We pick our blog topics for Physiquality months in advance, so the irony was not lost on me when this topic came up the same week I had hip surgery. The thought of standing all day while working was, suffice it to say, not a pleasant one to have as I prepared to hobble around on crutches for the next couple of months.
That said, I was truly curious whether standing desks are helpful in maintaining one’s health. My husband’s office has integrated them into the new campus they have built, and when I visit him at work, it seems like they are in use quite a bit. But after speaking to a couple of physical therapists, I’m not convinced this is the best solution for most people. Read on to learn what I found out from our experts, as well as the studies they have reviewed that evaluate just how beneficial standing is as compared to sitting.
Should I switch to a standing desk at work?
with advice from Mike Stare, PT, DPT, CSCS, CNS and Mitch Kaye, PT
We’ve all seen the headlines that emphasize the dangers of sedentary behavior. Yes, Sitting Too Long Can Kill You, Even if You Exercise. Too Much Sitting Is As Bad for the Brain As It Is for the Body. Sitting Is the New Smoking: Ways a Sedentary Lifestyle Is Killing You.
These headlines may grab your attention and scare you, but they don’t convey the wide spectrum of studies you’ll find that may or may not show how sitting too much can lead directly to death. Mike Stare, a physical therapist and a co-owner of Orthopaedics Plus (a Physiquality network member in Massachusetts), has written about this for his clinic’s own website, and he points out that while the studies seem to contradict each other, there are a couple of conclusions to be made when you compare all of the results: