Trying the Stand-Up Desk

As I sit here with a mid-back pain I've been fighting for over a week now, I've been thinking a lot about getting a sit-to-stand setup. My back-pain probably wasn't caused by sitting though (I am actually quite capable of sitting, typing, etc in front of a computer for hours, even WoW didn't cause me any symptoms) but more probably because of a small 20lb monster I have to carry around frequently.

That said, the sitting for long hours aggravates the sore back resulting in much, much longer healing times. So I'm looking for some way to have a bit more movement and better posture while I work. I'm curious if most people have found this works well for them. Sore feet seem to be the commonly quoted issue, which is where the sit-to-stand design comes in to play for me.

It's about a $750 purchase for a geek desk. Is it worth it?

Assuming that your financial situation can withstand it, I'd say yes to the standing desk. I'm honestly not sure what my desk at work cost (company purchase), so I can't give a very precise cost/benefit analysis or tell you what's a good price point, but I do absolutely cherish my standing desk.

Unresearched opinions and anecdotes:

* It wasn't so much painful but I was aware of my feet for the first week. Don't let yourself get locked into one stance; shift your weight slightly or walk a few paces, and you'll relieve that sensation. Now I shift my weight without thinking (and walking around is a good idea anyway). Fatigue mats or yoga mats are what some people use.

* Your back won't necessarily thank you right away. You may find that you're engaging small muscles that have been neglected. Keep a good posture (head upright, shoulders not rolled forward, core muscles lightly engaged) and you'll get stronger for it.

* This should go without saying, but what you do in your non-desk time affects how you feel. I am a runner, I bike or walk to work, I eat healthy, and I sleep on a fairly nice mattress. The adjustment may be harder -- and the benefits smaller -- for people who don't have a well-rounded health profile.

* It sounds like this is already on your radar, but standing desks aren't an all-or-nothing proposition. I usually sit once around lunchtime and sometimes again before I leave work, for a half-hour each.

* Use some type of guide to calibrate your standing desk -- I think http://www.ergotron.com/tabid/305/language/en-US/default.asp... is a decent one. Some people find themselves standing too close to their desks when standing (used to hunching forward into the monitor?); this can be somewhat mitigated by ensuring that your keyboard and mouse are in a location that reinforces the proper distance.

A hacked-together solution can be a good idea for trying it out without incurring the expense, but it's important to take note of what's being sacrificed or neglected in a hacked build. (If you can get that down to "none", so much the better!)

Slightly off-topic, but also very relevant. 36 years old, been coding at desk jobs since college.

My sitting-at-a-desk-all-day-related pain has been really eliminated by a very simple stretching technique. It's known as "upward dog pose" in yoga, but you don't need to do it as part of a yoga routine or anything like that. I've had friends have it recommended to them by doctors.

It's a simple, simple pose; Google "upward dog" for plenty of pictorial examples.

Just about anybody can benefit from doing this and other stretches several times a day, so it's fairly independent of whether you use a sitting desk, standing desk, or split your time between the two. Good luck!

I actually woke up this morning and randomly decided to try a standup desk, so I put a chair on my table for my laptop screen and a box underneath for my keyboard[1]. It took absolutely no initial investment to try a stand-up desk. I'm going to try it whenever I'm at home before deciding to invest in a proper setup.

1: https://twitter.com/neilgupta/status/255039626849443840/phot...