About ten days ago I switched completely over to standing desks.

No longer do I site in my office or my home office for ten to twelve hours each day.

Nope. Now I stand during most of those hours and it's been great.

Here's the background...

Issues With An Office Life

For my entire life I've sat down. All the way through school. All the way through my adult worklife. I've been someone that sits down at a desk to do my work.

The last year or two I've noticed my joints starting to ache. In the last few months I had really started to notice tightness in the front of my hips. I did a Google search and it turns out that hip flexor muscles can lose their proper proportions when they are constricted in the sitting position for long pereiods.

This made sense because when I stat for long periods the fronts of my hips would ache.

I would also notice lower back pain or aching when I would stand for longer than 20 minutes. I could not go anywhere that required standing for longer. My back would start to ache and I would need to sit down.

This all seemed strange to me. I workout 3 to 4 times each week. I started eating healthier about a year ago and have lost more than 25 pounds. My sugar intake is low and I'm trying to cut back even more. I'm living proof that carbs, not fat make you fat.

I still had these dull aches, though, and it was driving me crazy.

Enter the standing desk era.

My Standing Desk

For the last ten days I've been standing.

Initially, it was tough. I don't have a chair that I can rest in. I force myself to stand all day.

During the first few days I would make myself busy with work so I wouldn't notice any aches in my legs or back. I wanted to fight through and re-train my body back to its natural state.

Here are a few things I've noticed since the change to a standing desk:

  • No Hip Aches: My hips no longer ache. The front of my legs in the hip area feels nice and loose. I feel like I can move and turn without having to slow things down. 
  • No Bach Aches: I can now stand for longer than 20 minutes without back aches. In fact, I have no back pain at all. 
  • No Knee Cracking: My knees used to crack loudly throughout the day. Anytime I would bend at the knees they would crack. I'm 27 years old and it sounded like firecrackers were going off in my legs whenever I would reach over to pick something off the ground. Today I notice for the first time that I bent over and did not hear a single sound from my knees.

These are my results with a standing desk. I'd call it a success so far, but it's only been ten days. 

Things are encouraging so far and I'm excited.

And there was also one other crazy benefit of a standing desk.

For the last 15 years I've always thought I was 5' 9". From 12 years of age to 27 years of age I've been five feet and nine inches tall. It's never changed. That includes trips to the DMV and doctor's office each year.

Two days ago my height was measured at 5' 10 1/4". I had the lady measure three times to verify because I thought it was wrong.

Ok...so maybe I didn't actually get taller from using a standing desk, but I'm going to claim that it did in fact happen.

A standing desk made me taller =) 

My Standing Desk