Standing is killing you? (ala Phobik's thread)

[Cimarron]

I stand in one place for the most of the 8-hour (or 11-hour) workday, 5 days per week. Is this a damaging routine in a similar way that "sitting at a desk every day" would be?

I feel I have more discomfort bending my knees, especially. And I'm only in my mid-20s, so I didn't know if I could chalk it up to age yet.

When I went over this with my doctor at a check-up last month, I couldn't put my finger on it being the knees or which body part it was. I said "my back" when I bend over, but as I paid attention next time, it's actually my knees, mostly.

There's also a lot of walking back and forth on the job, so it's not all standing still.

The doctor disagreed with me that this was a pretty good substitute for regular exercise.

 

[five sounds]

Standing's not killing you.
Sitting's not killing you.
Living is killing you.

 

[Cimarron]

I meant besides that.
Point taken, though. That's why I don't stress over this, but it's been getting more pronounced, so I'm curious.

 

[five sounds]

Maybe some alignment/posture things would be helpful.

Yoga has done a lot to teach my body to use my core muscles to support myself rather than dumping weight into my joints. Also shoe changes often help people with this kind if thing

 

[TickTock]

In my experience being on your feet a lot will eventually cause joint pain. If you have bad posture it will effect your back, but there are exercises you can do to improve that. If you are experiencing pain in your knees or ankles you should get some knee supports (in your case) to wear while you are on your feet. At your age if you take time off from being on your feet so much the pain should go away.

I'm surprised your doctor didn't give you better advice.

 

[Mal12345]

In my experience being on your feet a lot will eventually cause joint pain. If you have bad posture it will effect your back, but there are exercises you can do to improve that. If you are experiencing pain in your knees or ankles you should get some knee supports (in your case) to wear while you are on your feet. At your age if you take time off from being on your feet so much the pain should go away.

I'm surprised your doctor didn't give you better advice.

I'm not.

My experience is that doctors don't go to the office to make an effort helping patients, but to eventually get their student loans paid off.

On the other hand, doctors don't make off-the-cuff diagnoses anymore, they order MRIs. If a patient doesn't have medical, then they won't even bother offering one.

If you're a female patient, then you'll be treated like royalty.

 

[Dannik]

Standing for an extended period is better for you than sitting for the same long period,
if you are habitually engaging in that
But the action of rising/standing from a sitting position is very important-
so by sitting and rising occasionally or often throughout the day - sitting and rising, - like doing squats -
you will find a huge benefit from that.

 

[Ivy]

I agree with Dannik. If you can work some squats into your workday periodically (every hour maybe?) you'll probably feel better, but you're MUCH better off standing all day than sitting all day. Your joints may not love it but your heart and metabolism do. Your levels of NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) are far higher as a stander than they would be as a sitter.

 

[Azure Flame]

Standing for an extended period is better for you than sitting for the same long period,
if you are habitually engaging in that
But the action of rising/standing from a sitting position is very important-
so by sitting and rising occasionally or often throughout the day - sitting and rising, - like doing squats -
you will find a huge benefit from that.

This.

Random story about sitting:

I was a gymnast and a martial artist for 8 years, and on weekends I snowboarded and hiked. Then I joined the navy and found myself sitting for roughly 12 hours a day and standing still another 6. Eventually the muscles in my lower back started cramping and apparently I had "asymmetrical tension" which also made me walk funny... the solution was to do a bunch of stretches. I ended up becoming more flexible than I ever was as a gymnast, lol.

Now I'm a mountain climber and snowboarder. Still looking to figure out how to save my knees when I grow up. My brother works with cadavres and said that of all the bodies he worked on, the lumberjack he was working on had incredibly dense bones, so dense in fact that he was getting exhausted trying to saw through one of them. Lifestyle makes a difference.