Comments on: Refactoring the home office

By: SteveStreeting.com » Blog Archive » Refactoring the office, part 2

SteveStreeting.com » Blog Archive » Refactoring the office, part 2 — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 16:09:05 +0000

[...] following on from my thoughts last week, I spent a little time today rearranging my main work area to accommodate working standing up. [...]

By: Martin

Martin — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 09:50:13 +0000

I’m glad I could help with my idea…just please don’t get hurt while moving around all your new furniture

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:25:55 +0000

@KungFooMasta: yeah, I saw one of the kneeling chairs in the office I used to work in – better in terms of key posture but it still doesn’t encourage you to move around, and doesn’t allow you to work standing up too. The manual crank desk was what I was originally after, but they seem very scarce around here.

@Ciaran: glad you’ve found it interesting – I know you don’t have a bad back now, but believe me, you will if you carry on like you are! I used to have terrible posture too and didn’t think anything of it, until my back decided to give up the ghost. I did probably more bad sitting than most, on account of working long hours plus open sourcing in my spare time – 10-12 hours a day in a chair is definitely a no-no. But yeah, you should get the alertness benefits anyway and just get the back benefits as a side effect.

I’m going to order a Capisco and I’ll let you know how it goes. I’m also going to try to find boxes / planks at the weekend to set up an experimental stand-up desk.

By: Ciaran

Ciaran — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:39:28 +0000

Thanks for sharing this one. Standing up, what a fantastic idea. I can’t wait to try it: http://ciarang.com/posts/standing-up

By: KungFooMasta

KungFooMasta — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:31:14 +0000

I like how the Capisco Summary says “new natural sitting positions”.

Have you considered ergonomic chairs like this?
http://homedecorators.com/images/items/large/l32369.jpg

I have a similar chair at home and love it. I don’t have any back problems, but I think it helps my posture some.

At work I’ve seen a lot of people using stand up desks, I’m tempted to try it out one of these days. Our desks have a crank that allows it to rise fairly high off the ground.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:28:12 +0000

Thanks – I hadn’t seen that particular post but I have looked at most of the chairs contained in it. The main issue is flash or not, they’re all regular ’sitting chairs’ – no matter how good your chair is, you’re still sitting IN it, and even the best sitting posture adds more stress to the back than standing (some say 40-70% more stress). Like I say, I had a decent chair in an office previously, and while it was no doubt better, it didn’t stop me getting back problems. Sitting for too long screws your back up, period – no matter how swanky the chair is it’s just changing the degree of damage, not the presence of it. Once you’ve passed the ‘tipping point’ (and I’ve done that twice now) you’re in a position where half-way solutions aren’t enough.

What attracted me to the Capisco is that the overall posture is more like standing than sitting, while still allowing you to rest your legs. It also goes high enough that it can be configured to work with a stand-up desk too, which most regular chairs do not. My main aim is to do less traditional sitting while still being able to work.

By: Maxime Vernier

Maxime Vernier — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:11:56 +0000

Have you read this?

Investing in a Quality Programming Chair
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001146.html