So what do you think about sit-stand desks? 

Jill (our resident Chartered Ergonomist) gets asked this almost daily these days.

So this is what we think….

Should we sit all day at our computers without moving? Obviously not, but standing all day isn’t necessarily great for us either.

Like many things in life – the answer lies in variety and the ‘M word’ (moderation). But we humans are sometimes a bit rubbish at variety and moderation. So anything that encourages us to move and change position is a good thing.

And this is even more important if you’re working away from your standard office environment, because we just don’t get the number of interruptions we would do in a standard office, so movement has become limited.  Short term this wouldn’t cause us any major problems, but as we’re now a YEAR! into the madness that is Covid-19, this is no longer short term!  Not by anybody’s stretch of the imagination!

It’s also the case that the controlled and beautifully ergonomic setup that comes with most traditional offices is probably not replicated in your home ‘office setup’.  So we’re all starting to suffer from those niggly aches and pains associated with ongoing poor posture.

But that’s OK – we don’t need to get hung up on that perfect ‘everything at right angles’ view of Ergonomics.  Truly what is most important is that change in position – and standing for some of the day can give you just that.  Sit for a bit, stand for a bit – that’s the key to feeling better at the end of your day/week/year.

So if you are going to stand then (in the same way you would when you’re sitting) you need to make sure that everything is as close as you can to being at the right height for you. 

And this is what we recommend:

1. Adjust the keyboard height so that your shoulders are relaxed and your forearms are parallel to the floor or desk.
2. Bring the keyboard close enough so your arms are relaxed by your side – don’t over-stretch
3. Once you’ve got this sorted you can look at the height of the screen
4. Adjust the height of the screen (be that laptop or full-size monitor) so that the top of the screen is roughly level with your eyes or slightly below
5. The key really is adjustability – you have to get it right for YOU
6. And lastly but perhaps most importantly – move, move, move – anything that gets you moving throughout the day is a good thing, and not to be under-estimated.

A standing desk could be part of this solution, but it needs to be the right standing desk for you – height adjustable is definitely important, but also think about what space you have, and where you’re going to put it – not just when you’re working on it, but also when you’re not.   That is why we developed this portable standing desk that you can pack away easily.