Treadmill Desks Don’t Work – Or Do They?

I was recently having a discussion in which the treadmill desk came up. A recent study called into question the benefits of these desks, but I think the markers we continually look at need revision.  

The first conclusion that is mentioned in the articles on this study is of course that there was no weight loss. This measurement should not even be a part of the study. I’ve written about this before (The Reality of Calorie Burn) but to reiterate, you can’t burn enough calories through physical activity to overcome other factors such as diet, age, or genetics. You would need to be working out fairly vigorously seven days a week just to drop one pound and this is simply not practical. If that fact were more widely disseminated, this study would not have even included weight loss because it would be clear from the start that there would be none.

That might sound discouraging, but not if you understand that weight is not the ultimate marker of health. For a thorough discussion of this check out Harriet Brown’s book Body of Truth, which I blogged about in my last book review. The short is that although we have wedded ourselves culturally to the idea that weight indicates health, the reality is they can and should be measured independently. People of every size and weight category can be fit or unfit.

To be fair to the study, weight was not all that they looked at. They also discussed the role of moderate exercise on general fitness, but again, they found the results to be lack-luster. I can get on board with this from the standpoint that if you really want to impact your physical fitness in a signifcant way you probably need to do something a little more vigorous than a treadmill desk really offers. Most of the participant studies average 2 miles per hour, which is liesurely stroll. Walking can be great exercise, but you probably would do better walking home, playing golf, or going for a hike than you can do while trying to sip coffee and work on reports. However, there is more to being on your feet and moving than we typically think of. Many low back, knee, shoulder, and neck problems for example stem from excessive amounts of sitting. More of us need to spend a lot more time on our feet. Getting out of a chair, standing erect and moving even at a low level keeps a lot of muscles and joints from becoming chronically and painfully stiff.

I’d like to see a study done comparing standing desks and sitting desks with the incidence of physical therapy and orthopedic surgery. Then I would like to see a study comparing standing desks versus treadmill desks for the same factors. I feel pretty confident that you would find major benefits of standing desks over sitting desks and I’d be curious to see what you get with treadmill versus standing.

Links:

http://healthcare.utah.edu/healthlibrary/related/doc.php?type=6&id=696469

Related:

What You Should Know Before Using A Standing Desk 

Book Review – Body of Truth

PHOTO: KOMUnews: MU Professor walks at work, pushes treadmill desks, license