Ask Slashdot: What Is the Future of Standing/Walking Workstations?

secretrobotron writes "As a developer who spends most of each day at the same desk in the same chair, I'm concerned about ergonomics and what I can do to keep my body from wasting away while I program. Some IT professionals have the relative luxury of being able to walk around on a headset, solving problems, installing equipment, etc. My utopia (albeit a pretty low-bar) is a world in which technology exists to allow me to walk about as I program. My question is, what's available? Are people working on mobile-programming in this way? Are there hybrid standing workstations which allow me to take advantage of pacing-enabled programming?"

Comments

Treadmill desk

[Anonymous Coward]

I was reading this today about someone's treadmill desk setup.
http://www.weighthacker.com/2012/06/05/how-i-hacked-my-computer-desk-to-help-me-lose-67lbs-pics/

Re:Treadmill desk

[undecim]

I've been looking at setting up something like that as well. Though ideally mine would convert to a sitting desk as well. I've tried the standing desk thing before, but I found it difficult to play any skill-based game, such as an FPS while standing. I can't imagine walking can be any better for my accuracy.

Re:Treadmill desk

[wvmarle]

I have no idea how he can type accurately when walking. When typing on my phone it barely works, and there the keyboard moves with my hands - in that set-up the keyboard is fixed, making movement worse.

Re:Treadmill desk

[virgnarus]

I can start seeing companies adding these as incentives to meet quotas. The slower you write the code, the faster the treadmill goes. If you make a syntax error, that's an extra mph right there, and if your code fails to compile successfully in the end, your minimum speed for the next work week is increased.

Re:Treadmill desk

[cpu6502]

Exercise? Bah. Humbug. (Bulls*$t!) I want the same setup I have at home:
- Laying down while I type.
- Ahhh relaxing.

Re:Treadmill desk

[Kozz]

I have no idea how he can type accurately when walking. When typing on my phone it barely works, and there the keyboard moves with my hands - in that set-up the keyboard is fixed, making movement worse.

I'm lazy and don't feel like digging up the link, but I recall an Instructable (http://www.instructables.com/) in which the author created a treadmill workstation. However, the treadmill was only set to move at something like 1.5mph. This is a very, very casual stroll at best. However, it does keep you off your tuchis and moving. You'll still be a long way from anything resembling "exercise" I suppose, and you won't burn a tremendous amount of calories, but it's certainly an improvement upon sitting all day.

Re:Treadmill desk

[cpu6502]

I tried reading while on the treadmill. It works.
Until the blood flows out of my head, and into my muscles, and I can no longer think. So I gave-up on that idea. The body is not really meant to oxygenate both muscles & brain at the same time.
Easier to cut meals in half,
if I want to lose weight.

Re:Treadmill desk

[Anonymous Coward]

Funny! (But ... grammar nitpick)

Re:Treadmill desk

[zlives]

exercise brake every few hours... most employees at my workplace go for a walk every two.five hours or so.... i merely stand at my desk until i have to sit but then go to the gym 3 times a week... keeps me from getting worse.

Re:Treadmill desk

[goingToSay]

I've had a treadmill desk for about a year now. I started with a standing desk but found my legs got too stiff being still so I hacked up a $150 used treadmill. This has completely changed my work life. I had horrible back problems which made me question if I could continue as a developer. I had tried different chairs, desks, postures and had some success with software timers which forced me to move around every so often. After a few weeks of the treadmill desk my back was feeling better. After a few months all problems were gone.

I usually walk between 1-2 mph and have no problem typing and concentrating. The main drawback is that my work station is the treadmill desk and I can't sit. When I get tired I take a laptop to the couch (I work from home) but I'd rather be able to stay in one place were my good setup is. There are some desks which raise and lower mechanically which I plan to get at some point. http://www.treaddesk.com/">This company has some but they are expensive.

With the addition of an arduino I also geek out with data from the treadmill.

Re:Treadmill desk

[TheTerseOne]

Perhaps he doesn't type while walking. Perhaps he has the treadmill stopped while he needs to type, but when it's time to read a PDF or be on a conference call, he fires it up and walks a little. "Checking e-mail and twitter" doesn't require much, if any, typing.

Re:Treadmill desk

[a90Tj2P7]

That's where something like an elliptical/exercise bike dual trainer can come in handy. Now you've got somewhere to stand and walk, sit down and pedal, or just sit down, all without going somewhere.

Re:Treadmill desk

[SolitaryMan]

Hmm, isn't blood rush to the legs (and from the brain) will make it harder for you to think?

I really find it hard to think after/during an exhaustive exercise. Agreed, you don't need to be running at 10mph on this, but still.

For a more regular workplace, I think that the desk with easily regulated height, so that you can both sit and stand during the day + laptop, so that you can go outside or just lay down on a couch, is the best way to go.

Re:Treadmill desk

[ColdWetDog]

I've tried the standing desk thing before, but I found it difficult to play any skill-based game, such as an FPS while standing.

Ahem.

I thought we're supposed to be working......

Re:Treadmill desk

[Gilmoure]

Read that even doing daily exercise isn't enough to overcome the effects of sitting for an hour. The body puts metabolism way down when you sit. Boss just got me a stand desk so hoping this helps. If you get one, make sure you also get one of those checkout person mats to stand on.

Re:Treadmill desk

[bevoblake]

I put together a treadmill desk about six months ago. Typing/mousing and walking is definitely a consideration. I had to reduce my mouse sensitivity slightly, and I also have to keep my walking speed at or below 2 mph in order to have any chance of typing accurately. I find I'm quite accurate at 1 mph. I reserve 2 mph for times when I'm mostly reading.

I also was unpleasantly surprised by the prices of the commercial offerings for these desks. I'm currently using a DIY cardboard desk and have a carpenter building a custom-made wooden desk, which will still be cheaper than the commercial offerings.

Regardless, I got into this because of 1. Ergonomics - sitting kills my back and 2. Health - this allows me to put in a decent amount of exercise with little to no joint impact while I work.

Plus, I'm slightly less stressed if I'm walking as I work.

Downsides: Until I get into the "zone" as I work, walking and managing a computer is annoying. Decent treadmills take up a ton of room. It's noisy enough that I have to stop it every time I get a phone call.

All in all, I'm glad I did it. And it provided me with a great excuse to wall mount a 60" HDTV as my computer monitor. :-D

Re:Treadmill desk

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, it's quite surprising just how many calories you burn with light activity - just standing up can burn calories almost twice as fast as sitting down, and walking can double that again to almost half of what an aerobic workout would do. Add in the fact that a standing/walking workstation may have you "exercising" for 40+ hours a week and the results can be very impressive (who other than a few fitness nuts does the equivalent 20 hours of aerobics a week?).

The trick is just that there's a sort of "exhaustion threshold" - below a certain exertion level you can maintain a fairly continuous activity level indefinitely, cross the threshold and your body starts having trouble keeping up with the demands you're putting on it and you start getting tired. Obviously every person has a different threshold, but our nomadic ancestry shows through - pretty much anyone if halfway decent shape can quickly acclimate to walking at a slow, steady, pace.

There's even some evidence that we're optimized for endurance running - running is unique among physical activities in that, with training, a 70 year old can compete on fairly even footing with a 25 year old. Performance still peaks in the 18-22 year old male demographic, but unlike virtually every other physical activity every other age and gender demographic comes in about equal. One theory is that our ancestors hunted on the plains by running their prey into the ground - we can't compete on burst speed, but we can out-endure just about everything else out there. But you can't very well haul a bunch of deer carcasses back to the tribe you left a couple days behind you, so the whole tribe needs to come along for the feast. (NOTE: all numbers estimated from memory of this TED talk)

Re:treadmill desk

[aclarke]

This is sort of what I think might work for me. I have two large monitors, and that desk has a nice monitor arm that can swing the monitors to where they work for you, whether you're sitting, standing, or walking. With a desk like that, I could walk on a treadmill, stand still, sit in a chair or on a ball.

The main problem with the idea is that the setup is very expensive. I'm self-employed, so while the upside is that I can buy whatever I want, the downside is that I have to pay for it. I haven't been convinced yet that I'll be able to do effectively write code while walking on a treadmill. It's one of those things I'd want to try for a week or two to see if it would work for me before laying out the cash.

In the meantime, I just try to remember to sit on my exercise ball for at least part of the day. I read the about the study everyone else on here is mentioning about how being sedentary during the workday is bad, even if you exercise daily. However, I haven't really read whether sititng on an exercise ball helps counteract that or not.

Re:Treadmill desk

[xmousex]

This sounds like a fast downward spiral to non productivity, where the faster you have to tread the more mistakes you end up making.

Companies are interested in results, not in your health.

Re:Treadmill desk

[Anonymous Coward]

That's my desk and yes, I can easily type on it while walking up until about 3.5mph, which is a brisk walking pace.

Re:Treadmill desk

[Anonymous Coward]

That's my desk and it's AWESOME. I can type and mouse on it just fine up to around 3.5mph, which is a brisk walk. My fiance was initially skeptical of it, but she uses it everyday too. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Re:Treadmill desk

[Anonymous Coward]

I work 8-10 hour days and have used a standing desk for the past year. I love it and would never go back to sitting. I do take a few breaks, but at least 7 hours of my work day is done standing. A gel-mat is a must. Regarding treadmills.... I treadmill before or after work. I can't imagine working while walking. Typing would be a problem, I'd get eye fatigue from trying to read while my head bobs up and down, and even phone speech would be impacted. No, I'll just stand, thanks. When I get home I'll treadmill a few miles while I watch a Netflix movie.

Re:Treadmill desk

[e3m4n]

simply standing for 8hrs instead of sitting (once your legs adjust to that much standing) will increase your overall metabolism quite a bit, which in the long run can burn more calories than the average 20min/day 3x/week 'suggested' amount of workout. I'm not putting down exercise, theres no reason why you cant do both. Sometimes doing one will motivate you to do more of the other. Standing is very low impact and you can start to feel the difference in just a week or two.

Re:Treadmill desk

[Jason Levine]

You might not burn a lot of calories compared with a much faster treadmill at a gym, but if you're putting 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year on this treadmill, you'll wind up developing your leg muscles much more than someone who sat at his computer that whole time. And once you've built muscle, you'll burn more calories even if you are simply sitting around doing nothing.

Besides, if this is in an office, the last thing you want is for your treadmill-desk to make you work up a sweat just before a big meeting.

Yes, I sit at a desk all day and yes, I'd love a treadmill-desk.

Re:Treadmill desk

[Dishevel]

Work is whatever I am doing while other people are paying me. Right?

Re:Treadmill desk

[DuckDodgers]

The standing and walking itself has benefits in terms of burning calories and circulation. There are a lot of articles now on studies that sitting for long periods has more health risks by itself than obesity or poor diet.

On the other hand, there were a lot of fitness articles five and ten years ago claiming that every pound of muscle you add to your body increases your resting metabolism by 50-100 Calories per day. That is a myth - the real number is closer to 6 calories per day. The mega-muscles guy who can eat and eat and eat without getting fatter are burning those calories with the exercise they do to stay hugely muscular - the change to resting metabolism is better than nothing, but unlikely to substantially affect your level of body fat.

Re:Treadmill desk

[newcastlejon]

There's even some evidence that we're optimized for endurance running...

This chimes with something I've heard about in the past: prehistoric humans were endurance hunters. A common strategy was to tag prey with a spear or some such then pace it until it keeled over from exhaustion, in contrast to the more energy-intensive strategy used by some big cats.

Re:Treadmill desk

[aclarke]

I'm interested in doing this, but I'm concerned about a few things. If you can provide more insight into your experience, I'd appreciate it, thanks!

What general sort of work do you do? By that I mean, what kind of typing are you doing? Writing technical documentation? Coding? Writing emails?

Do you find that your typing has slowed down at all? If so, could you give me an idea of how much?

Do you find it harder to read while you're moving? I have a dual monitor setup, with my main monitor being a 30" 2560x1600 monitor. I've already bumped up the font sizes in a lot of applications due to my eyesight not being quite as good as it used to be.

Regardless of whether I get a treadmill, I think I'll get a height-adjustable desk, and at least stand up for part of the day, in addition to the chair and ball I'm using now. Then maybe I'll borrow a treadmill for a few weeks and try it out before I potentialy buy a better one for under the desk.

Re:Treadmill desk

[bevoblake]

My work over the past 6 months has varied between programming (small component of my work), extensive spreadsheet monkeying, writing quick reference training documentation, end user training, project management, and an embarrassing amount of emailing. I haven't noticed a drop in typing speed, and for any work that needs more dexterity, I just slow down the treadmill. If you get the treadmill moving slowly enough, there shouldn't be much degradation of your working capabilities at all. Also, somewhere else in these comments, someone recommended a trackball instead of a mouse, which actually makes a ton of sense to me after my experience.

As for eyesight/reading, I'm a tough person to speak on that as my eyesight is pretty good. I have not noticed an issue there; my eyes don't seem to have an issue locking onto words at a strolling pace. I think I might actually have to hit a full jog before noticing any difference on that front.

As I mentioned in my original post, mousing at faster walking paces was the most challenging thing for me.

Also, I would think that working at a standing desk for a few days would actually be a good trial run. It will allow you to get used to spending more time in an upright posture, which is a significant adjustment. I think it's helpful to start out only doing that for an hour or two a day and then increasing it as you like it. You can get a taste of it by putting a box on a counter top with a laptop on it and working for a couple of hours. If that feels like an improvement, then keep doing more. If it drives you nuts, then you've saved yourself some time and money. Lastly, I also tighten up some as I stand/walk, which makes me stretch every now and then. I didn't do this at a seated desk but probably should have.

Re:Treadmill desk

[aclarke]

Cool, thanks for the info. People often comment that I'm standing (and maybe stretching) when social convention dictates that I sit, so maybe if I'm standing all day at work I'll be ready to sit when people expect me to :-)

Re:Treadmill desk

[flatulus]

I built one of these as well, except I added an extension arm off to the side and mounted the control panel on the extension. Otherwise, same outcome.

Now, if only I would use it...

Re:Treadmill desk

[logru]

How about just buying one? http://kontormolla.no/

Re:Treadmill desk

[cerberusss]

I also was unpleasantly surprised by the prices of the commercial offerings (...) have a carpenter building a custom-made wooden desk, which will still be cheaper than the commercial offerings

That's some great info you've got there. I hope I'm not being rude here -- could you tell us what the carpenter asked for building the desk?

Re:Treadmill desk

[LordLucless]

I've heard that's also why human's are relatively hairless compared to other animals. Too much hair and we overheated when running for long periods.

Re:Treadmill desk

[riT-k0MA]

Personally, I have found it easier to think when moving. The blood tends to pool in my core and legs, so walking gets it flowing to my brain again and raises my blood pressure. Also remember that a slow walk is not exhaustive once you shed all that 'excess' fat, so long as you use proper shoes that allow you to walk toe-first instead of heel-first, just like mother nature intended.

Re:Treadmill desk

[bevoblake]

I'd have to dig out the paper, but I'm 95% sure that his initial quote was 600 dollars. Regardless, it's near that even if it isn't spot on. He's a fairly inexpensive carpenter though, so your mileage may vary. There are probably some commercial offerings in this range (although many are way more), but the benefits of the custom-design and getting solid wood made that a better alternative for me. He did say that depending on the complexity and quality of the wood, prices could change dramatically. For example, when I showed him a furniture piece made with antiqued wood of some sort, he said that it would cost significantly more just from raw materials.

Re:Treadmill desk

[SolitaryMan]

Well, I agree about slow walks. I had many insights coming to me during the walk to/from my work. However, I tend to attribute this not to movement, but rather to the ability to look around and get your mind wandering.

Re:Treadmill desk

[PodcampWhit]

There's this thing as well: http://www.amazon.com/SurfShelf-Treadmill-Desk-Laptop-Holder/dp/B001M04RBK/ref=pd_rhf_cr_p_img_2 a little shelf you can attach to your treadmill. I'm giving it a go, since the hack we tried on our at-home (used gym) treadmill- a piece of MDF across the handles- worked ok, but if I sped up too much, the MDF started to move around, risking disaster. Vibrations and a laptop shooting out into a wall at 6-10 MPH seems like a bad idea, but keeping my ipad handy to do email, etc. while also doing couch to 5 K seems like a better idea.

Re:Treadmill desk

[Anonymous Coward]

One theory is that our ancestors hunted on the plains by running their prey into the ground - we can't compete on burst speed, but we can out-endure just about everything else out there.

Australian Aboriginals still do this when they hunt the common house cat. They chase a cat until it is exhausted, bash it on the head with something, and then throw it on a fire.

Re:Treadmill desk

[cerberusss]

That's a very sharp quote. Mediocre quality wood alone would cost EUR. 600 here in Europe. Thanks for replying!

Get a Geek Desk

[mrtwice99]

I plan on getting a Geek Desk: http://www.geekdesk.com/ It won't allow me to walk, but its better than sitting all the time.

Re:Get a Geek Desk

[Anonymous Coward]

My spouse works at a major financial firm, and they let employees choose between a standard height desk and one that you can work at while standing. They give the "standing height" desks a tall chair, so they can choose between sitting or standing without changing their hardware.

I have seen some desks with a treadmill that fits underneath the desk, letting you walk and work at the same time. I'm not sure I could handle that situation.

Re:Get a Geek Desk

[neonfrog]

There are many GeekDesks at my office. We like a height adjustable desk for a lot of reasons but primarily because tall chairs are rarely available in the broad ergonomic array that normal office chairs are. With a height adjustable desk you can use all kinds of things under the desk: a squishy mat under foot to provide some comfort and exercise when standing, a balance board or little stair-stepper thing (also standing), an exercise ball (sitting), etc. Sometimes I just want my feet on the floor or to use a footstool in front of me when sitting. No one has rigged up a treadmill yet, but it is only a matter of time. Height-adjustable is far more versatile than fixed height!

Re:Get a Geek Desk

[jimmyfrank]

I got one a year ago, best desk ever.

Re:Get a Geek Desk

[DuckDodgers]

That looks awesome, but $900? Holy hell. I would rather buy some lumber and assemble something than spend $900 on a desk that simple.

Re:Get a Geek Desk

[aclarke]

Make sure you factor in the motorized height adjustment too. Once you've designed and built that, factor in your time and report back to us how many hundred dollars you saved. Maybe you'll end up with something better for less, but for others it's money well spent.

Re:Get a Geek Desk

[Anonymous Coward]

We all have this kind of desk at work (not that specific brand). Easily adjustable for sitting of standing by just pushing a button. And a little stair stepper thing was exactly my thought when I saw this question, though I don't think I personally would like to move about too much whilst working. But just being able to stand up every now and than is great. I'll definitely buy a desk like that for my home sooner or later.

Re:Get a Geek Desk

[Rhys]

I have a geek desk. I love it. Actually I have half a geek desk -- the frame only. I put my own surface on it. All theirs are laminated formaldehyde-laced pasteboard. Bleh. I can buy that crap from Ikea.

So I got a sheet of the soy-glued plywood, stained, sealed it in many (many) layers of poly, let it get good and dry in the garage, ordered frame only, fit two together with provided 3/4" wood screws and life is good.

Baby can't reach a 47" high desk surface. This is convenient. I've also found its really convenient to use to just stop by, check something, and go on my way. There's no butt-in-chair intertia to get over.

I've been looking for a cheap treadmill to try the walking thing. I haven't managed to nab one yet. That is probably a no-go other than as an experiment until the kid is a bit older though, since I think there'd be fingers pinched all the time otherwise.

Re:Get a Geek Desk

[Rhys]

I missed one important thing: which frame I had. I got the max large frame (as opposed to the max small frame -- capacity vs surface size is why they are named oddly).

TBH, I think mine looks better. No pics, sorry. Imagine a nice dark stain on oak, with the characteristic light/dark/light of plywood on the edge.

Re:Get a Geek Desk

[Anonymous Coward]

Add me to the list of happy GeekDesk owners. I wish I'd had something like it years ago. Years of sitting undoubtedly contributed to the herniated/ruptured disc for which I had one surgery in 2008, and which has been re-ruptured as of more than a year ago. I've been able to put off a second surgery so far by a combination of standing while I work and drastically increasing my exercise (lots of running, biking, swimming, and core strength). But in the end, it's only delaying the inevitable. Perhaps if I'd been mostly standing instead of sitting at the computer for the last 15+ years, the original injury wouldn't have happened at all...

I got the most expensive model, the GeekDesk Max with the largest top. Not so much for the fact that it can hold/lift up to 300 pounds, but because it has 4 preset heights you can program in. Much nicer to just hit a button to go up or down to exactly the right height than to have to sit/stand there and hold it for several seconds, guessing at the right place to let go each time. That alone was worth the extra money for me.

My only complaint was they were severely backlogged when I ordered (last October) and it took over 2.5 months to arrive. Hopefully they've got their supply channels in better shape now.

After seeing it in another post on this story, I'm seriously considering getting one of these treadmills to add to it (backordered too, gah!). My back definitely feels much better when walking than when standing still. The adjustable height desks on this site look suspiciously similar to GeekDesks... wonder if that's coincidence?

Only problem would be sitting for those few times when I need a short break. They show some installations with the treadmill actually recessed into the floor so you can roll a chair right on top of it, but no way I'm doing that. They also sell a little stool that's made to sit on the treadmill when not moving, but holy cow - the stool costs half as much as the treadmill! I'm sure something cheaper would work too...

Re:Get a Geek Desk

[C0dey]

Reminds me of these: http://www.biomorphdesk.com/c-1-interactive-desk.aspx Always wanted one but I blew the budget on my chair :p

Re:Get a Geek Desk

[Anonymous Coward]

congratulations USA you just discovered what us europeans have been using for decades!

Sit stand desks are absolutely everyewhere, you can even buy them in IKEA

My linak controlled desk is over 10 years old and I know people who have had them for 25 years

I'm not rich but I have 4 sit stand desks and $900 is way overpriced

you can get them for about 500 Euros over here and thats with 20% VAT

apparently you also discovered sodastrem recently (which we've had since the seventies)

maybe you eventually discover electric kettles!!!

Re:Get a Geek Desk

[Anonymous Coward]

have you got a proper ergonomic chair/

one that allows you to sit properly and lets you support your back through your sitting posture for example the seat tilts forward and your not "cupped" by the seat. If you have a flat seat the seat cups you thus promoting poor posture.

the whole poiint of sit stand desk is that it allows you to get a chair that is sized for you to support you ina varierty of poistion and then you can adjust the table to match and then the monitor to match that position

have you tried a varier move stool? http://www.varierfurniture.com/Collections/Human-instruments/Move

off the subject can i also recoomend a varier gravity as the most perfect sitting tool availlable http://www.varierfurniture.com/Collections/Human-instruments/Gravity-balans-R

Re:Get a Geek Desk

[DuckDodgers]

I'm sure the motorized height adjustment is nice, and it's definitely not something I would take the time to do. At best I would use spare blocks of wood under the legs to raise or lower the desk a few inches at a time.

$950 isn't terrible, don't get me wrong. But I don't have that kind of spare cash.

I would imagine

[james_van]

that slapping some wheels onto a standing desk and pushing it with your elbows while you type would accomplish the task. Not entirely sure what pacing-enabled programming is though.....

Re:I would imagine

[Compaqt]

He needs to get a junior dev to push the desk from side to side.

Bonus points if you can pass it off to the PHB as pair programming.

Re:I would imagine

[b4dc0d3r]

Or, as Cmdr. Data would do, we strapped her desk to a furniture dolly.

Through other experiments, we discovered the paradox where the waterfall coding method is the most agile of them all. Briefly.

Plantar Fasciitis?

[Compaqt]

I was also interested in the idea of a standing desk, until I heard about Policeman's Heel (Plantar Fasciitis) and how standing all day can contribute to that.

Anybody in the know about that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantar_fasciitis

Re:Plantar Fasciitis?

[Loether]

Planter Faciitis is a common overuse injury lots of runners get as well. Anytime you are using/overusing muscles in a way your body is unaccustomed to it can cause problems. Still, problems caused by exercise, usually have simple solutions, like easing up a little or adding a different exercise to compensate. Overall your risks of health problems are far greater from lack of exercise than from an overuse injury.

I say if you are interested in a standing desk, try it out, but have a backup sitting station as your body gets accustomed to it's newly used muscles.

Re:Plantar Fasciitis?

[drinkypoo]

Standing bad, walking good. Our physical form made its last major changes when we were doing a lot of walking. Having a fucked up heel does not strictly prevent one from procreating, nor joint damage which tends to show up late in life, so presumably it will be some time before we evolve the ability to stand still for long periods of time before damage sets in.

Re:Plantar Fasciitis?

[Jahf]

The difference is:

1) Especially at a desk you can alternate regularly, which you should, which will vastly lower the risk.

2) Plantar Fasciitis sucks (I've had it) and can take up to a couple of years (since every time you walk you are possibly re-injuring it) to recover from ... but ... you're alive after those couple of years. Current research shows the amount of time we spend at our desks flat-out removes years from our lives.

Best solution: stand for at least 50% of the time.

Ok solution: stand for 100% of the time.

No solution: sit all the time.

Re:Plantar Fasciitis?

[sconeu]

Yeah, it feels like someone driving a spike through the sole of your foot.

Re:Plantar Fasciitis?

[wvmarle]

ANY pose that you keep for long time is bad for you. Your body is made to move, to change position frequently.

To break the sitting posture, walking a few steps now and then is enough. Have your printer a few steps away making you get up to pick up a print-out is a great way to accomplish that.

Sitting all the time is bad. Standing all the time is bad. Lying all the time is bad. Especially when it's in the same pose. Having a good sitting/walking/standing posture helps a lot but it's no replacement for changing position every now and then. Ask any supermarket cashier that has to stand all day long on how demanding and tiring that is. Police constables have the advantage that they can walk around more, giving them more movement.

Re:Plantar Fasciitis?

[bazorg]

Clearly the solution for office workers' woes is to have a desk setup that *allows* standing, without forcing it for longer than is comfortable. Last time there was this kind of debate on Slashdot, people pointed out that draughtsman chairs, coupled with a properly sized desk will allow comfortable sitting when that is preferable.

Re:Plantar Fasciitis?

[AmiMoJo]

The best solution would be to find a way to prevent wasting away while sat in a chair.

Re:Plantar Fasciitis?

[Jahf]

Walking: good
Standing: not as good
Sitting: awful

No one who works at a coding job is going to find a way to truly walk all of the time. Not today (someday I easily see this happening and a few hackers could definitely speed it up). But doing anything you can to avoid sitting is going to make you healthier. Standing is the way to go.

Re:Plantar Fasciitis?

[jj00]

I try to combat this issue by standing on a foam pad and breaking up my day by sitting on a tall office chair (called a drafting stool) once in a while.

Re:Plantar Fasciitis?

[ScottSClark]

I stand about 8 total hours each day, but never more for 2 hours at a time. Sometimes I sit to take a call. Other times it's walking around to talk to folks or sit in meetings. This is one of those times when "balance" is key. Don't *just* do one thing. Never just sit or just stand or just walk. The body wants to keep moving to spread the exercise around the body. I personally am at my worst when I'm not following a regiment, as I err on the side of physical laziness. But that's what Outlook is for. I typically try to space my meetings so they *don't* all happen at once, giving me time to sit, stand, walk, etc throughout the day. I'm not coding fulltime though. For that I'd second what someone else said: drafting table. They can get pricey, even used; however, if you get one that is easy to raise and lower, you can stand and sit on an hourly rotation. The good ones can bear a LOT of weight. Back in the day, I had my big CRT right and keyboard right on it and the pneumatic bore the weight just fine. So any modern device is gonna be effectively weightless for the table.

Re:Plantar Fasciitis?

[Anonymous Coward]

Walking all the time isn't good for you either. For many professions, worn-out knees is a professional decease caused by too much walking about. This was not a problem when people were lucky to reach 40 but today you still have a large chunk of your life ahead of you and you don't want every step to hurt. The best thing to do is to take short bouts of heavy exercise - not running of course! - and have a healthy and balanced diet.

Re:Plantar Fasciitis?

[ColdWetDog]

Don't stand (or anything else) ALL DAY.

Move around.

I suggest sprinkling toddlers throughout the workspace. That would keep everybody on their toes.

Re:Plantar Fasciitis?

[TheLink]

Sitting is only awful because most idiot furniture makers and ergonomics "experts" haven't made decent office chairs even though chairs were invented thousands of years ago.

They've been telling people that sitting straight is better and making chairs like that when they've been wrong:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6187080.stm

Sure if you lie down and don't move for long you get bed sores, but there's no real problem if you recline for a while then get up and walk (or even run) about every now and then. I bet that's better for you than standing or walking the whole day.

Maybe the very expensive office chairs are OK, but it's ridiculous how uncompetitive and crap the furniture/chair industry is.

Re:Plantar Fasciitis?

[TheLink]

BTW even that study seems stupid to me, since they just tested 3 positions and claim 135 is the best. Where's their proof that 180 or even 190 isn't better?

Just shows how dismal the science of ergonomics is.

Re:Plantar Fasciitis?

[Anonymous Coward]

Or, get the best of both worlds with an adjustable desk....

http://www.ergotron.com/Products/tabid/65/PRDID/380/Default.aspx

Re:Plantar Fasciitis?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's an injury and it is rather nasty once you got it. I had it from running, not badly, as any warming up made it go away. So I continued running was wearing stiff insoles for a couple of years. I taped it. It did stay with me, painful in the morning when I got our of bed and painful when ever I had not used my feet for > 30 min

Well the solution was simple and cheap. I bought a foot brace for $15 and put it on at night. The next morning I had no pain putting weight on my foot. After a week of this it was mostly gone. With the brace i realized how much one sleeps with the foot in an extended position. This keeps the tendons in a short position and the injured tendons heal in that position, Next morning you stretch it again and that repeats the injury and is painful. Voila. It's not the most comfortable in bed, but for a cure that starts working the first time I used it, its not bad. Off course your mileage may vary (and I know people that have it much more severely).

Re:Plantar Fasciitis?

[Anonymous Coward]

I have one of these at work. It's just ok. My GeekDesk at home is 1000 times better. My main complaint with the Ergotron, aside from the lack of space (I do have the work surface accessory, but it's small) is that its range of motion is too small for my height (6'1"). When standing, my monitor is just a bit too low, and when sitting, it's just a bit too high.

I'd much rather have a GeekDesk of any kind at work, but I'm just happy my company provided anything at all.

Re:Plantar Fasciitis?

[Anonymous Coward]

don't waste so much paper ... i would rather suggest drinking lots of water frequently and let nature take its course

Re:Plantar Fasciitis?

[Jahf]

This is untrue. Yes, bad furniture makes sitting WORSE ... but sitting in ANY position is being shown to fire signals to your body that cause your system to deteriorate faster.

Basically ... the more you sit, the faster you "age" compared to others. Or at least the fewer years you will have before you pass.

So yes, get the best seating you can and use it when you have to, but don't think that it will be as good for you as standing.

In bathroom

[stanlyb]

If you manage to put all the gadgets in the bathroom, i would develop day and night, night and day.....

Re:In bathroom

[dindi]

"bathroom" where you take showers
or
"bathroom" where you take dumps?

Why?

treadmill desk

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.thehumansolution.com/uplift-treadmill-desk.html

The future?

[davidwr]

The future will be a virtual reality where you sit back in your easy chair and do everything in your head.

Now, as to how far in the future??? Well, that's a question for another /. submission.

Re:The future?

[Bigby]

I think that is the answer the post is looking for. When will programming leave the desktop? It has been there since people (well most people) stopped soldering.

When will we be able to program, just by thinking of it? Or speaking it?

Re:The future?

[b4dc0d3r]

I never knew what that nagging suspicion was in the back of my head until just now. Curly brace languages will have to either die out, or become so common we think in punctuation, before this happens.

Or, the ambiguities of empty statements being legal will have to be permanently ironed out so that an IDE can auto-complete, or auto-punctuate, rather easily. BEGIN/END, try/catch, and similar constructs will have to become the standard, I think, before we can leave the 100+keyboard device. We will reort to using "begin" for the open brace, and "end" for the closing anyway - why differ spoken vs. typed code unnecessarily?

The only objection to using begin/end I see is the added typing. A brace is one character, in a time when the "unix" name for a program was as short as possible. Saying "begin" rather than "curly brace" will be easier.

In other words, we don't yet think the same as we type, consistently. When that happens, maybe.

Re:The future?

[Lemmeoutada Collecti]

In other words, programming through a thought based interface will use a language based on Ada?

The future is (kinda) here

[American AC in Paris]

I'm currently working at my treadmill. I've clamped a cheap-ass particleboard shelf to the thing, and I walk at a nice relaxed 2-2.5 mph while I work. It holds my laptop, tablet, and phone, with plenty of room to spare for a beer. Works wonderfully. Granted, I'm not actually going anywhere, but it's an excellent way to get a long, easy, steady level of physical exercise in without actually impinging on your productivity one whit. Between this treadmill and carefully tracking my intake (using a Fitbit,) I've lost nearly [30 pounds|14 kilos] since January.

As for mobility, we're beginning to hit the point where tablet apps can be used for real, if not necessarily heavy, work. Diet Coda is a good example. There's some nice connectivity out there, too: the company I work for uses Lync and Adobe Connect, both of which have surprisingly rich tablet apps available. If you do meetings and/or collaborative work, they're quite nice.

Re:The future is (kinda) here

[Tigris666]

Loving this idea. I just rebuilt my office to house the treadmill on the wall behind where i work, so anytime i want a break i can just jump on. As I read this I turned to look at it for a minute and yeah, it makes a lot of sense, I could quite easily strap some spare chipboard to the arms of it and sit my laptop on there without a worry. I just wonder if walking at 2mph will affect my typing.

Re:The future is (kinda) here

[American AC in Paris]

It's easily an order of magnitude cheaper than the various uberdesks out there, to be certain, and it does the job quite well. The handles of a treadmill are already positioned at a natural height for the typical person. I'm using a pair of trigger clamps to hold the board in place, which works quite nicely--you can take the desk off in a matter of seconds if you want to do a proper treadmill workout, and pop it back on just as fast.

I walk at a good clip most of the time, so 2mph feels a bit slow--I'm up to a more natural-feeling 2.3 and still typing just fine. Wouldn't want to do too much precision work in Photoshop or Illustrator, but for plain old typing and point-and-click stuff, it's just fine.

Re:The future is (kinda) here

[CAIMLAS]

I've done something similar to improve my health. Instead of walking all day, I took up smoking.

Yeah, that's right. Smoking has improved my health. I've got to tromp down a half dozen flights of stairs everytime I want a fucking cigarette, and then march back to the top. So, like clockwork, I get a nice brief aerobic exercise as I go down to get me back up to 'normal' heartrate from a sitting heart rate, and then 5 minutes later I get a brief period of exertive exercise as I climb (these days, run) up the 6 flights of steps back to my office.

Get a used drafting table

[trout007]

Here is an example in Orlando where I live.
http://orlando.craigslist.org/bfs/2976873338.html

You can adjust height and angle. I work on one similar to this and I stand all day. It was tiring at first but is great now. The tops are removable so you can customize it to your hearts content.

In REAMDE...

[Vireo]

In REAMDE, one of Stephenson's character is a prolific writer who is constantly active. He litterally lives on a threadmill. Being rich, he works in a room equipped with an industrial robot that supports keyboard, displays, and a head-tracking camera so that the whole setup is bobbing exactly in synchronicity with his head and arms.

I guess it *is* a solution. I'm just not sure anybody tried it for real yet.

Re:In REAMDE...

[ColdWetDog]

He also lives in a trailer park and is batshit insane.

But whatever floats your boat.

Re:In REAMDE...

[Coz]

Well, yeah... he's a prolific author of heroic fantasy - you'd expect him to be sane?

I want....

[Anonymous Coward]

A pony.

Just when you thought zombies were bad

[Ukab the Great]

Now Introducing Walking Workstations with 2x Brain Eating Power (tm)

How about...

[boaworm]

A warm pool and a waterproof laptop?

What's the whole picture?

[localman57]

As a developer who spends most of each day at the same desk in the same chair, I'm concerned about ergonomics and what I can do to keep my body from wasting away while I program.

Our people here pretty much do the same thing. Hours on end in meetings or at a desk. Yet the fitness of the people varies wildly from morbidly obese, to triatheletes. Fixing your work situation may be part of the "wasting away" issue, but it's a small part. What you eat, and what you do during off hours in terms of exercise is likely to be a bigger part. As a desk jockey, you probably should be most concerned with repetitive stress disorders in the office, so your focus on ergonomics is good. Carpal Tunnel and the like. Focus on those first at work, then adopt a healthy lifestyle for your off-work time to solve the rest.

Re:What's the whole picture?

[supercrisp]

A lot of recent research, which I will unkindly not cite, since you can get it with the Google, says that, no matter how much cardio you get otherwise, sitting at a desk all day is trashing your heart. Something about chemical signals sent from inactive leg muscles.

Yes, there is a way:

[Anonymous Coward]

The iPad.

Re:Yes, there is a way:

[localman57]

The iPad.

Oh, and The Cloud. Don't forget about The Cloud.

Re:Yes, there is a way:

[Anonymous Coward]

No Cloud, just SSH & Vi. You are not a programmer.

Re:Yes, there is a way:

[Anonymous Coward]

Go back to VB Lan or F.Net toy.

Two computers

[Lord Lode]

Work on two computers at the same time, and have them be not near each other. While a command runs on the one, run to the other and do stuff there, and vice versa.

Been there, done that, but not because for the exercise.

Re:Two computers

[swanzilla]

Work on two computers at the same time, and have them be not near each other. While a command runs on the one, run to the other and do stuff there, and vice versa

Shop for RAM?

Simple experiment

[vlm]

I have a treadmill at home; I have a laptop; I have wood and saws and clamps and stuff. Doesn't take much imagination to guess what I tried years ago.

Results were it seems to be an almost stereotypical example of "sounds like a good idea but it doesn't work". I found walking made my arms/hands wiggle so much that mice/trackball were impossible, and even typing is hard. Also I stumbled a lot (insert jokes about can't chew gum and walk at same time here). Finally small detail is hard to see on a screen while walking, I found myself stopping to study error messages and find syntax errors.

If I could magically walk while it builds or while I think, that would be great.

Frankly I have a treadmill in front of the TV at home, and both socially and mentally I walk around at work every hour and go to the can or something. Since I work with guys who take ten minute smoke breaks every half hour, taking a five minute break every hour is actually a heroic effort on my part, I guess it depends where you work.

I did use the "laptop on treadmill" to watch videos and listen to music, worked pretty well for that.

Also the "whirr" noise of a treadmill would be pretty annoying 8 to 10 hours per day for me and my coworkers.

Natural Bobbing Motion Makes This Difficult

[eldavojohn]

The problem I've found with pacing-enabled programming or even reading is that if you're moving your body has a natural bob to it. What follows is that it is incredibly tiring to try to train your eyes on something smaller than a person on a screen. So while I can hop on an elliptical and watch TV, it's much more difficult to read and even more difficult to try to coordinate in a programming way. I have coworkers who use standing workstations that they can swivel to alternate to a sitting position and then can swivel further to be on an aerobics inflated ball. Personally, I don't see the benefit of this and it seems half the people who try it love it and the other half hate it. It is expensive, swiveling the monitor, having the space to be either standing or sitting in two different ways.

At work I'm allowed to walk around outside. If I am about to start a problem, I'll often go for a walk while thinking about the package structure (yeah yeah Java sucks, whatever) or pattern usage and then come back and sketch it out. But when I do serious cardio, I just do serious cardio. There's no room for me to be able to do that in tandem with something. Whether it's a treadmill or erg machine, it's just too involved and bouncing. Until displays that are anchored to your head become better quality and cheaper (maybe the Google goggles will do this?) it's just not going to work for me. Everything I've seen today is just too gimmicky.

I commented on this years ago and still firmly believe that proper wrist exercises are necessary and probably the most important workout for my lifestyle. Since then I've learned some more from friends: wrist curls, reverse wrist curls, wrist rolls and wrist rotations. You can google them to see how to do them with a bar or ask a professional at your gym to show you how to do it properly (doing them improperly can be worse than not doing them at all). I have one of the Gyro Wrist Exercise Balls but it's a loud little device and is usually annoying for those around you.

Re:Natural Bobbing Motion Makes This Difficult

[drinkypoo]

At work I'm allowed to walk around outside.

Must not work for Foxconn...

I commented on this years ago and still firmly believe that proper wrist exercises are necessary and probably the most important workout for my lifestyle

You and me, both. Er, wait...

Please !

[Anonymous Coward]

Put you sneakers on and run 3 miles every day. Takes no more than half an hour. And your body will be in better shape and you can comfortably sit on your ass while programming.

Giant Ball "Chair"

[CanHasDIY]

I've heard a number of folks tout the wonders of replacing your standard office chair with a big-ass inflatable ball.

Wouldn't know myself, the cube farm I currently occupy has a standing ban on anything that might be construed as personality.

Re:Giant Ball "Chair"

[Anonymous Coward]

big ass-inflatable ball.

What I read.

Re:Giant Ball "Chair"

[aclarke]

I'm sitting on a ball right now. it is great, and I find it much better than sitting on a chair all day. I have both and switch between them as I feel like it. I can definitely feel in my back (in a good way) after an hour or so that I've been sitting on the ball, so I know it's doing something. I'm sure if I used it more, the muscles would get more used to it.

Anyway, I highly recommend it if you're able. If your workplace won't allow it, then they really suck, as it doesn't bother anyone else, it's not expensive, and it's good for you.

Re:Giant Ball "Chair"

[CanHasDIY]

We recently received a memo that griddles are no longer allowed during food days, because someone complained about the smell of bacon cooking, so... yea. Suxxors.

Working here reminds me of all the times I was told as a youth that when I became an adult, I would get to make my own decisions...

Re:Giant Ball "Chair"

[rrohbeck]

This. Just replace your chair with a gym ball. It's compatible with your desk yet keeps you from slouching. In the end you'll exercise your back all day long.

Re:Giant Ball "Chair"

[grumpy_old_grandpa]

How are them TPS reports coming along? Oh, and did you get the memo about the new front page sheet? :-p

Re:Giant Ball "Chair"

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

Yeah dude, we all read that xkcd too.

Anthro

[Jahf]

I've been using an Anthro (brand) Fit System (product line) Console unit (product name) for a few years now. As with other solutions posted already, you aren't going to get to walk with it, but it allows for quick switching between standing and sitting (the keyboard tray has a huge travel range). The product is rock solid after years and a couple of multi-state moves, so I am happy to endorse it.

If your paying from your own budget, Anthro isn't cheap (I spent over $4000 on a console with 3 shelves and some doodads), but go through their products and you'll find smaller solution that will likely work.

For standing, I just don't see you getting a truly free mobile desk. But ... with as advanced as text-to-speech is becoming, I'd be surprised if you couldn't rig a speech translator up and train it to recognize "code" words. I just hope for your co-workers' sakes that you telecommute :)

I think your best bet is probably hybrid: use pacing time as a way to brainstorm ... use voice dictation to take notes ... and then walk to a standing desk to start immediately working. Then if you have a long boring call or your back aches (my reason for getting the Anthro, lots of congenital back problems) swing it down to a sitting position for a break.

Re:Anthro

[Jahf]

forgot to link it:

http://www.anthro.com/computer-furniture.aspx?desk=fit-console

related: the Winnebiko

[Anonymous Coward]

It's not exactly the same thing, but closely related, I hope most nerds have not forgotten the Winnebiko, a mobile workstation / bike first ridden in 1983. The guy has now branched out into other things like that.

http://microship.com/

Proper terminology, please

[NEDHead]

I believe the correct term for standing/walking workstations is ROBOT!!!

Standing is good

[PPH]

By itself, just standing is much better then sitting.

If you want to mix it up a bit, set up a treadmill. But try one out first (before buying). Some people have complained that they can't type or aim a mouse/trackball properly while walking. You might also want to try out a recumbent stationary bicycle. The seat might hold your body steady enough to eliminate the trackball shakes.

Wouldn't a Stationary Bike be easier?

[Bob535]

If you're doing it to keep fit, wouldn't a stationary bike be easier? The motion of walking is much more difficult to compensate for. A bike would also be lower impact, which would be better for something you are doing for a long time.

Not in IT

[Hentes]

You can only work while walking when you are a manager.

Not many good computer desks out there

[locopuyo]

I've been looking for a desk for the past several months and came to the conclusion that if I want something good I will have to build it.

I currently have 6 monitors and plan on adding more and there aren't any computer desks big enough to handle them. I also wanted the ability be able to use it as a standing desk as well.

I came up with a design to suit my needs but I haven't built it yet. Basically it is 2 desks. One is used for all of the monitors and the other is used for the keyboard, mouse, and whatever other input devices you may have.

Ideally your arms should be at a 90 degree angle which typically puts your keyboard around 28" or so depending on your height.
The center of your main display should be at about eye level. It is easier to look down so if you have a second row of monitors they should be below and angled at your eyes.

I came up with this design, but ideally there would also be some way to adjust the height to convert it into standing mode. concept image

Re:Not many good computer desks out there

[trout007]

Look on Craigslist for a used professional drafting table.
http://orlando.craigslist.org/bfs/2976873338.html

They are counterbalanced to handle heavy desktops. You can easily take the desktop off and put your own customized one on. They are not only adjustable in height but angle as well.

Re:Not many good computer desks out there

[ColdWetDog]

These last forever. I have an old Neolt that I bought in the mid seventies. Still going strong. Heavy as hell. I've clamped some Anthro things (look above) to it for a large mostly standing workstation. Use a drafting chair for the times you need to sit still.

Re:Not many good computer desks out there

[trout007]

Mine is a Mayline Desk-O-Matic II®

Re:Not many good computer desks out there

[dindi]

I bought a heavy duty 2m x 2m x 0.8m rack. Built my own tray from wood and quality rails to suit my ergonomic needs. I host 5-6 machines, win/lin desktops, lin/osx minis, 2 mac laptops, 3 monitors and a 40' tv on it (ps3/mac mini), 3 UPSes (1000w) and a load of network stuff like hubs, modems, APs, time capsule and random projects (arduinos servos, crap).

I highly recommend the setup for a home office. I doubt that many companies would allow this at a public space. I actually worked at a DTP studio once where it was a "build your desk from warehouse racks" fetish thing going on. My rack is a "Gorilla rack" and it actually looks nice (precise, detailed, strong build) with no sharp edges or crappy finish.

I am planning of getting an extra ( to host projects, soldering station, parts) and put it behind me, then connect the 2 together with beams and/or steel braided wire. For overhead lighting and some strange project that involves overhead projection and head /object tracking....

Now back to ergonomics: I wanted an ergonomic desk for a long time, but always ended up asking myself: "OK, so where does my stuff go if I get this". The rack is flexible, you can sit or stand, ... as for adjusting on the fly.. well ... no way.... the last time I had to move it (polished concrete floor) I had to WD-40 the floor to move it a foot while almost crapping myself.

What Is the Future of Standing/Walking?

[John Hasler]

My observations of the younger generations indicate that it's going to die out.

Where's the Easy button?

[Sparticus789]

Give it two years before Siri is adapted to understand programmer jargon. I'd like to walk around with a headset saying "she-bang slash bin slash bash -w"

Get Multi-level

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been using a stand-up desk for over 10 years and am very happy with it. Mine is/was adjustable but I find that I leave it at the stand-up height and have a lab counter height chair for if I want to sit at the desk. My desk has multiple surfaces with adjustable levels - higher shelf for monitors, lower for keyboard/books/papers, etc... - I would recommend that rather than a single level.

What the fuck, slashdot?

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously? What a fucking retarded question. Reflect for a moment, and you'll answer your own question. I suggest that you, as a programmer, get a gym membership and exercise either before or after work. Do you really think you can do your job effectively in any position other than sitting down? Have you imagined this scenario for more than one second? If so, you should probably have an answer to your own question. The reason everything you're imaginingg is awkward is because writing code for 8 hours in any position other than sitting at a desk IS FUCKING AWKWARD.

A year of standing

[jbessie]

I'm approaching a year at my standing desk. Here are the benefits I've noticed:

- I've got more energy
- I'm more productive, I don't seem to have that power down after lunch any more
- Less loitering around my desk as people can't seem to stand for very long
- Great conversation topic, people are extremely interested in the idea
- The most surprising aspect of this has been that sitting has actually become a relaxing break. It feels great to take a load off and I feel much less lazy about going home and watching a show or two since I've been up all day.

After some research I ended up using an Ikea Fredrik desk and it's worked quite well. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60111123/ I also picked up one of those anti-fatigue mats at Home Depot. It was too painful without it.

Other developers here at the office are now planning to transition as well too. I'd encourage anybody to give it a shot. If you can make it past the first week or two of leg and foot pain you should be fine. It's not that bad and the benefits are worth it.

Re:A year of standing

[bythescruff]

I've been on a treadmill desk at home since November - even got a brief mention in the news as apparently I was one of the first in the UK to give it a try. I can't recommend it enough. I walk at 1 kph, which doesn't detract from my abilities at all as far as I can tell. Even if it did, the increased alertness and mental stamina (no more afternoon sluggishness) would more than make up for it - no contest. And then there are all the health benefits that come with the extra physical activity, even though it's really, really gentle exercise. I just wish I could have this at work for 8 hours a day instead of just evenings and weekends.

There's a recipe for making your own walking workstation on the cheap in this thread on Office Walkers.

Re:A year of standing

[Anonymous Coward]

That is short. My elbow gets no lower than 48".

the secret is

[fluffythedestroyer]

Just get your ass up and walk around for a couple of minutes (your break ?). Just go outside or walk around. Change your environment, the air, your surrounding for a couple of minutes, its free, relaxing and after a while, it will act like a drug. But you gotta start doing it and sometimes it acts like a car, it's slow to start this type of attitude, but once your doing it, you wont stop. besides, your boss cant make you work 12 hours non stop no break no lunch, that's just impossible and if thats the case, change jobs...seriously

Re:the secret is

[Anonymous Coward]

I take breaks during the day and do push-ups and situps. This helps especially when I feel overwhelmed, the endorphins after doing push-ups helps clear my head so I can go back to solving problems.

We have a small server room which nobody goes in and there's just enough room inside for one person to exercise. It feels great to be able to work and work out all in the same 8 hour block. Just don't do it too much -- people at my job ask me what I'm doing in the server closet all the time...

Get a ball

[curunir]

Get a balance exercise ball to replace your chair. Keep your chair for the first couple of months as it will take some time until your back is strong enough to sit on one for the entire day. In the end, the working position is just as comfortable as a chair but you spend a large part of the day working your core (not strenuously, but it adds up.)

These are the ones that many people in my office have (adjust size according to your height.)

Physical Multitasking

[rgbfoundry]

It's about as good as any multi-tasking. If you're really good, you can get away with it looking productive, but studies have show managing a single task at a time works best. You will get a better machine/body interface if you're not trying to walk around. You could argue that standing is slightly more healthy than sitting, but the counter argument would be that maintaining any position for prolonged periods is bad for you. I think we're moving toward a "Ghost in the Shell" machine interface where our electronics wrap around us. Just look at the Mad Catz Gaming Mouse, or the mind controlled gimmick electronics. We're working on interfaces that work around a sedentary body, and eventually we'll replace the parts of the body that have a problem with sedentary behavior.

focus on one activity at a time

[peter303]

When you write software, write software. When you exercise, exercise, hopefully on a daily basis. Mixing the two will degrade each.

Re:focus on one activity at a time

[Anonymous Coward]

When you write software, write software. When you exercise, exercise, hopefully on a daily basis. Mixing the two will degrade each.

This. I came to post the same thing. I'm a full time software engineer. I do my best thinking when I'm off walking. Doesn't have to be a gym or a treadmill. When I get stuck thinking about something, I walk a couple of miles. Combined with a moderate diet I've lost 40+ lbs since January.

Re:focus on one activity at a time

[Anonymous Coward]

As an addition to Peter's statement, thinking about your software while exercising can cause you to think of things that might not have otherwise occurred to you. I have my best ideas in a swimming pool with my blood pumping hard, but cool down and get a bite to eat before writing any code.

Re:focus on one activity at a time

[Anonymous Coward]

Wrong.

It's recently been shown that exercising does not decrease mortality caused by sitting for long periods of time. In short, it's not the need for exercise that's the problem, it's the damage caused by sitting down for hours at a time.

Our bodies aren't made for sitting in a chair all day, no matter how much Diablo 3 may make us want to believe otherwise.

Re:focus on one activity at a time

[thesandtiger]

Not in my personal experience, which is all that is relevant to me.

I switched from a regular desk to a standing desk and I've noticed that I have more energy throughout the day, less pain from things like sciatica, and feel the need to take fewer breaks. I've also noted that I am getting more work done in less time, and the work is generally the same to slightly higher quality by a number of metrics. My workday winds up being about an hour shorter than before, but I am a little more productive, basically.

And, my exercise routine has actually gotten a boost as well. Because I am using my legs more during the day, I would think - my running speed is a bit faster (my mile has steadily improved since the shift to a standing desk after plateauing for over a year) and my flexibility has also been improving a bit.

I don't walk at my desk, though I may incorporate a treadmill, but rather I kind of hop around and dance a bit, do basic squats, etc. looks dumb, but I don't really care. The more active things are done when I'm reading email, but I am still pretty active when doing more mentally challenging stuff.

For the record, about 75% of my day involves writing code, designing software, or analyzing data. It was a bit distracting for the first 2 days or so; I was consciously thinking of standing and remembering to move around, but after that it just became a habit and takes no real attention.

So maybe your advice is good for some, but it is wrong for me, for sure.

Re:focus on one activity at a time

[robot_love]

I think this is a naive comment. A lot of us don't have time to not mix the two. I can work, or I can exercise. I don't have time for both. Since I don't get paid to exercise, guess which one doesn't happen? That's the appeal of standing or walking while working.

You're not completely wrong, however. I set up a walking workstation for when I program at home. I found I needed to stop and stand whenever I encountered a difficult issue. It was truly a surprising development. I cannot think as hard or in the same way walking as I can sitting.

It may be there's an adjustment period, and the problem goes away in time. I don't know. Never got that far...

COWs

[Rob the Bold]

Doctors sometimes use COWs (computer on wheels) in patient rooms instead of notepads and pocket references (or memory). This practice seems to be waning, since tablets and tablet applications have improved. And the pocket reference has already mostly given way to PDAs and now smartphones. Real hospital-grade COWs are hundreds of dollars, but if you feel it improves your health and productivity then it's not any more ridiculous than a high quality chair that suits your posture.

Re:COWs

[ColdWetDog]

The big problem with COWS is privacy. The newer US regs make it illegal for anyone else to be able to see the screen. A laptop on wheels, especially with a newer screen, can be seen by bystanders which is a bozo no-no. The 'legal' COWS have flaps and doors and look essentially like a closet on wheels and are pretty useless and stupefyingly expensive (more than the laptop).

Nurses liked them because they could hold various nurse gizmos like BP cuffs and thermometers.

Tablets are going to replace this particular niche as you noticed.

And I thought...

[Anonymous Coward]

walking and texting was bad.

20/3 Minute Pomodoro with exercise

[Flammon]

The point is to give your brain a break and move your body. Working while standing will do neither and you'll only get half the benefits if walking.

The best combination that I've found is work for 20 minutes then take a 3-4 minute break. During the break, do moderate exercises. My routine is 20 squats with 5lb weights, 6 burpees, 6 chin-ups, 20 jumping jacks and I finally run for the remaining time.

I've been doing this for a few months now and not only do I feel great, my productivity has more than doubled.

It's based on the Pomodoro Technique. http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/

Re:20/3 Minute Pomodoro with exercise

[liquiddark]

Good luck ever entering the most productive part of the attention curve.

Re:20/3 Minute Pomodoro with exercise

[Flammon]

From the Chinese saying, close your eyes and you will see clearly. It's during that 3min away from the computer that I do my best work.

Re:20/3 Minute Pomodoro with exercise

[Anonymous Coward]

So you are productive for 3 minutes out of 23?

Dreaming...

[msobkow]

Why do people keep dreaming of getting exercise from a desk job or of sitting in air-conditioned comfort while shovelling dirt?

The very nature of those jobs dictate their sedentary/active styles. If you want exercise, join a gym.

Personally the last thing I want in an office is some yahoo wandering around behind my desk, yapping on a bluetooth and tapping away at some tablet device because they want "freedom to move" while interrupting my ability to get work done.

Soft surface keyboards

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi my name is janne and i've been working on idea of making pillow with printed keyboard as virtual keyboard+ mouse... You could have that on your lap and "the leap", cameras or interlaced pressure sensors inside the pillow could work. Install workrave so it reminds you to stand up/ keep mini breaks. Buy small basket ball and throw it around during breaks. Also I suggested to dragon talk and google that they should do swipe+ speech recognition and use both data to do actually working input method. You could say "leftie","righty", "doubly" for clicks and use tablet or pillow mouse for pointer positioning. Standing too long won't be good for your back.

Hey, watch out for that...

[FridayBob]

... bus.

Timebox the work

[Anonymous Coward]

in to 15 minute increments. Jump around and flex between. Let that code sprint commence. Your heart will thank you eventually as the eight hours of constant sitting will kill you according to some recent research. Even if you would run two hours between the workplace and home in the before and after the work that wouldn't be sufficient.

Agile Development

[jeffmeden]

As a developer who spends most of each day at the same desk in the same chair, I'm concerned about ergonomics and what I can do to keep my body from wasting away

So you are the jerk that isn't showing up to the stand up meetings we have twice a day?

Treadmill Desk

[hawkeyeMI]

Here's my setup, I love it: Image on treadmill product page

Not

[whitroth]

So, you want management to spring money for a treadmill, or whatever, in *addition* to your desk and chair? Just to add to the noise already, where so many jobsites are going for lower cube walls, because managers are enamored of "bullpens" (and how many of *them* don't have offices with doors)?

No, what comes next is the old Dilbert cartoon: Velcro on our backs, and they'll stick us to the walls for cheaper office space.

                mark

Re:Not

[isorox]

So, you want management to spring money for a treadmill, or whatever, in *addition* to your desk and chair? Just to add to the noise already, where so many jobsites are going for lower cube walls, because managers are enamored of "bullpens" (and how many of *them* don't have offices with doors)?

No, what comes next is the old Dilbert cartoon: Velcro on our backs, and they'll stick us to the walls for cheaper office space.

                mark

You get walls? We get a long bench which you get 3 or 4 people camped on. I've tried to build a wall out of monitors (I have one of the few non-hotdesks), but I'd kill to be in a cube

LifeSpan TR1200-DT Treadmill Desk

[wirefall]

I've had this for a couple of months and it has significantly changed my health for the better.

http://www.amazon.com/LifeSpan-Fitness-TR1200-DT-Treadmill-Desk/dp/B006M2PJV0

I have this setup next to my recliner. I use a splitter and dual monitor stands for both stations, so all I have to do is grab my wireless keyboard and trackball and move from one to the other.

I found fine control of a mouse while using the treadmill to be very challenging. I would definitely recommend using a trackball.

Sitting is killing me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sitting increases your chance of dying: http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertglatter/2012/05/27/sitting-at-work-increases-your-chance-of-dying/

Check these out, it explains how to build your own for $39.
http://www.treadmill-desk.com/2007/06/step-1-buying-treadmill.html
http://www.treadmill-desk.com/2007/06/step-2-building-your-desk-design-2.html

The 'LifeSpan TR1200-DT Treadmill Desk' is a new product and is getting good reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/LifeSpan-Fitness-TR1200-DT-Treadmill-Desk/dp/B006M2PJV0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1338914353&sr=8-2

It'll happen soon

[DogDude]

I think within the next 10 years, this will be entirely possible. Medical researchers are making some great strides for mapping the brain and reading synapses firing from outside of the head. I think that as soon as it's practical, it'll be marketed like crazy, and it'll be a cheap technology very, very quickly. I think in 10 years we'll be thinking, instead of typing or using a mouse, and if you can program in your head as you walk/run, then sure, you'll be able to do it.

Recent article with video

They've got most of it figured out pretty well. It's just a matter of refinement at this point.

Adjustable desk

[aaaaaaargh!]

The right way is to work about 20 minutes while sitting and then another 20 minutes while standing.

For that you'll nedd one of those desks whose height can be adjusted easily on the fly. Just like ergonomical office chairs they are extremely expensive. I've had one when a was working at University in Scandinavia.

Re:Adjustable desk

[jeffmeden]

The right way is to work about 20 minutes while sitting and then another 20 minutes while standing.

For that you'll nedd one of those desks whose height can be adjusted easily on the fly. Just like ergonomical office chairs they are extremely expensive. I've had one when a was working at University in Scandinavia.

You know they make chairs that sit more than 20 inches off the ground, right? If it was OK for the desk to be mobile then why not just have the thing show up at my house every morning... Now THAT would be an improvement.

Re:Adjustable desk

[Immerman]

Or get multiple monitors, keyboards, and mice and set up two separate workstations connected to the same computer. Unless you already work with 3+ large monitors that will generally be considerably cheaper.

You don't even really need the extra monitors - at my last job I simply re-purposed the top foot of a bookshelf into a standing workstation: set up an extra keyboard/mouse on a shelf at the proper height, and routed my monitor cable so I could easily move it back and forth between my desk and the top of the shelving unit.

Re:Adjustable desk

[CoolGopher]

I use a desk from ErgoMotion at work, and a similar (though larger, custom-designed) one at home. Wouldn't want to work without it. It's quick to change from sitting coding height to standing coding height to sitting reading height. Few seem to realise what a huge difference it is to simply be able to raise your desk a couple of inches when you're reading lots and not using the keyboard. Good desks aren't cheap, but they're not terribly expensive either - and they're worth every cent for my health! :)

A tablet

[Anonymous Coward]

When you can use a tablet and just get up and walk around. This is possible when reading docs, debugging with a graphical debugger, using a CASE tool etc. . Not so much when typing code.

"standing" chairs

[Dripdry]

I don't recall what they're called but there are "half-standing" chairs which help keep the body more engaged than merely sitting. Of course, the desk has to be taller which could be an issue, but it eliminates the bobbing and distraction of walking while also engaging the body a bit more.

I have had this chair concern lately too. I sit basically all the time now. I exercise, but my understanding is that it still isn't very healthy to sit this much.

What about the toilet?

[Anonymous Coward]

I suppose we could install fold-down desktops in the toilet stalls so you can be productive at both ends.

Re:What about the toilet?

[Anonymous Coward]

The name is Devol, Bill Devol. Anonymous no longer...

Ergotron

[ukemike]

I got an Ergotron adjustable standing workstation earlier this year. I probably stand 4-6 hours a day and sit once my feet get tired. It was cheaper than the next cheapest adjustable standing desk by a factor of 2. I'm loving it. It clamps onto a regular desk and it has some internal counter weight so it glides up and down without fiddly cranks or buttons.

http://www.ergotron.com/Products/tabid/65/PRDID/560/language/en-US/Default.aspx

I got it after hearing that sitting all day, even for people who exercise, is bad for heart health. http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20110112/sitting-down-too-long-bad-health

John Medina uses his laptop on top of a treadmill

[Smigh]

John Medina is a molecular biologist, author of the book "Brain Rules". It's a great book, I bought the audiobook which is read by himself, I can't recommend it enough. Anyway, he uses his laptop on top of a treadmill in his office. His reasons are different than yours, they're about a connection between our brain's activity and certain kinds of exercise, and it's all in the book.

Just standing alone will have a big benefit!

[Anonymous Crowbar]

A number of us where I work are cube dwellers. The good thing about most modular cube systems is the table rails run from floor to the top. It takes about 15- 30 minutes to convert a standard desk high cube to be an elbow high one. Will need a screwdriver & a hammer.

Wrong question wording.

[Anonymous Coward]

It is called a SMARTPHONE NOW, not workstation

Probably don't need a desk per se.

[liquiddark]

Based on Joel Spolsky's suggestion I bought a details adjusTable. Being a heavy guy (nearly 400 lbs), I couldn't get their side-by-side setup with a flat treadmill, so I bought a heavy duty treadmill with the intent of hacking it together with the desk. If I had my time back, I think I'd just have bought the treadmill and one of these.

Having said that, there's a lot to be said for a standing desk with good quality lift and the ability to return to sitting position. You can multipurpose the desk for a lot of different stuff. It takes some work, though.

That's an awesome question

[holophrastic]

Also as someone who sits in a chair programming all day, I too have wondered. But my wonder was quite brief. I discovered the other side of things.

I can easily, right now in five seconds, convert my desk into a standing desk. My monitor is a large 30" that telescopes, so it can orient appropriate for standing. Raising the keyboard and mouse, and grabbing a touch screen or air mouse is just as easy. But standing desks are great for 5 minutes of work. They royally suck for 5 hours of programming. After about 30 minutes, my balance becomes my only focus. Turns out that keeping my fingers locked onto a keyboard position is the opposite of balancing. So it just doesn't work for very long.

But about ten years ago, I solved the problem the other way. I don't sit either. I bought a real "chair". It's a Global Concorde Executive 24HR chair. Technically, it's designed for a security guard to be 350 lbs and to sit in it 24/7/52. But in practice, it's a fantastic programming chair when you orient it the way I have.

I don't sit on my buttocks. I sit on my back. The chair is tilted all the way back, and an ottoman holds up my legs. The result is that I'm reclining in a V-like shape, so most of my weight is actually on my back, and the front of my neck holding my head perfectly vertical. I'm 5'8" and 195 lbs, by the way. Parts of me are well toned, my limbs especially. Others not so much.

So in the end, as long as my wrists, back, shoulders, and neck feel perfect, that's the most I can hope for ergonomically from my workstation. Also the TrulyErgonomic keyboard, blank, in dvorak mode is awesome.

Here's hoping sporty driving is exercise enough for the rest of me. Yeah, I know, more sitting. What can I say? I've got a great set of cheeks under me.

Trendy mumbo jumbo...

[Lumpy]

Just stand up every 20 minutes, or take a short walk to get more Monster or RedBull every half hour and you eliminate 99.99876% of all the oogy boogies about how sitting will kill you instantly.

I have a treadmill desk at work

[monk]

I bought a treadmill that was designed to handle running slowly all day long and which has a low profile to slide under my engineering workstation.

I run it at about 1.5 mph all day long and it's very easy to type at that speed after a few days of acclimation.
I imagine a job with quite a bit of mouse work would be a little more difficult, but my trackpad/wrist rest works fine.

It's much easier on my body walking all day as opposed to sitting or standing. The first week I wore my usual hiking boots and was in alot of pain, but switching to good running shoes that fit made all the difference.

My whole setup is:
An Anthro cart.
A Treaddesk treadmill.
A unicomp M4 keyboard.
An IOne Libra 35-T wristpad trackpad.
And Asics GT-2170 shoes.

Works great for me.

not going to work at all

[slashmydots]

Standing in the same place for hours is much more detrimental to health than sitting. Neither are good, but standing is worse. As a programmer, I don't know how slow or unfocused the author is but for me, there is no mental "clock cycles" available for walking subroutines while I'm coding. I'd hit right into a doorframe while trying to artificially processes through the end result of a nested loop. So stop standing and walking around, focus on your work, and buy a better chair (and adjust your monitor height and angle arm position and distance from the keyboard).
By the way, getting up and stretching every 30 minutes has been proven in many studies to be exceptionally helpful.

binary keyboard

[lonelytrail]

When I was in college a professor of mine told a story that's stuck with me ever since.
He put 8 buttons on his bicycle handle bars (4 on each hand for his non-thumb digits) and could type by pressing combinations of buttons, ie. 8 bits per character. He did this on a cross-america tour, so there was plenty of time.
I ride bicycles, so this worked in my head. I can't really imagine the interface (GUI? HUD?) but the input is interesting.
If you've got enough geek in you it shouldn't be TOO hard to start typing at a reasonable pace, even while grasping your handlebars.

Move the Delta Quadrant

[kawabago]

Move to the Delta Quadrant and become a Borg.

Been walking at my desk for a year

[Anonymous Coward]

I also work a tech job from home where I was sitting for sometimes up to 16 hours a day. I suffered from ergonomic issues and lower back and sacral issues that plagued me for YEARS of constant pain. I learned about the idea of a walking desk after reading an article a friend shared with me from the NYTimes called "Is Sitting a Lethal Activity?". It explains how it's not exercise in small bursts we need, it's natural constant movement all day that we need. We weren't meant to sit all day and it's killing us (google it, the details of the study are described better than I can do here). That really resonated with me.

I researched the subject thoroughly before venturing into it and at first considered getting a used treadmill on craigslist and rig up a desk. I got pretty overwhelmed quickly though, with work, kids etc. So I decided that my time was worth more than my money and that I should just fully commit. I ordered a Trek Desk which is made just for this purpose (google it or check Amazon) and ordered a mid-price treadmill with the best warranty (since it would be running all day). It all depends on your commitment and whether you just want to try it out or do it as a long haul – if it’s just the former, just get one on craigslist and fashion up a simply desk to use with a laptop to see how you like it.

I've been doing it for a year now and here are some more info based on my experience in case it helps:

----------------
Results/benefits
----------------
- my low back pain that I had for years? VANISHED after about 6 weeks and hasn't been back since
- I've lost 20 lbs and my back is stronger
- I no longer have that 2pm I-need-sugar-and/or-a-nap coma feeling
- unexpected benefit, my wrist and elbow issues are gone. I think because you're in a more ergonomic position since you have no choice but to have good posture when you walk

-----
FAQs:
-----
Q - How do you type and use your mouse? Isn't that hard to do?
A - It was only slightly at first, but by at first I mean the first DAY. It's surprising how quickly the brain compensates. Typing isn't a problem, but finer mouse operations like double clicking just take a little bit to get used to. Remember, you only need to go between 1mph and 1.5mph. 1mph is quite slow.

Q - Isn't it hard to concentrate on what you're doing?
A - Quite the contrary. When you need to ponder a big problem or decision, what do you do? You WALK. You pace. I don't know the exact science behind it, but my brain feels keener. When you're on the phone or occupied with work, you actually forget you're walking.

Q - How do you handle your work setup? Don't you have to step away a lot?
A - If you get the right desk setup, you can use that as your full time desk. I have 2 laptops, a 24" monitor, my phone and headset, a paper sorter, water bottle, you get the idea. Google walking desk and you should find a lot of home-made setups - some with the monitor up on the wall, etc.
Q - How much do you walk in a day?
A – I thought it would be fun to set a goal for myself and I even considered doing something like map my progress as if I was walking some big trail or across the country, blog about it etc., but in the end I just do what’s comfortable and let it be. My personal best is 10.5 miles in a day, 7 was my most consistent streak but on average it ends up being about 5 to 6 miles a day.

-------
Advice:
-------
- They say it takes 21 days to form a habit. This takes more. I will not lie, the first 5-7 weeks are tough if you’ve switching from being sedentary long term. Your body will complain. Tons of muscles now have to wake up and do their job for a change and they won’t like it. I actually felt my back muscles reshaping themselves as I went. So you'll be sore, and not like workout sore, but achy and your back and hips will complain. If you're prepared (luckily I was), it's not as bad and if you stick with it, know that it will get better. I also recommend getting chiropractic work

For Android Developer:

[WetCat]

Install AIDE and go for a walk in a park with your phone, having your IDE handy with you. Or put your phone/pad to a treadmill in front of you.

Sitting Disease

[e3m4n]

I recently read an article about 6-8 months ago that revealed that sitting in a chair for more than 4 hours a day was as much of a risk to heart disease as a 2pack a day smoker. The article went on to say that even daily exercise did nothing to improve this issue. As programmers and high level IT persons, we are at significant risk of this problem. At work I threw out my office chair and replaced it with one of those Pilates/therapy balls, the large size. Until I can get a standing workstation, I want to at least prevent myself from slouching in a chair by forcing myself to use abdominal muscles to hold myself upright while working. Its not perfect but its an improvement over the comfy-chair. (no, no! not the comfy-chair!)

 

Beware of interference from the treadmill motor

[Anonymous Coward]

I have used a treadmill setup for the last two years and have been very pleased with it. Desk details below. My number one issue has been with EM interference caused by the treadmill motor, or more properly, the motor controller. This causes terrible interference with my wired ethernet connection to my desktop (despite high quality shielded Cat6 cable), though no effect on wireless connections. Also my sound system buzzes like a lumberjacks chainsaw and that's not OK. I tried putting the computer, router/modem etc on a different circuit and it did not help.

Reportedly, virtually all but the most expensive treadmills have this issue to one extent or another. How they got this past the FCC is anybody's guess. If you find yourself in this position, get yourself some clip on ferrite chokes from Digikey (you can get on Amazon too, but they are overpriced). Put the biggest honking chunk of ferrite you can get on the cable to your treadmill and on the power cable of each device that is picking up interference (for me, my desktop, my sound system, and my USB repeater). If you run your ethernet connection thru a surge protector, make sure you ferrite choke its power cable too. And don't route any cables closer to the motor than necessary in case some of this is through space effects in addition to thru the house wiring.

I use a Sole F63 treadmill, which i got off of Craigslist nearly new and $600, nearly half off the list price. For the desk itself, I went el cheapo and cut a plywood top, with a slight U shaped cutout so I can rest my elbows on the top and get a little closer in. The desk is raised up on some high density foam blocks (cut from housing insulation panels and glued with gorilla glue). The blocks rest on the handrails of the treadmill and the desk is held in place by a couple bungie cords looped around the handrails. The top of the desk I covered with neoprene (like wetsuit material) adhered with carpet tape. Trust me, the neoprene really makes a difference in comfort when you end up leaning your elbows or wrist or whatever on the desk at different times. Plus pool table green looks sharp as hell. Couple all this with a wireless headset, and mount your monitor(s) on a swingarm (Ergotron is worth checking out). What I'd really love to have is a nice Geekdesk, but that is another grand or so.

Walking workstations redefine Computer Crash!

[Anonymous Coward]

You need to show proof of insurance before you can park one of those in your office.

Obligatory Woody Allen Banana's reference

[donleclaire]

A bit outdated, but I'm sure it could be re-tooled for the modern programmer's desk ;-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54g_vxovsjY

Can you do this all day and every day?

[antdude]

Is that even possible? What if you are tired, sick, etc.?

HUD and Chords/Dictation

[LihTox]

I've been thinking lately that it would be great to be able to write while I walk: for me, walking makes it a lot easier to be creative. What I've been imagining is a heads-up display showing the text you're working on, and a chorded keyboard that you can operate with one or both hands at your side. No idea if that would ever be practical of course. Voice-to-text dictation would be an alternative to the keyboard, but I'd still want some sort of handheld controller that lets me choose alternate spellings and to scroll through the text. (I'm specifically thinking about writing in English; programming would be harder to dictate I imagine.)

Some sort of collisiion avoidance system

[Anonymous Coward]

would help you not bump into things and people.

Standing desks not good for you

[harlows_monkeys]

Standing desks are not good for you. Unfortunately neither are sitting desks if you sit too long. There's a good short look at the benefits and risks by the Cornell Ergonomics group.

Here is the bottom line from the aforementioned article:

Sit to do computer work. Sit using a height-adjustable, downward titling keyboard tray for the best work posture, then every 20 minutes stand for 2 minutes AND MOVE. The absolute time isn’t critical but about every 20-30 minutes take a posture break and move for a couple of minutes. Simply standing is insufficient. Movement is important to get blood circulation through the muscles. Research shows that you don’t need to do vigorous exercise (e.g. jumping jacks) to get the benefits, just walking around is sufficient. So build in a pattern of creating greater movement variety in the workplace (e.g. walk to a printer, water fountain, stand for a meeting, take the stairs, walk around the floor, park a bit further away from the building each day).

Re:Standing desks not good for you

[harlows_monkeys]

The link somehow got lost in my above post. Here it is.

Been Standing While Programming for 10 Years

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm a software engineer whose has had a standing workstation for about 10 years now and here are some things I've learned:

- Like others have said, staying in a single position long periods of time is not comfortable. I also have a drafting stool at my desk so I can alternate between standing and sitting. I probably do about 80% standing/ 20% sitting. I usually sit when taking working breaks (reading email, watching videos, etc.) I do most coding standing.
- Standing has eliminated all my neck and shoulder strain (good posture sitting would probably also accomplish this.)
- Standing allows me to pace when I need to think about a problem or when talking over voip.
- I get a lot more usable workspace standing. When sitting you are limited to what is in reach. When standing, you can easily take a step or two to use a whiteboard, grab a book, or look at some papers laid out on a nearby table without breaking your flow.
- Standing allows me to be much more animated when working whether it's doing the victory dance when the code finally passes all tests, stepping back to avoid throwing a monitor out the window, or just stretching.
- Working standing without a mat feels the same as working sitting in a hard wooden chair.

Finally, if you want to work standing, don't be suckered into buying some expensive desk, or extension to a normal desk. Since I've started working standing, my desk has consisted of an unfinished slab door laid across two 40" high adjustable saw horses. All the pieces cost me about $80 and gives me about 3'x7' of desktop space which is more than enough for 3 x 24" monitors.

Projector + Wireless Mouse & Keyboard

[Anonymous Coward]

I don' know if this is possible, as I don't know what your work environment is like, but I, like you like to pace while I program. Heck sometimes I even jog in place to get the brain-thoughts flowing.

My ultimate workstation would be a projector and a wireless mouse/keyboard with long battery life. This would enable me to move around, and perhaps, see things a little differently since the text will be 6 inches tall instead of 6 pixels.

Go To A Hospital

[Anonymous Coward]

Go to a hospital; talk to the nurses. You'll see scads of rolling workstations up and down the halls. You'll see nurses leaning against the walls banging away at, what I suspect to be, contagion infested(!) keyboards with labels claiming antimicrobial coatings.

Based on my own observations, it seems that nurses are less productive as nurses, spending more and more time as data entry clerks. I don;t get the impression that they like the standing carts too much either, but I never asked.

As a programmer, I'm not convinced that a standing desk/workstation is a good idea, but then, I like to go deep when I'm in the zone.

Do all three

[JanneM]

I sit by the workstation. On the desk I have a small podium* for my laptop, so I stand to use that one - of course "standing" really means moving about, figdeting and shifting my weight around; I'm not standing still. Also, I have a long-standing habit of taking tiny breaks where I wank down the hall and back, go get a sip of water, go to a separate room for phone calls and so on.

I stand or walk for about 70% of my time a typical workday. That seems to be a good ratio for me. I no longer have any back pain, and no RSI (I keep using different keyboards and pointing devices in different ways). Works for me.

* a couple of cement bricks.

I would say the future is bright

[Roachie]

Most cashiers and burger-flippers stand at their 'workstations'.

It's been around for ages

[CAIMLAS]

What you're describing has been around for quite some time, though it disappeared a number of years ago, just before embedded systems started to drop off in price to more closely match their their performance in perf per dollar. Back around 2000 it was called "wearable computing".

There were quite a few interesting, novel input devices for this. My favorite was a rigid split keyboard design which put one half of the keyboard on either side of your body. You could strap them to your legs if you pleased, or you could put them around your stomach. There was another keyboard, I believe it was called a Twiddler (no lie). I believe it had a pad on the heel of your hand with a limited number of keys, and input was largely modal, but it was reputably fairly fast (a feat I believe, given how fast I've seen people text with non-tactile modal keyboards on their much-smaller phones). There were also quite a number of NTSC (and similar) resolution HUD screens and/or glasses people were experimenting with. If I recall correctly, you could put together quite the impressive all-day computing platform (which was only about 4 years behind the common desktops of the day) for around $2,000.

Really, there's nothing commercially viable (no more so now than then), but we're close. We're at the point where anyone, even a lowly developer, could piece together something from the components at Fry's or Best Buy with a little luck. The hardware today is much better suited for such things: a nice tablet like an Asus Transformer or a newer Atom or Bobcat based device, a smaller and more energy dense Lithium battery pack, and a number of other things you could fairly easily source (with schematics) on the Internet would give you something a Borg would envy.

Now, if you want your screaming i7 Windows 7 workstation, that's another matter, but I suspect that's what you were asking. That's probably not possible yet, despite energy efficiency gains. (But we're very, very close.)

Ballgame snack tray

[Anonymous Coward]

You know those trays the guys selling snacks at baseball games have around their necks? Get one of those, stick a bluetooth keyboard/mouse on the tray and raise your monitor up to eye level. Simples.

Trying to do many things at once...

[tofarr]

Trying to do many things at once often results in all of the tasks being performed badly. Maybe try cycling to work, and sit while you code.

I'm too cheap...

[bwohlgemuth]

Bought a chunk of wood at Menards and built a keyboard/magic trackpad stand. Originally it was designed for two keyboards, but now essentially down to one machine. Install/Removal takes about ten seconds, weighs about 7 pounds. Ugly? Yes, but quick and easy to switch around.

Yes, but No

[Anonymous Coward]

I've nothing against walking workstations.
Just don't ask me to walk.

Standup desks designs availabe for free

[CertifiedSpaceCadet]

I have mastered a Wed site on plans for low-stress computer desks since 1995. We about 7 different plans for stand-up versions (search: WoodwareDesigns Standup). These plans are free to anyone with a physical challenge.

Standup desks are normally used by people with lower back problems that makes it painful to sit for long periods of time. They let the person easily move around every few minutes. Several of our designs are cheap and easy to build in one weekend. These let you test whether or not a standup is good for you.

We are currently working on a version for long-duration space flight (read: trip to Mars). This is a new approach that has just recently been made necessary by the new radiation data from LRO. If anyone is interested in this design concept, they can reach me through WoodwareDesigns.

Enjoy

The world gone crazy

[blubadger]

Are you guys out of your minds? A treadmill desk. Have you even considered the energy-wastage implications of this? Oh no, sorry, I forgot, as libertarians you've probably opted not to believe in climate change.

The solution to this non-problem is obvious. it's called healthy balance. Get an ergonomic chair for working, and take regular breaks. And then walk home from work. Basta. "Problem" solved. Why does there have to be a technological "solution" to everything? This thread is just crazy.

Hackerdesk setups by prominent developers

[Anonymous Coward]

There is a pretty neat gallery of workspace setups by some prominent developers on coderwall that you can get some more inspirations from:
http://coderwall.com/p/t/hackerdesk