Sitting at a desk all day is something that many of us know can be damaging to our health, but if you have a job where you have to stand up for the best part of the day, there is a fair chance that you will experience pain and stiffness.
There are some positive things you can do to combat that fatigue and pressure on your knees and back.
Longer than two hours on your feet? If you are standing while carrying out your job for a couple of hours, this is not expected to prove too detrimental to your health, but any longer than that and you are expected to notice some detrimental consequences.
There is a chance that if you are standing for about five hours a day or more while carrying out your work duties, this could be a contributory factor towards problems such as prolonged lower-limb muscle fatigue.1
If that turns out to be the case, you are also potentially raising your risk profile in terms of experience long-term back pain issues and even musculoskeletal disorders.
There are thousands of us who have jobs which involve standing on your feet for considerably longer than a couple of hours, and it is fair to speculate that the longer the period of time you spend on your feet doing your work each day, the more likely you are to experience some detrimental effects.
Posture Problems
The underlying message to take on board is that your body does not appreciate being subjected to the same posture or load placed on it on an ongoing basis.
Many jobs tend to involve repetitive tasks and it is highly likely that whatever job you happen to do on a daily basis, you will almost certainly adopt a similar posture each time you carry out a standard task.
If you are spending more than two hours each day at a time standing on your feet, you could be storing up posture problems, and might even be experiencing back pain already.
Quick Fix
One of the quickest and easiest ways of alleviating some discomfort and helping to avoid feeling some pain the first place is to take regular breaks.
Ideally, you should try and get into the routine of moving away from your work position every half an hour or so. Just doing another task for a few minutes will ensure that you get your blood moving and relieve the pressure on your spine and other pressure points.
There may be some employers who are not that keen on allowing their workers to take such regular breaks away from their workstation, but there is not that many data around to suggest that regular breaks are that harmful to productivity.
Another quick fix is to do some breathing exercises.
A good one is to try and breathe from your belly. The way to do this is to envisage drawing your navel toward your spine on each inhale. This simple breathing exercise helps to engage your core muscles and give some support to your upper body.2
Are You Sitting Properly?
It is worth pointing out that if you combine sitting at a desk for certain periods as well as standing during the day, you can help your posture and help to avoid back pain by ensuring that you sit correctly when working sitting down.
Make sure you are sitting within the correct reach of your keyboard and monitor.
Ideally, your torso should be positioned approximately about arm’s length away from where your monitor is, and this needs to be around three inches above your eye level.
You will also need to keep your feet flat on the floor and positioned a shoulder-width apart, as this will help to reduce tension in your knees and ankles.
Don’t sit at a desk with your legs crossed, as this will make it very hard to keep your spine straight and your shoulders firmly squared, which is what you want to do if you want to avoid the prospect of overstretching your muscles around the pelvis.
There are many ways in which your posture and continually holding the same position can encourage back pain and create problems, so you need to be vigilant and use equipment and aids that help encourage you to keep those aches and pains away.
References
