Are you part of India’s working population epidemic?
Do you know a very common complaint among the office workers? Yes, you guessed it right. That’s back pain. Back pain is one of the primary reasons for most of the office workers to visit a doctor or even take time off from work. It has been observed that back pain is very common among adults aged between 35 and 55 years. In my experience working in the multinational companies, I have seen the above statement standing really tall.
So, is there a better way to avoid back pain? Can organisations take any measures to avoid this prevalent condition among our working population?
There are many reasons why back pain affects an individual. However in the millennial generation and working IT (Information technology) population, sedentary lifestyle is believed to be the most common reason. So, let’s remind ourselves how wikipedia defines sedentary lifestyle:
“A sedentary lifestyle is a type of lifestyle with little or no physical activity. A person living a sedentary lifestyle is often sitting or lying down while engaged in an activity like reading, socialising, watching television, playing video games or using a mobile phone/computer for much of the day. A sedentary lifestyle can potentially contribute to ill health and many preventable causes of death”
You would have definitely noticed in the above definition that sitting is the big part of being in the sedentary lifestyle. Prolonged sitting makes the back muscles become weaker resulting in the spine getting inadequate support. You would be shocked to know that in a typical day we are spending 70% of the time sitting. We sit
- in front of our computers / laptops at the work place
- while driving to office, malls etc..,
- while dining
- in front of TV at home
You would also agree that maximum percentage of sitting happens at office desk. In fact a research says that an office worker spends an average of 5 hours 41 minutes per day sitting at his/her desk. Also India being the top exporter of IT & IT enabled services (ITeS), the sitting jobs in front of computers have increased quite considerably over the past few years.
So, is there a way out? Can organisations do something to change the unhealthy trend? Yes, there is. We can alternate between sitting and standing during work. But, how is that possible? Purpleark provides Sit stand desk solutions to bring back healthy lifestyle.
There are numerous benefits when you alternate between sitting and standing using sit stand desks:
- When you stand and work, you burn 3 times more calories preventing obesity and it avoids the pressure on your spine
- Standing desk places less strain on your musculoskeletal system thus alleviating pains created or worsened by sitting
- Research says that 31.8% reduction in back pain was noted when standing desk was used
This staggering info makes us to understand the importance of having a standing desk at work
