El escritorio de pie

On Monday, Laura decided to try the standing desk she had bought for working from home. She had read that it was good for your back and thought she would feel more active during the day.

At eight in the morning, she set the computer at the right height, made a coffee, and started answering emails. At first, she was happy. She even walked around a little while talking on the phone.

But by ten, she couldn’t take it anymore. Her feet, legs, and even her back hurt. She rested her elbows on the desk and looked sadly at her chair. “How can standing be so difficult?” she wondered.

At that moment, her coworker called her for a meeting. Laura tried to smile and positioned herself in front of the camera, but she had to shift her weight from one leg to the other. When the call ended, she looked at the chair again and hesitated for a few seconds before deciding what to do.

Laura let out a sigh and sat down. For a few seconds, she did nothing. She simply leaned her back against the chair and stretched her legs under the desk. The pain did not disappear, but little by little she began to feel better.

After drinking a little water, she decided she did not have to work standing up all the time. She set an alarm to get up every half hour and lowered the desk so she could sit. The idea seemed more reasonable: stand for a while and rest for a while.

At ten thirty, she stood up again. This time, she put on comfortable sneakers and placed a small mat under her feet. The difference was huge. Her legs did not hurt as much, although they still felt tired.

Then she received another message from her coworker: the afternoon meeting would last an hour. Laura looked at the chair and then at the desk. Could she manage to stand for the whole meeting?

Laura thought about the afternoon meeting and decided she did not have to prove anything. She lowered the desk a little and left the chair ready beside her. For the first twenty minutes of the meeting, she stood, gently shifting her weight from one foot to the other on the mat.

Then her feet began to feel tired. She sat down without stopping listening to her coworker. At first, she felt a little embarrassed, but then she remembered that nobody was paying attention to it. The meeting continued as usual, and when it ended, Laura stood up to stretch her legs.

In the afternoon, she continued using the desk, but changed positions several times. She worked sitting down, walked for a few minutes, and stood up again. At the end of the day, she was tired, although she did not have the same pain as in the morning.

Laura understood that a standing desk was not a magic solution. It could be useful, but only if she used it calmly and listened to her body. The next day, the chair would still be part of her plan.