Don’t stand for back pain! How electric standing desks help

You’ve tried everything that you can to ease back pain that you’re almost at the point where you’re ready to simply accept it as a part of life.

Hot compress? Check

Memory foam pillow? Check.

Frequent massages? Check.

And yet, nothing’s having an effect.

No matter your efforts, you still feel that throbbing pain in your neck, shoulders, and all the way through to your lower back every time you sit.

You’re  not alone – 4 million people in Australia have some sort of back problem that causes serious discomfort or which negatively impacts productivity in the workplace.

What few people realise that one of the major causes for their back pain is spending a lot of time seated.

Luckily, you won’t have to worry about that with an electric standing desk!

The link between sitting and back pain

A lot of people don’t realise, but there’s a direct link between sitting and lower back pain:

• Sitting compresses the muscles in your back
• Bad posture, which is reinforced when sitting, leads to back pain
• Sitting strains the discs in our spines

Sitting down can cause and exacerbate these types of issues – spend more time standing however, and you might find yourself feeling a lot less back pain!

It’s a small change to your habits, but it’s one that can benefit your health in the long-run with a huge range of physical benefits (as well as a couple of psychological ones too).

And if you want to alleviate your back pain and better improve your health, an electric standing desk is what you exactly need – but more on that in just a moment!

Muscle strain

Oftentimes, back pain stems from muscle strain. Excess pressure in the muscles can be due to the strain, tension and even the injury from lifting a heavy object.

What many people don’t realise is that sitting down too much can also lead to muscle strain!

Sitting down for extended periods compresses the muscles in your lower back.

Worse, it also weakens them – the human body runs on a “use it or lose it” principle (which is why exercise is so important).

Sitting deconditions your back muscles, making them more prone to injury if you decide to start working out again.

Sitting can cause disc problems

Your spine contains rubbery intervertebral discs that sit between the vertebrae in your spine and which are filled with liquid.

Their purpose is twofold:

1. To enable you to move your spine
2. To act as shock absorbers

Sitting too much doesn’t just strain the muscles – it can also put pressure on these discs. In some cases, it can cause these discs to slip or rupture.

Sitting compresses your back, forcing the now-exposed vertebrae to touch (and causing pain)

While it won’t fix the issue (only a physio can), a standing desk does reduce the need to sit, helping you avoid the pain and keep focused on your work.

Incorrect posture

Just to be clear, sitting down doesn’t automatically lead to bad posture (and by extension, posture-related back pain) – the problem is that very few office workers have a sufficiently ergonomic setup!

An ergonomic workstation needs to tick a whole bunch of different boxes:

• The top of your screen should  to be at eye level
• Your arms need to rest at a 90-degree angle
• You should be able to work without craning your neck

Fail to meet these conditions, and your body compensates. You start slouching, you bunch your shoulders, and you crane your neck to see your work.

Bad posture becomes the norm, and has a massive impact going forward. It results in back pain thanks to an unequal distribution of weight that puts greater strain on your shoulders and back.

Our height-adjustable desks allow you to set up a truly ergonomic workstation that results in less pain and more productivity!

How can an electric standing desk help alleviate your back pain?

A lot of the problems we mentioned above are made worse by sitting. Cut the sitting down however, and you may find yourself experiencing far fewer symptoms!

Of course, it’s a little bit hard to do that while you’re at work. After all, most work setups simply aren’t very conductive towards standing.

A standing desk can help – and if you’re thinking about adding one to your workstation, may we suggest an electric one?

Customise your height with the press of a button

A traditional standing desk requires you to fiddle with knobs and levers if you want to adjust between sitting and standing (as you should be) or customise your desk to fit you.

While it works, it’s a bit of a pain!

An electric standing desk, on the other hand? That’s another story!

At the push of a button, you’ll be able to cycle between different heights and find the perfect, most ergonomic height that lets you alleviate your back pain.

Memory settings

Of course, that isn’t the only reason to go for an electric sit-stand desk – our desks also feature memory settings that allow you to easily set your preferred height.

Each desk has memory settings that let you save a number of heights, meaning you can get straight to work (whether it’s seated or standing) without wasting time optimising your desk height every time. 

Optional extras

While certain extras like desk cable trays and monitor arms can be built into any standing desk (or any desk at all, for that matter), there are other extras that only work with an electric standing desk.

Take power sockets, for example.

Many of our clients request built-in electrical sockets, USB ports and ethernet ports in their height-adjustable desks.

However, these require electricity to work.

A traditional standing desk might not work with this – however, an electric standing desk is a different story!

Suits a variety of industries

The beautiful thing about standing desks is that they’re suitable across a whole range of office- and desk-based industries.

No matter your job title, a standing desk has your back!

Corporate, healthcare, education and even public service and Government – height adjustable desks can fit in just about any workplace thanks to their flexibility and durability.

With powerful motors and hydraulics, you can complete any task at hand, in comfort, with an electric standing desk from Ergomotion.

Our electric standing desks have your back!

Make the switch today and banish back pain!

While they may not be a cure for back pain, a height-adjustable desk can help minimise pain and let you keep your focus on your work, and not on the pain in your lower back.

Explore our range of standing desks here – and please be in touch if you’ve got any questions. Give us a call on (03) 9579 1454 or fill in this form – we’d love to chat!