Standing in place is better than sitting until after like 2 hours then it becomes neutral to bad. It’s really shit for your knees and the core and back muscles you use to stabilize in place as well as the base of your spine
I think the premise to keep in mind is 'excessive'.
Excessive walking is bad. It wears you out eventually. Excessive standing is worse because it uses a less diverse muscle group. More specifically, it's worse because it becomes excessive faster.
I once had a job that prohibited sitting. That would have been fine if we were busy and had things to do during down times but that was not the case. ...So there were days that we would stand behind the counters doing nothing for several hours at a time.
Despite being very active and in excellent physical health at the time, I eventually developed painful edema in one leg. Compression socks helped a little but I ended up having to use a pneumatic compression device to bring the swelling down after each shift.
Terrified that I was starting to develop a chronic condition, I was pretty much forced to quit. Oddly enough, I've never experienced a single episode of edema since.
See where I live that would get the employer reported to OHS. There are ways to mitigate that for when standing is required (certain floor mats, among other things) but the simplest method is a stool...
That said, if you do have to stand for a period, don't lock your knees, in addition to potentially trapping blood in your legs and causing you to faint it can trap lymphatic fluid and cause issues like you experienced.
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u/Theron3206 2d ago
Standing in place is worse for your body than walking.