Since 2011, various studies have raised the health risks associated with standing desks. (Photo: Shutterstock)
They've been touted in recent years as a way ostaying fit and focused, but standing desks are beginning to receive some pushback due to studies that suggest they can cause pain.
The most recent example is an experiment run by Australian researchers and described in the Journal of Ergonomics. The researchers observed 20 adults working at standing desks for two hours.
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During that period of time, "discomfort increased in all body areas," the researchers wrote. They also found evidence of diminished reaction time and "mental state."
On the bright side, however, the researchers found evidence that the standing desks increased the workers' capacity for creative problem-solving.
Experts have long cast doubt on the hype over standing desks. One analysis conducted in 2016 that linked standing desks to back pain and varicose veins. That research was based on six separate studies that included 218 participants.
Back in 2011, Alan Hedge, the head of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Research Department at Cornell University, detailed a number of health risks associated with standing desks in an interview with Time, including a "ninefold increase" in the risk of atherosclerosis.
"The performance of many fine motor skills also is less good when people stand rather than sit. We have tested computer use when sitting and standing in different ways," he said. "The problem with standing is that when you raise desk height for keyboard/mouse use you need to also raise screen height above the desk or you get neck flexion.
Standing desks also are unlikely to have a major impact in the fight against obesity, diabetes and the myriad of other health conditions linked to a lack of exercise. They certainly aren't a substitute to what we traditionally think of as fitness activities, such as running, lifting weights, biking or simply walking a short distance.
"There is very little difference in energy expenditure between sitting and standing," Dr. Nipun Srestha, coauthor of the 2016 analysis, told the New York Daily News at the time.
While there is a solid consensus that sitting at a desk all day isn't healthy, the evidence suggests that standing in one place isn't good for you either.
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