Top 6 Tips For Using Standing Desks

We all know that our posture could use some work. We also may have noticed an increase in standing desks around the office, or at least heard stories of forward-thinking tech companies offering these “modern” workstation options to their employees. Well, these companies understand that the importance of your daily work posture is critical to your health!

However, while they do offer standing workstations as an option, often times they do little else to train you on proper usage of it. Most often patients come into the clinic reporting an increase in their symptoms as a result of getting a standing desk and using it for 8 hours straight on their first day with it. You may now see where the problem arises. 

Many try to push through aches and pains because they think they’ll “get past it”. Those are signals that your body is trying to tell you it is not ready to stand all day. You may be asking yourself, “Well then why get a standing desk in the first place?”

To begin with, many standing desks offer the ability to go from sitting to standing. This is a great feature as it allows you the freedom to alternate between sitting and standing throughout the day. Therefore, take incremental steps to adapt to this change. 

Set time goals each week and track your standing:sitting ratio.  If you’re at one hour a day, great. Keep working at it! There are also many ways you can add to your standing experience other than simply switching back to sitting. Therefore, we have curated a list of our best pieces of advice in relation to using a standing desk!

Top 6 Tips

1.    Set a stopwatch on your phone or desktop, so that you can track how long you are able to sit or stand before you notice discomfort.

2.    Set timers on your watch/phone to regulate your standing:sitting ratio. This will help you avoid the aches and pains of standing for too long without adapting to it.

3.    Understand that this may change as you become accustomed to standing more often.

4.    Try getting a footrest for which you can prop one foot on at a time or stretch your calves on.

5.    Use a golf ball, tennis ball, or lacrosse ball to mobilize the bottom of your foot (barefoot if your colleagues are ok with it!).

6.    Try out an anti-fatigue mat (they even have ones shaped like a topographical map that allows for many postural changes.  For example: http://ergodriven.com/topo/ 

Movement is your body’s nutrition!  These often-subtle position changes are what your body craves! Though I would prefer you didn't have to stand or sit at a desk all day, that is not an option for many of us. Sit to stand desks can be a great help for improving your body’s posture and health, but you have to stay on top of it and not get stuck in one position for too long. Like many activities, you’ll get much better the more proactive you are. 

It is not simply for your aches and pains either. There are multiple studies on how sitting affects your circulatory system, blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar just to name a few. According to Dr. James Levine, the co-director of the Mayo Clinic, for every hour you sit your life expectancy drops by 2 hours.  Though this can be quite shocking, he also notes that 90 seconds of standing activates the muscular and cellular systems that processes blood sugar, triglycerides, and cholesterol thus reducing your risks of diabetes and obesity.  So please, get up and get moving!

Pro Tip: Your Chiropractor can write you a recommendation for a standing desk at work!

Need more advice? Give us a call at 858-215-4485 for a FREE 15-minute Phone Consultation, where we can discuss your workstation pains and help you make this transition easier!

Can Chiropractic Care help with Auto Accident Injuries?

Auto injuries can cause various detrimental effects on the body. These range from minor muscle strains and aches, to serious bodily injury with lifelong consequences. However, many do not realize that the symptoms can sometimes be delayed after the accident. Not seeking care immediately after an accident can lead to many conditions.

These include early formation of abnormal scar tissue, changes to our normal body mechanics, and eventually unconscious compensation patterns. All of these can lead to a delayed onset of pain or lead to the development of pain in other areas of the body as a result of the initial injury. Addressing the initial problem early can significantly reduce your chances of having repeated flare ups in the future and lower your risk of developing other conditions later on.

Common Car Accident Injuries

Whiplash is one of the most common injuries sustained during car accidents—and often one of the hardest to treat. Nearly 300,000 whiplash injuries occur each year, many at low speeds. It takes only a 2.5 mile-per-hour change in speed to injure the neck.

Although half of all whiplash injuries are the result of rear collisions, they can occur from an impact in any direction. Frontal crashes account for 30 percent of motor vehicle neck injuries.

When a part of the body is whipped back and then forward beyond its normal limits, micro-tears can develop in the surrounding ligaments. Yet many accident victims don’t notice any pain at first. It isn’t until the micro-tears start to swell that the symptoms set in, including but not limited to:

·               Neck Pain/Stiffness

·               Headaches/Migraines

·               Blurred Vision/Dizziness

·               Shoulder Pain

·               Arm Pain/Numbness and Tingling

·               Hip/Leg Pain

·               Low Back Pain

·               Fatigue/Difficulty Concentrating

·               Anxiety/Depression

Soft-tissue injuries like whiplash can take a long time to heal. One study found that more than 70 percent of people who visited the emergency room after a car accident were still in pain six weeks later. Other researchers have noted that nearly half of whiplash sufferers continue to experience symptoms three months later, while 25 percent remain symptomatic for six months.

Without proper treatment, some injuries can continue to cause pain for years. As soft tissue injuries heal, they develop scar tissue. This scar tissue can affect the mechanics and movement of the tissues it attaches to. If the tissue attaches directly to the spine, it can ultimately inhibit normal functioning and even lead to spinal degeneration.

How Chiropractic Care Helps

Using a variety of drug-free techniques, from spinal adjustments to manual muscle therapy to rehabilitative exercises, chiropractors can:

1.    Relieve Pain: Soft-tissue injuries may take months to fully heal, but a chiropractor can often provide pain relief much quicker than that. Some car accident victims report up to an 80 percent reduction in discomfort after just a few weeks of chiropractic care.

2.    Restore Mobility. The soreness and stiffness from a motor vehicle injury can inhibit movement. Chiropractors work with patients to help get them moving again as quickly as possible so they can regain full range of motion before scar tissue develops.’

3.    Support Long-Term Healing. The muscle weakness resulting from a car accident can leave patients vulnerable to re-injury. Chiropractic care often involves rehabilitative exercises that improve flexibility and strengthen the muscles surrounding the spine.

Visiting a Doctor of Chiropractic as soon as possible after an auto accident can boost a patient’s chances of making a fully recovery—without resorting to prescription drugs.