FACTS About Standing DESKS

What You Should Know Before Yous Take A Stand

WHY WOULD I WANT TO Stand IN THE OFFICE?

Unless you live under a rock you have probably heard that "Sitting is the New Smoking" or maybe that "Your Chair is Killing You." We can give thanks James Levine of the Mayo Clinic for really bringing this bailiwick into the spotlight back in 2014 when he published his research on Slap-up, Not-Do Action Thermogenesis. Dandy is the energy expended for everything we do that is not sleeping, eating or sports-similar exercise.

Dr. Levine was able to stimulate awareness around the fact that we sit a lot and that information technology is affecting all civilized societies. We sit during our morning commute, nosotros sit down at our desk, we sit in meetings, nosotros sit at lunch, we drive home, we sit at the dinner table or eating house, and so we sit down and sentry TV. And then we do it once again the next mean solar day, and the side by side day… you go the point!

This societal pattern has emerged as we take moved out of the industrial revolution where we worked in factories and were on our feet much more often. This was preceded by the agrarian period where we were doing back breaking work in the fields. Fast forward to today where we have become an information based lodge resulting in many of us sitting at desks all solar day and not benefitting from the physical movement of working in the field or in a factory.

Dr. Levine has said, "Chair-living has proven so enticing that nosotros have forsaken our legs. It is now fourth dimension to observe ways to get us dorsum onto our legs." Where this research really got Dr. Levine's attending was the correlation between the lack of move over several generations and the dramatic increment in obesity, loftier blood pressure, diabetes and other potentially very dissentious health issues… all proficient reasons to think seriously about this field of study!

The Scandinavians caught on to this some time ago. As an example, in Denmark the government has mandated that all office workers must take a meridian adjustable desk (sometimes chosen a standing desk… more on this later). In the early 1980's some very early on adopters began experimenting with these new desks but they were generally considered odd or non applied and, of course, dorsum then having a desk chore was a privilege and sitting all day was idea to be one of the benefits of getting an education… this falls into the category of unintended consequences!

"Information technology is now time to find ways to get u.s.a. back onto our legs."

-Dr. James Levine, Mayo Clinic

OK…Y'all GOT MY Attending Simply WHERE SHOULD I START?

It can't be that complicated information technology's a desk, right? Well, as with most things, it depends on who you talk to and what you really want to accomplish. I recommend that you start with a self-assessment of your current situation. What I mean is inquire yourself a few questions:

1. What type of piece of work do I practise near of the time?
2. Do I practice a lot of keyboarding?
3. Am I on the telephone a lot?
4. Do I have a good chair? Is it adjustable?

What you need is an adjustable height desk, Non a continuing desk.

Wait a minute did you lot merely ask me virtually a chair? I thought you were telling me about continuing desks. This brings me to my start and perchance my near important point!

A standing desk can be merely every bit bad for yous as a traditional sitting desk! If we refer back to Dr. Levine's enquiry on Cracking nosotros will find that the real key is movement, NOT sitting all day and NOT standing all day either. What you need is an adjustable tiptop desk, NOT a standing desk. This is an extremely important stardom and one that most of the media and many of the people that sell these products neglect to understand or care well-nigh!

The almost of import matter you lot tin practice for yourself is move on a regular basis. Recall, we are trying to replicate the feel of working in the fields or factory without all the heavy lifting and sweating. If you have an adjustable desk-bound you can listen to your trunk and you lot can move periodically throughout the twenty-four hour period. You now have the freedom to move when it is user-friendly and when your trunk tells you lot that you need to. Stand for a few minutes when you lot get to your desk later on a long commute. Stand while you take a phone call. Stand later on tiffin to help maintain your focus and avoid the afternoon crash. Stand when your back feels a little tight or your neck is stiff. Adjustments give you liberty and that is good for your body and your mind!

SOME Straight TALK ABOUT STANDING

Let's be honest. You aren't going to stand all day and that'due south skilful because you shouldn't!

The 2d cardinal point I want to make is that when we are discussing an adjustable height desk we are talking about an Ergonomic Wellness Tool. Just having an adjustable peak desk will not practice you much good if you don't utilize it properly. Merely as buying new exercise equipment equally a New year's day'southward resolution doesn't aid you if it just collects dust!

Ergonomics is a term you lot have very likely heard before. It is the practice of designing products, systems, or processes to take proper business relationship of the interaction between them and the people who use them.

Ergonomics started during the industrial revolution every bit an outgrowth of OSHA and was focused on helping factory workers avoid injury about often associated with lifting and angle or back injuries. In the eighties ergonomics began to evolve into the part and, as we began working on computers more than, we saw an increase in the number of reported cases of Carpal Tunnel. Carpal Tunnel is divers as Chronic pain, numbness, or tingling in the hand, caused by compression of the median nervus in the wrist. Information technology can be acquired by repetitive bending and extension of the wrist, as in keyboarding, or by medical weather condition such every bit rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes. Carpal Tunnel taught united states that the typical 29" meridian of an function desk-bound does not allow 50% of the population to work in the proper position or at the proper peak when using a keyboard. Out of this increase in Carpal Tunnel incidences came the development of the Adaptable Keyboard Arm and Platform.

Millions and millions of these systems have been sold over the past thirty years to retrofit the many millions of fixed acme desks that are installed in offices all over the globe.

Facts About Standing Desks

MAKE SURE YOUR DESK "WORKS" RIGHT

This brings me to my tertiary disquisitional indicate which is making certain this new adaptable desk-bound that you are ownership works in both sitting and standing positions. What I hateful by "works" is that it enables you lot to avoid awkward working postures that chemical compound existing wellness issues or create new ones.

Allow's await at some facts and an example:

According to the most recent ANSI/BIFMA anthropometric studies, the average female in the U.S. workforce is 5' 4" and requires a worksurface height of 24.5" when seated and 41.iii" when standing. The average male is 5' 10" and requires a worksurface meridian of 26.5" when seated and 44.8" when continuing. These people are considered the 50th percentile of the workforce. The power to come across the diverse needs of the average worker, not to mention the extremes of the shortest and tallest workers (known as the 5th to 95th percentile), can merely exist achieved with adjustable height desks that adjust from 22.5" to 48.5".

There are many options available in the marketplace today…practiced for standing but non for sitting.

There are many options available in the market today for continuing desks merely many of them are only that — proficient for standing, but not for sitting. They will heighten to a height that allows you to stand up and work in a proper position only, when you need to sit, the worksurface only does not become depression plenty for normal activities such as typing or writing. This is particularly true of the solutions that sit on top of your existing desk. They just address one-half of your needs and exercise non provide a complete solution.

The deed of standing upwards from a seated position has been constitute particularly effective at counteracting the detrimental health effects of sitting. The joint and musculus move required to transition from one position to the other is where the existent do good is, non the deed of standing itself.

If you lot are going to invest in yourself or your employees it makes sense to practise it right — the starting time time. Make sure the production that yous are ownership serves the purpose for which it is intended and that it meets the REAL needs of your workforce.

SOME ERGONOMICS 101 TO Complete THE STORY

The simple rule of part ergonomics is that you need a minimum of 2 points of adjustment. This typically addresses the position of the keyboard (affecting arms & wrists) and the position of the monitor (affecting head, neck and shoulders).

If you have an adaptable height desk-bound that meets the full ANSI/BIFMA requirements for adjustability, the desk will provide the proper height adjustment required for the keyboard and you volition simply demand to add together a monitor arm to ensure proper alignment and positioning of your head, neck and shoulders.

Equally shown in the infographic below, your forearms should be parallel to the floor and your wrists should be in a relaxed, neutral position – non bent forrard or backwards – while typing and using the mouse regardless of which position you are in.

Acceptable WORKING POSTURES

Monitors should be positioned at eye level and approximately arms' length from your trunk. The primary monitor should be placed directly in front of you (centered over the One thousand and H keys on your keyboard) and secondary monitors should be positioned to the side that your mouse is used on. Properly positioning your monitor will let you to maintain good posture, relieve stress in your neck and shoulders, and reduce middle strain.

Individuals who clothing multi-focal lenses will demand to make additional adjustments to ensure that monitors are positioned properly for their needs. If you have a limited height desk or a fixed height desk and then you should also seriously consider adding both an adjustable keyboard platform and an adaptable monitor arm to achieve these adjustments.

Y'all might exist wondering why the monitor arm needs to be adaptable and why yous can't merely prepare it and forget it. This is a great question. As mentioned to a higher place our bodies are all different. Some of u.s. have long legs, others have a long torso. This makes it extremely difficult to maintain the exact position and relationship between keyboard and monitor when moving from one position to the other. At that place are often several inches difference in distance between the monitor and keyboard based on whether you are sitting or standing.

The final betoken about this goes back to the idea of movement. We may desire to lean or slouch once in a while and that changes the right equipment position as well. So having a solution that makes information technology easy to motion is the merely option that allows you to mind to your body and piece of work comfortably.

Facts About Standing Desks

A FEW MORE PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Having the entire desk movement is ideal every bit it allows your keyboard, laptop, monitor, phone, coffee and all your paperwork to move with y'all. One of the biggest drawbacks of the desk height products is that the only things that move with you are the monitor and keyboard. That ways y'all are reaching for the telephone, or reaching for your paperwork, which is not simply inefficient but places strain on your body.

Your adjustable desk-bound should non be a task or create more than work by being difficult to adapt. If you have to lift, strain or push you run the risk of hurting yourself. Manual systems and desk-bound top systems require varying degrees of attempt and the heavier the equipment on the desk the more effort required to move it, especially when moving to the up or continuing position.

Human nature being what information technology is, yous may decide that information technology's only not worth the endeavor and make up one's mind to keep sitting instead of dealing with a product that is difficult to adjust. Don't brand that mistake!
The best solution to address ease of adjustability is an electric, height adaptable workcenter. It'southward unproblematic, reliable and easy to use; therefore, y'all volition be more likely to use it.

Your adjustable desk should not be a job or create more work… The best solution is an electrical, height adaptable workcenter. It'due south simple, reliable and easy to use; therefore, you volition be more probable to use it.

I would similar to refer back to Dr. Levine and his inquiry one last time. His bulletin was meant to urge usa to move more and sit down less. His research did not say we need to stop sitting… it simply indicated that we should sit less and move more. If y'all take found this information useful and plan to buy an adjustable meridian desk call up this… simply buying it won't help at all… you have to use information technology and use it correctly!

As with any concrete action, your torso will have to get used to working differently so I recommend small-scale doses of standing initially. Stand for ten minutes every hour. Going to go coffee or going to talk with a colleague counts as activeness. Remember we are trying to motility not just stand. You volition soon notice that this has get a function of your daily routine and that it is 2d nature for you. After a few weeks or months when the novelty of your new desk wears off you lot may really need to make an effort to continue with this lifestyle change.

The final point nearly pain is that if it hurts or causes discomfort that's your body saying allow's do something dissimilar. If your feet injure sit dorsum downwardly, if your neck is stiff cease staring at your monitor for a few minutes… listen to your body… motion as often every bit you can throughout the day. We have a company slogan… "your next position is the best position"… once again, the idea is all about motion.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

The show is overwhelming that movement is good for our bodies and adaptable height desks can be a powerful tool for the millions of united states of america that work at a desk! There are many choices today but I strongly encourage you to do your homework and be skeptical of those that just want to sell yous something – it's not but a piece of furniture.

Go help from an ergonomics or wellness professional and buy from a specialist not just a reseller or piece of furniture visitor. As is true in any growing market there are lots of brusk cuts to be taken and people that only want to brand a buck off the latest trend… be wise, be careful and please be informed.

TO SUMMARIZE

ane. Sitting & Standing are both bad in excess — Move is practiced
ii. It'due south of import to understand the basics of good ergonomics to get adept results
three. Make sure the you purchase a product that adjusts to your torso and needs — a good product has a wide range of adjustability and is easy to use
four. Listen to your torso and experiment with what make you happy, comfortable and productive
v. Ask for help from reliable, professional person sources

You lot have many options but its best to exist informed and choose wisely… here'south to a meliorate you lot… I hope this was helpful!

Resource

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Charlie Lawrence is the President of Workrite Ergonomics, a twenty-v twelvemonth old ergonomic accessories and furniture company based in Petaluma, California. He is a member of the OERC and his visitor is the Platinum Sponsor of the annual Ergonomics Expo held every Nov in Las Vegas.

Facts About Standing Desks