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2013/07/23

I've got a standing desk, and boy are my legs tired!

Borscht-belt comedy aside, I converted my desk to a standing desk configuration a week ago last Friday, making this the seventh workday where I've spent most of my day standing.

Yes, compared to other standing desks, this is pretty janky. It works for me, though. The tops of my monitors are only a inch or so above eye level, which is pretty close to Hoyle according to ergonomic standards I've seen, and the box put the keyboard at a good typing level. I'm happy with it.

My feet, on the other hand...

My left foot is a bit pronated, which is to say that the ankle turns in a bit and the big toe turns out a bit and the arch is a bit flat.

My right foot? Take every a bit from the previous sentence and put in extremely, and it also lacks the range of motion of my right. I first figured out the issues with my ankles when I noticed I could make fart noises with my foot on the bathroom tile, without trying, but the time I took a hike with my son's Cub Scout pack was when I realized I had a problem, not just an issue.

Since then, I have become much more active. Last year, I did Couch-to-5K, and actually did a 5K. I did it in 45 minutes, finding that I do a mile in 15 minutes or so whether I run or walk, but hey, I got the t-shirt. This year, I've been focused on other activities, but plan to do it again. When I started running last year, I got the same foot pain, which eventually subsided the more I worked. Internet lookup makes me think it's the Extensor Digitorum Brevis muscle that was giving me problems last year, and this last week, this is the pain I've been having again, except this time, in both feet.

The previous pain tells me that I'm doing the right thing, that I'm strengthening my feet and ankles by standing. My recent experience with Cross-Fit tells me that I had better start exercising and strengthening my feet and ankles or this pain won't go away soon.

In terms of productivity, I don't know that I've noticed a difference. I'm in a position at the moment where there's a lot of sit-and-think (or rather, stand-and-think) and not so much great code generation. I don't currently quantify my work, but would be interested in finding a way to do so. Of course, it would've been good to have a body of sitting-desk work in the dataset to use as a comparison....


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