Day 221: Stand Up/Sit Down Desk

About a year ago, I was having a lot of pain in the upper part of my left leg, which I originally thought was some sort of hamstring strain, based on an initial diagnosis by a Sports Med doctor.  I wasn't convinced, however, and several visits with two different Physical Therapists led to a different diagnosis of "neural tension."  Although that sounds rather vague, the solutions and exercises recommended by the PTs finally led to relief of the pain and helped me start running again.

One of the positions that aggravated the pain was sitting for long periods of time, including at work.  I approached our "HR" person to ask about getting a standing desk set-up to help alleviate the pain and was basically told to figure out a DIY solution since the ergonomically-correct desks were too expensive.  I chatted with one of my colleagues who had found an online site with instructions to utilize Ikea items to create a standing workstation with the appropriate height and implemented that solution.  Over the past year, several other staff have followed suit, and the Fit Team started discussing ways to improve the ergonomics of both the cubicles and the offices.

Thanks to my peer manager, K, one of the prizes for a staff contest associated with Annual Conference was a VariDesk adjustable height sit-stand desk:

This particular model didn't fit well in the cube of the staff prizewinner, so it ended up in the office of our "HR" person, who lately has been experiencing neck and back pain and working with a PT of her own.  Apparently, she rather liked the adjustable work station, and suddenly the option of ordering a similar set-up was provided to All Staff.

Hmm.  Funny how that works.  Self-interest = Progress.  Sad...

But as Mr. E reminds me, at least the end result is positive, as we now have a majority of staff who are able to use this type of workstation and avoid excessive sitting during the day.  And I have to admit, I'm very pleased with my Varidesk, which arrived today, as it's definitely an improvement over my Ikea DIY model (although that worked pretty darn well for the past year...).