You have one unfortunate story, but I have the opposite positive story. As usual, it means that people are not all the same - and what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another.
What's your bodyweight? Are you carrying a bit more weight than is ideal? Did you have any previous injuries with your legs/knees? (Yes, we know that now.)
I suspect that you weren't snowboarding for a fraction as many hours as you were standing, so it's not really surprising that one activity hurt and one didn't.
I spent four years standing 10-16 hours a day - or rather, standing/shuffling/dancing. Not only did I not develop problems, but my lower back pains (from sitting) went away. And for the last few years I've been standing at work and doing pretty heavy weight lifting. I still feel great, and I'm in my 40s. I hope my story does as much to encourage people as yours does to discourage them.
Everything in moderation.
That means sitting is fine and standing is fine, just not too much excess of either.
My wife, an ex-carer, knows a number of athletic people who have very serious problems in their 50s and 60s as they've worn their hips and spine out. Conversely she knows a number of people with diabetes and heart problems in the same age range.
The interesting thing I did find out is that those who do not focus on any particular fitness goal, eat what they need and don't objectively go out and exercise are perfectly healthy and run rings around the other groups.
A word of caution: all of these people were quite happy with their physical state into their 40s. The same with drug use, particularly hash etc which really kills you when you get to your late 30s and early 40s.
A standing desk has little to do with any of the above. Moderation of all things does.
I did not make this post to scare people, but rather to inform them that everybody should give more time to diagnostics and see if they could perform some types of exercises/sports/whatever before they start.
Everyone knows there's only one position that feels the best and it should be done the same way for your entire life regardless of temporary or permanent health level or other conditions and the world would be a better place if all diversity were forcibly stomped out and the one true position was legally required for all. Because there can only be one correct answer. You know, just like programming editors. See? Now everyone is happy.
It doesn't make much sense for us to work a set number of hours, anyway, since most tech jobs aren't repetitive labor, they're projects which can take anywhere between 15 minutes and two months. I'd rather just work less hours, have a more dynamic schedule, or just take an hour or two in the middle of the day to go climb a tree.
I'm a teacher and in term time in classes (6h a day usually) I'm not sitting much at all, but then I'm not standing in one place much either. No issues as yet...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_board#Wobble_boards
In my case, the knees are fine, the joint between my right thigh and body got hurt baddly.
So, do not stand a lot, do not sit all day long either.
Do drink water regularly, (kidney stones for sitting programmers) too much water will cause kidney problems too.
Well there's your problem. You should alternate every couple hours, not every couple weeks.
Buy a tall stool or drafting chair so you don't need to move your desk up and down.
The main difference I found say compared toa cashier is that you barely move. You don't twist side to side and so on. This might seem small but it's important.
The biggest issue though is that if you're doing a startup with long hours you need to be very careful. Like everything else overdoing anything is bad.
Mix it up, feel better.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1740939/
I know many people believe all their physical ailments are traced to a sedentary lifestyle, but i don't think prolonged periods of abusing your body is the answer.
That study seems pretty legit, but it only concerns one health problem, and a relatively minor one at that. Fewer than 2% of the people in the study even required hospitalization for their problem. Comparing that to the numerous benefits of exercise for things like diabetes and heart disease, I think exercise is still a worthwhile use of time.
By your implication, walking would be abuse because it raises your heart rate - and we only have so many beats before it stops working!
Good workouts at the gym intentionally stress your body, and your body responds by repairing itself stronger.
Back to the sitting/standing discussion... it seems the downsides of sitting far outweigh the downsides of standing.
I use my desk in sitting mode most of the time. Of course, I've been breaking up my working day with a 45 minute run in the middle, but it's still great to have the option sometimes to stand.
I'm gently curious about the people trying standing desks: this article mentions research on the dangers of sitting, but it doesn't mention any research on standing. Since many people are expected to stand all day at work I'd have thought there would be some research about standing.
Have people looked at that? How about investigating some of the products meant to counteract problems caused by standing all day (such as anti-fatigue matting).
Snark aside, it seems to me that sitting down a lot is perhaps a contributing part of a lifestyle that probably isn't very healthy (not getting much exercise, not seeing much sunlight, etc). But it seems far from conclusive that replacing sitting down with standing up is really much of a solution for many people.
Now, I use it in sitting mode most of the time, but use it in standing mode for conference calls. That works out to a nice balance during the day. It’s one button press and 15 seconds or so to adjust from sitting to standing and back, so it’s easy to switch.
