If your job involves prolonged standing, you need to know what problems it can cause and how to avoid them to the best of your ability.
We are often told how a sedentary office job will damage our health in the long term and how we need to sit less to keep healthy. However, standing for many hours at a time at work can also cause a number of health issues.
If your job involves prolonged standing, you need to know what problems it can cause and how to avoid them to the best of
Health Problems Caused by Prolonged Standing
Testing of health issues caused by working while standing concluded that, even with regular sitting breaks, an employer will feel long-term fatigue following a 5-hour shift. This result didn’t seem to depend on the age of the subject, with both young and old individuals likely feeling discomfort and fatigue.
In most jobs that require standing, there is not much emphasis on the long-term effects on the health of the employees. There aren’t many studies carried out and business owners probably don’t have the means or motivation to find the best solution for their staff. Therefore, there are many jobs that were designed without taking the human body into consideration.
Some of the most commonly reported health issues correlated with prolonged standing are lower back chronic pain, vein inflammation, rheumatic disease in hips, knees and other joints, etc.
Solutions for Preventing Issues Caused By Prolonged Standing
In an ideal workplace, the employee would be able to switch freely between working positions, from sitting to standing to even lying on their back. Unfortunately, most jobs do not allow such mobility and the workers are stuck either in a sitting or standing position.
However, the first conditions that would have to be met for an ergonomic workspace are related to the height and proportions of the working station. Each working station should be adjusted to fit each individual employee’s height. If the working station is not designed to be adjusted, there are solutions such as stools or pedestals.
Changing position often is also a factor in preventing fatigue, muscle, and joint pain, and the worker should have a seat available at all times, if not to work on, at least for taking regular breaks from standing. Proper shoes with built-in cushioning are also very helpful in the long-term, so make sure you choose the right pair for you at a specialized store where you can try them on.
If you get injured or have health issues that were caused by your job, speak with a St. Louis workers compensation attorney about your legal options. Give the Law Office of James M. Hoffmann a call 24/7 at (314) 361-4300 for a FREE case evaluation.