounds exactly like the stuff smokers say to justify their smoking habit.

I don't want to defend any religion (the standists? lol), i can just say that i like it, and i like it so much that after 3 years of standing i would keep doing that and i would really suggest to everybody to try for at least 3/4 months. You need time to get really used to it. After that make your decision.

Whenever I've tried standing, my feet ache within about 10 minutes. Walking I can do for much, much longer stretches. Either way, it's a big change to go from sitting all day to either walking or standing, and a good idea to blend it in to your work day slowly over a couple of weeks rather than force yourself to go whole hog from the the first day.

Now that I think about it, when I switched from sitting to walking, I got a tall sit/stand stool so I could switch a lot. It was a really cheap stool, and it put my butt and legs to sleep in 10-20 minutes. It was so uncomfortable that I would only use it when standing was starting to hurt, and I'd sit until sitting was starting to hurt, and then have to stand again. That stool didn't last long, but it might have helped me transition more than I thought.

Standing desks can be "affordable", though still not cheap. I've been using the Jarvis base, and putting my own locally sourced hardwood tops on them. The base is $500 shipped inside the US ($520 with the digital controller), and you can put whatever top you want on it. The Jarvis base is high quality, i've got 10 of them in my office now.

Here's a pic of my biz partner modeling one during our recent office move: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UNFNw1p6-Xw/VG_WYEYFfYI/A...

For me, the key was to alternate the standing with the sitting phase. Someone suggested to sit for one hour, then stand for twenty minutes. After that, walk around (get a coffee, talk to a colleague, go to the bathroom). This was so good for me that I wrote a little app to remind me doing it on time: http://papamufflon.github.io/StandUpTimer/ Feel free to use it, it's gratis.

I sit on a ball chair. It encourages me to bounce and move, not "slouch" or crumple into the chair (since it has a minimal back) and also makes it easy for me to pop up and stretch my legs.

Sitting in my home office leather/traditional chair causes my feet to go cold, the ball chair doesn't have this same side effect.

Also, leaning in a pinching your neck muscles/nerves is a major factor. Make sure you're screens are high enough, and close enough to discourage this behavior.

I built a standing desk and wanted to be able to both stand and sit. No chair that I found was that high.

Solution: Good office chair with a back rest and a fat rectangular beanbag propped on top of the chair.

Pros: I can adjust my sitting position. Cons: I have to reset the beanbag because it de-forms after a while of climbing on top of it and out of it.

I just bought a Bekant adjustable desk from Ikea a couple of weeks ago and I can say I'm very happy with it! I wouldn't be able to stand all day through, but it feels so good to sit after an hour of standing and to stand after an hour of sitting. Would totally recommend it, although it's quite expensive.

Article summary[1]:

1. Sitting isn't actually that bad for you, so there's no rush to get on a standing desk

2. He found standing too uncomfortable and distracting to focus properly on actual work

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[1]: My take from a quick scan, for those who don't want to read.

The point isn't to stand 100% of the time. The point is to be able to switch it up as your body needs. Stand sometimes. Sit sometimes. I often change over the course of the day.

I have one that raises and lowers, I wouldn't want a pure standing desk. The hydraulic ones aren't cheap, though.