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Comment by leothekim | Hacker News Reader

I've had a herniated disk (L4-L5) for several years, and tried a lot of different things - pilates, physical therapy, epidural steroid injections, special chairs, etc. Using a standing desk has been a godsend for me. I no longer fear inducing any back spasms after prolonged sitting.

That said, my feet hurt at the end of the day, and I still need to sit from time to time to take the weight off my feet. Am looking into padded shoes, but it's interesting to see that Arshad didn't need any special padding after a couple years.

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Padded shoes may actually be counterproductive.

The problem with padding is that humans actually already have an extremely sophisticated active shock and balance system in our ankles and knees, and when you add a passive system like padding on the feet, you force that system to work harder and adjust in unnatural ways. Essentially, you're setting yourself up to always be walking on unsteady ground.

So you might want to first try going barefoot for a while, and see if that helps. If you aren't accustomed to standing barefoot for long periods, it will take some time for your body to adjust, but I suspect that you will adjust faster to that than to padding.

Thanks for the suggestion! I've been wearing orthotics for a while actually, and I'm going to talk to my podiatrist to see if I still need them.

Also, I'm curious if compression stockings mitigate soreness when standing for prolonged periods. I talked to a surgeon who says they've helped him his feet feel better while operating hours at a time.

I actually wear compression calf sleeves (same as I do for basketball) sometimes when working at my standing desk, and I do notice a positive difference.

I do often wear a pair of padded sandals instead of just standing on the carpet, though. I have an anti-fatigue mat too, but the sandals work better.

When I was working in NYC's Dogpatch Labs, some of the other entrepreneurs were doing the standing desk thing. Many liked to stand without wearing shoes. I think you're onto something.

Buy an anti-fatigue floor mat. It's what letter carriers who stand sorting mail and factory workers use http://www.officedepot.com/a/browse/antifatigue-floor-mats/N...

I experienced this, too, and found that self-massaging the bottoms of my feet with a bouncing ball (under the arch and the heel), while excrutiatingly painful at first, has completely gotten rid of my foot pain. Give it a try.

Try going completely bare-foot. (not always possible in office environments).

This. Your feet have been designed by millions of years of evolution to support the weight of your body. The technology in your flesh and blood is at least several decades and probably several centuries ahead of anything human technology can achieve. Exploit this difference. Be barefoot as often as possible. http://edge.org/conversation/brains-plus-brawn

I find that my heels hurt, which seems to happen because standing with my feet closer to the desk and heels pressed firmly to the ground requires less calf-muscle effort. If I concentrate on it a bit, I'll move my feet back a couple of inches and rest on the balls of my feet, which stops any pain and feels altogether better.

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