[x123]

I was wondering if anybody here has a job where they stand at a counter or desk. I am thinking about replacing my desk with a stand-up desk, but I'm not sure if it will work for me. I hate to spend the money if it doesn't work.

I've seen the soft rubber mats that checkers use, so I assume I would need one of those. Usually my back hurts if I stand for too long. My hips are always rotated and my legs are asymmetrical. I can walk for hours without hurting my back (usually), but standing seems to bother me. Right now I am having sciatic nerve inflammation, and I suspect it is aggravated by always leaning to one side at my desk.

Any comments would be helpful.

[Skeezyks]

The Skeezyks read somewhere recently that people who study such things have decided standing, by itself, is no better than sitting as far as exercise goes. In order to gain any benefit, there has to be movement... don't know if it's true... that that's what the article said...

[x123]

Originally Posted by Skeezyks

The Skeezyks read somewhere recently that people who study such things have decided standing, by itself, is no better than sitting as far as exercise goes. In order to gain any benefit, there has to be movement... don't know if it's true... that that's what the article said...

That makes sense. I tried standing up at my desk while I scanned papers, and it seemed to make my hip hurt in a new way. I'm not sure if it was coincidental. In the past, it seemed that standing for many hours made my back and neck sore on one side. I assumed that was due to the hips and legs being asymmetrical.

Surprisingly, Aleve has helped the sciatica more than anything else and it reduces the other aches and pains too. I thought that all the over-the-counter pain medicines were about the same, but I was wrong. Live and learn.

[healingme4me]

Agree about the naproxen(Alleve), was introduced to it years ago to alleviate aches/pains/flu like symptoms from a medication that I was taking. It became my preferred otc in my home.

I am feeling sciatic pain at the moment, came on towards the end of this past week. Standing is uncomfortable more so than sitting. If I'm moving around it's better than standing.

Are there tall chairs to go with as an option? I am not a fan of being seated for long amounts of time, that's where it gets tricky with my back. At the same time, long term standing when dealing with this condition royally is a pain. For me, that is. I've got a bit of everything with my current employment, regardless of which position I'm in.

Best of luck in deciding

[x123]

Originally Posted by healingme4me

Agree about the naproxen(Alleve), was introduced to it years ago to alleviate aches/pains/flu like symptoms from a medication that I was taking. It became my preferred otc in my home.

I am feeling sciatic pain at the moment, came on towards the end of this past week. Standing is uncomfortable more so than sitting. If I'm moving around it's better than standing.

Are there tall chairs to go with as an option? I am not a fan of being seated for long amounts of time, that's where it gets tricky with my back. At the same time, long term standing when dealing with this condition royally is a pain. For me, that is. I've got a bit of everything with my current employment, regardless of which position I'm in.

Best of luck in deciding

On your sciatica, a doctor advised me that I could take two 220 mg Aleve twice daily for several days and then continue at half that dosage for half a week after sciatica improves. That is a higher dosage than the box suggests, but apparently it is o.k. for short times. I'm sure you know that stomach bleeding is a risk (but I'll say that part for anybody else who might read this), so you are supposed to take them with food. I haven't been able to totally eliminate the sciatica, but it has improved with Aleve. It goes away entirely for a few days and then comes back. I had been going to physical therapy, but I was not disciplined and energetic enough to do the exercises, so it wasn't helping, and my insurance left me with a big medical bill. (It would be nice if doctors told the cost before doing things, because they forget how expensive it can be.)

The desk thing is kind of discouraging. I have been so exhausted over the past six weeks. I had the flu, and the depression seems to have been wearing me down bit by bit over the last year. If I could do my stretches and exercises every day, I think I would hurt less. Eventually I will get back to normal

On the chairs, I have been using a plastic kitchen chair with a little cushion for padding, because I tend to hurt my feet and knees with normal desk chairs. I rest my feet on the caster legs and so forth. I also saw that there are "transfer cushions". You might look at those on Amazon. These cushions swivel to help you get into cars and so forth.

I hope your back feels better.