Getting Moving At Work: Will a Sit to Stand Desk Help?

We speak to so many patients at OsteopathyOne about their day-to-day desk habits. Most occupations require workers to be in a particular position for hours on end. Do you sit most of the day? Do you stand most of the day? Are you driving most of the day? While sitting, standing or driving are not bad for you on their own, anything done for a long time is not great. The body is designed to move, however our modern lifestyles means that for the majority of us, that just isn’t the case. And while going for a 30 minute walk or a quick workout is better than nothing, if we can improve things through the whole day, surely that is even better!

Our patients often ask about sit/stand desks, and whether that will help the health of their back or help recovery from an injury. It can be a bit hard to say for sure, and it really is a case by case or person by person answer. Sometimes an injury will result in you feeling like sitting or standing is more comfortable. In this case, listen to your body – it is trying to tell you something.

Once we move onto thinking about longer term back (and overall!) health, then things change a little. Research has recently shown that standing instead of sitting for 6 hours per day leads to increased energy expenditure. It isn’t huge (54kcal/day). But when you look at that over a whole year, a 65kg person could lose 2.5kg. (Saeidifard, 2018)That may not be the goal, and it’s hard to figure out how that would impact you individually. But it does lead us to think that if you can stand more than sit, perhaps that could help with maintaining a healthy weight? (In combination with healthly diet and exercise, of course). Introducing walking has been shown to be even better. (Seth A. Creasy, 2016)

From a biomechanical point of view, sitting does place of strain on the lumbar discs. (Billy, 2014)So if you have an injury of the lumbar discs leading to pain, then it may be worth standing more than sitting at your desk.

At OsteopathyOne, we’ve thought about ways to vary your posture during the day to get the best of both worlds. All simple things, but maybe a little reminder will help you out!

• Take the stairs instead of the lift for a few levels.
• Instead of going for a coffee during a break and just sitting down in the café, get a take away (in a reusable cup of course… we need to look out for the environment too!) and take the time to go for a walk.
• Get a sit/stand desk – one that can easily moves from position to position. Set a timer on your phone and then change the position a few times a day.
• Have a “West Wing” meeting. If you don’t need to be seated when having a discussion with a colleague, why not have a walking meeting instead?

Once you start thinking about it, there will be so many other ways that work in your office to vary between sitting and standing. The take away message today? Get moving!

References

Billy, G. G. (2014). Changes in lumbar disk morphology associated with prolonged sitting assessed by magnetic resonance imaging. PM & R : the journal of injury, function, and rehabilitation, 6(9), 790-5.

Saeidifard, F. M.-I.-J. (2018). Differences of energy expenditure while sitting versus standing: A systematic review and meta-analysis. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 25(5), 522–538.

Seth A. Creasy, R. J. (2016). Energy Expenditure During Acute Periods of Sitting, Standing, and Walking. Journal of Physical Activity and Health, 13:6, 573-578.