Why have stand up desks become so popular? What is their purpose?
Whether it be office/home based working, driving or relaxing in front of the television the modern world causes most of us to spend between 10-16 hours a day sitting. The reason this can be troublesome is because whilst you're sitting your hip flexors become short/tight as your body adapts to this type of lifestyle (seen in the video below) as apposed to how we evolved, which was to be more active and upright.
The problems come when we ask our bodies to then do things in an upright/standing position, because this causes our tight hip flexors to rotate our pelvis forward, creating compression and tightness in the lower back which can then lead to pain.
Stand up desks were mainly designed to help keep the hips/pelvis in a neutral position for longer during the day, to help slow or reverse this forward pelvic rotation.
The easiest way to create the effect of a stand up desk is to remove your chair, put a cushion/towel on the floor and kneel in front of your desk (as seen below), the key points are,
Knees shoulder with apart
Without moving your shoulders, slightly push your pelvis/hips forward so they are inline with your knees, shoulders and head.
Slight contraction of your glutes (bum muscles) and abdominals
Start by trying this between 5-20 minutes every hour and build it up.
If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to ask!