A special blog for Backcare Awareness Week…

TIP: Study or work standing up. Use a height-adjustable desk.

Painkillers – physio – painkillers; so went the cycle of coping with back pain, sciatica and a worrying numbness in the legs that plagued my working life since leaving clinical nursing practice and moving into teaching. The culprit? Sitting at my desk for long periods of time. Walking to work, cycling and a religious attention to prescribed back exercises all helped, but the cure – and yes, I do mean cure – has been a height-adjustable desk.

The simple act of standing at work has been nothing short of miraculous. Last year I asked the university’s health and safety team for advice regarding my posture and workstation, resulting in delivery of a desk with a handle for me to raise or lower it as required. I spend most of my working time standing now. Initially it was actually hard to stand for very long, but now I find sitting almost an alien function and rarely manage it for more than 10 minutes or so.

You don’t stand still either. Your body naturally shuffles around, shifts weight from leg to leg and generally behaves in a far more natural manner in terms of posture. The psychological effect has been most surprising – I have greater mental energy at work, feel more positive about computer-based tasks, and enjoy my office-based work rather than viewing it as a physical ordeal. And, yay! – I’ve even lost weight.

My sitting-at-work days are over, and I recently bought a height-adjustable desk for use at home. They’re not cheap, but the investment is worth it, and all over something so simple. Move aside Shakespeare or freshly ground coffee, on my desert island I’m having a height-adjustable desk.

My advice is to give it a go: if you get the chance, stand up at work. Persevere when at first your body wonders what on earth you’re doing, and enjoy the benefit to your health and work life.

Sonia Page
Senior Lecturer Adult Nursing
Faculty of Health & Wellbeing