Discussion on:

Can walk-while-you-work innovations save the health of desk workers?

Original post:
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=5869

Liability. The top floor folks will assume somebody will take a header off the thing and sue their way to retirement in the Bahamas. Never happening.

Use em.

in the building I work in, all the stair wells are for emergency exit only. You can go down, but you can't come up because all the doors are locked from the stairwell side except the first floor lobby.

When I worked in a multi-story building, I always used the stairs for one-or two-floor changes unless I had something heavier than my toolbag with me. In a year at that job, I lost over 15 pounds.

Actually, treadmill desks have been in use by Fortune 1000 companies for more than 3 years now including GlaxoSmithKline, Mutual of Omaha, Best Buy, Humana, Google and Zappos.

Recent studies have shown that even healthy active adults who sit for more than 4 hours per day have an 80% increased risk of heart disease and 46% increased risk of mortality from all diseases.

The new scare on the top floor is "Sitting Disease", there are 58 diseases related directly to sedentary lifestyles and obesity.

Walking with a TrekDesk is literally safer than walking down the hall, you are surrounded by the desk and walking at a very slow rate of speed.

Full disclosure: posted by TrekDesk employee.

I would definitely use this treadmill system while at work...I typically have to set aside about 2 hours a day for exercise, which often includes walking 5+ miles.

If I could get in my exercise time at work on a treadmill, I would do it.

That the 'TrekDesk' would work very well at all, in a practical business arena.
Sure, it's a neat idea, but there are a few issues I can see right away;

- People will not want to walk constantly and for, in excess, of 8 hours all day every day.

- In addition to the above point, to mediate that issue, a facility would need to be put in place to allow for seated desks as well as treadmill desks. The cost of this would certainly be far too high to, realistically, justify.

- As stated earlier, the possible safety issues would cost the company money in either lawsuits or elevated insurance policies.

I think, maybe, this would work for a home office where 'Your Health, Your Safety, Your Problem' policy will be in place. But not in a business setting.

If treadmills are mandated then showers must also be part of that equation.

Only the slowest walker will not begin to over heat and start to sweat. There is almost no air flow in buildings and the human body regulates heat by sweating.

Shower at lunch, shower when you leave.
The smell, definitely will push companies to tele-work more quickly. No smell thru the Video. Sounds like a backdoor push for WebEx from Cisco.

Everyone is different but sweating really is not an issue walking at 1 mph any more than if you sweat walking down the hall. Of course if this will depend on factors such as AC, clothing, size of individual but each person can adjust so that sweating is not an issue.

What's the point in exercising without actually making any progress.

Pfft.

Great question however you slow movement through the day has tremendous benefits. We need to separate the idea of exercise which most equate with exertion and sweating and keeping upright and in motion.

A study out of your country showed recently that even gym addicts who live a healthy lifestyle but then go to an office and sit for a minimum of 4 hours increase the chance of heart disease 80% and risk of mortality from all diseases 46% during course of their lifetime.

Stand and move through the day. It is the key to your health and longevity.

There should be no issue with stopping the treadmill and sitting on a taller chair. Some of these desks even will shift from a standing to a sitting height.

Lost work days from weight and health related issues also costs companies money. The difference in costs may be in favor of the treadmill desk.

Bill

The desk is attached to the treadmill...

I wonder if it is really practical for the office. It sounds more appropriate for a large private office or home office than a cubicle farm.

As has already been noted, people talking in cube farms is distracting enough. People flat-footing along on a treadmill could be really bad. I also can't picture being able to type very well while walking. I could work with a voice activated system, but then you are back to voice distractions. That would need the additional purchase cost of a "Hush" mic like court stenographers use. Not likely.

Lets face it, how many of us have truly ergonomically "correct" computer workstations, including GOOD chairs. Not many, because of cost. The cost of this sort of thing (all new office furniture and a treadmill) puts it out of range for the average "cubicle-rat", maybe businesses will justify it for executives.

Plus where would you put it in a typical 8'x8' (money-miser) cubicle-farms? In the small cubicles that I've worked in there is barely enough room for a computer desk, chair and filing cabinet/book case. There rarely was enough room to store an unused treadmill in one.

That being said, I have experienced a similar setup long ago. We got "new & improved" cubicles when we moved to a new location. The desk and storage cabinets were integrated into the cubicle walls. The one relevant feature was that it came with a keyboard tray that could be easily raised to comfortable standing height. I actually did a couple of days work standing up. It worked well enough, but I can't see combining walking on a treadmill with working on a computer. I could be wrong.

I think this is a solution in search of a problem. A niche solution at that.

Ron, TrekDesk is already in use in cubicles at Fortune 500 companies and smaller firms all over the country.

Remember, there is NO such thing as an ergonomic chair. We are not designed to remain seated. Visit the TrekDesk website to read more about this, you will be surprised. It's not our musings either, backed by literally 100's of medical studies.

Whether you use a TrekDesk or not - get out of the chair and keep moving.

The one time I used a treadmill, I was seasick for the rest of the day. I think it was caused by the dissonance between my brain instructing me to walk me but not seeing any expected passing scenery.
I am well aware of the dangers of long hours sitting, but have never been able to pull myself away from the screen regularly enough to stretch. I will try walking on the spot - at least then my brain won't be expecting passing scenery.

I already take some of my work to the gym to do for several reasons. No one interrupts, the exercise focuses my mind, and I'm not giving up home time for a task I can rarely fit into work. I have preformed the particular task on both the treadmill and the seated bike, the only advantage to the treadmill is the easy reach to the support for notes. The task is one that does not immediately involve a computer however. I would not want to type while on a treadmill, but I could see trying it while using a seated bike. I think that this would work for a limited number of jobs and that it would have to be right for the person to be worth the investment.

Have workers lie on their backs and put the keyboard above their heads, and make each key weigh 2 lbs. Or put a 5 lb spring on the mouse so you have to build those wrist muscles to close an email. We didn't really want people to close emails anyway.

As a matter of fact, we could mount electric shocks to the mouse buttons. I mean, as long as we're going to make work a negative reinforcer, who cares what the negative reinforcement is, right?

Really, if there were a couple "hotel cubes" you could "rent" for a half hour each day, I'd probably sign in and read some email. My concern would be trying to do fine eye/focus work while my heels were sending vibrations up my spine. I've never tried to read on a treadmill. I don't really even like it on a recumbent bike.

it's good because i feel its good for the body while you are working at front of your computer and just standing is also enough to loosen those extra weights..

Well an interesting concept but for a $100 perhaps we could keep this out of the office and use a push bike for those short trips.
I use a push bike for those short errands (go to Post Office for mail, purchase office supplies etc) as well as turning up to perform service work on computers that are within a couple of miles of my office.
Some people really like it while others consider it to be totally unprofessional. You can't please everyone.
But if we can convert those short trips to non-auto trips perhaps we can have a similar affect and also make a contribution towards reducing our greenhouse gases. There are also cash savings.
Think about it

This way we could slave away both physically and mentally on the job. It would be "green" tech and all the radical environmentalist can promote it as a must have like wind power.

I setup a rig similar to this last year in an 8X8 storage closet at my house using a treadmill and a large shelf I mounted just right so I could type on a keyboard.

The first problem I found was that the "desk" made it so I could not see the treadmill readout. That's okay. The other issues seem to be addressed with this TrekDesk - super-slow walking. Walk fast enough to elevate my heart rate to 50% maximum and I now have difficulty typing, using the pointing device and reading the screen, and 50% isn't much of a benefit unless I did it for two or more hours.

After two hours I found myself sore and exhausted. I found that I would have to be constantly monitoring my posture so as not to lean on my elbows or otherwise support myself while I concentrated on the tasks at hand.

I also found that when using a keyboard or mouse while walking on a treadmill became quit a balancing act as weight is constantly shifted around while working with the computer, phone, books, and other materials.

Also, I must be one of those who cannot walk and solve complex problems at the same time because I found my capacity to analyze problems compromised while I fought to keep pace.

I also have a stationary bike that I setup to this "desk" and it works a lot better. There is little jerky-ness while I work. I can also control my speed, even coming to a complete stop while tackling difficult problems which required my full attention.

After a few months, however, I found it more beneficial for myself to work at my regular computer desk and use the "walking desk" to exercise more vigorously while watching movies on my laptop. In a pinch I can use my laptop and ride the stationary bike if I need to get some work done. The problem with this is that it's not "working", so I have to make time during off-hours.

The point is, if you go this route a bike would work much better; and I've seen pedal devices that sit right under an existing desk. While these might not make you Ironman contestants, they would probably provide the same benefits as the TrekDesk.

I should also add that you would need walking shoes as even slow-walking will make your feet very sore, especially if you're already overweight.

odd, 3 votes, 100% yes and 33% no.
I think the poll script needs to be looked at

while walking does help thoughts fow, it's more than just the steps themselves for me. It's the pacing, turning and I use my hands in gestures while working it out.

so while it may improve my health it isn't going to help with the thinking.

and I already walk in exces of 3 miles a day.

Jaqui, FYI- the Surgeon General suggests a minimum of 5 miles per day (10,000) steps for health. Think about that for a moment though, the minimum is far below what we as a species have done for tens of thousands of years. We were designed to move, our health is dependent upon it.

I don't get anywhere without walking.
I do not own a vehicle. [ by choice ]
I walk to go grocery shopping, and back.
walk to go for a coffee.
if the distance to be covered will take less than 2 hours to arrive, I walk.

I beat the recommended minimums easily.
and still not in shape.
maybe if I quit smoking it would help the lungs.
not gonna happen though.

It's right in your post.

My dad sits all day and he's in awesome shape - benches about 600 pounds in fact. You just need to be dedicated to something in the off hours.

Seriously, people talking/on phone in our office is bad enough... I can't imagine having even half of them thump-thump-thump walking.............

ARG!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone could find time to work out and exercise if the expectation, especially in IT, was not that you are available to work 24/7 and anything less than this is hurting the business. Then we would not need this desk monstrosity. Americans already work 600 hours more per year than Europeans based on something I read recently.

Which is why the Europeans are about 50 years behind us in most things.

Care to provide evidence of our backward state?

I'll admit we are less likely to sue or run out of breath climbing stairs I'm not entirely certain how that counts as most things though....

Fuel-efficient engines? Designing safe vehicles? Public transportation technology? High-speed network infrastructure? The ability to move a cellphone between carriers?

Nope, it's not that, must be something else.

50 years behind? Not really.

The nature of work has changed dramatically in the past 100 years and we have engineered movement out entirely. You cannot be sedentary and healthy, read more at the TrekDesk website.

is not natural either.

No disputing that mankind did not evolve over eons on a treadmill however compare that to the damage of spending your days in a chair and decide which is best for you.

Bye Bye Green IT.
Unless the treak desk is powered by human motion and is completely silent.

Appears only the negative side has time or courage to reply in the comments but that most people would welcome it.

My health is important to me. I'm looking for a way to walk and play WoW to keep it up.

My company recently instituted a pedometer program where you were supposed to walk 10000 steps per day. The only real "issue" I have with the story is that it incorrectly states that most people don't sweat while doing this. Unfortunatley to get the health benefits mentioned you must be doing aerobic walking not just slow walking. The 10000 steps is cool but the health benefits come not from the steps but from the workout. To be counted as aerobic steps they must equal 2 steps per second for a minimum of 10 minutes. It's not hard, but if you do it for three hours you will certainly be sweating. Unless of course your are in good shape, in which case why do you need to do it.

So are companies going to be willing to pony up for the insurance rate increases due to lower back problems caused by extended walking in dress shoes or am I supposed to wear sneakers with my business attire?

You *do* know that there are nice-looking shoes that are also made to walk in, as opposed to strictly made for looks, right?

Personally, the most comfortable dress shoes I've ever worn are dance shoes (yeah, those salsa high heels). They're made to walk (dance) in for hours without hurting your feet, they're made so that they look good and they have more size varieties than you can imagine (customizable width, heel height, straps style, even fabric color for each and every model, of which there are many, many more than I care to count), what's not to like?

And, anyway, let me repeat, dress shoes everyday? Sounds like torture to me.

On topic: I'd love to try it, but I'm not buying it without trying it for a few weeks.