Yikes. Just seeing these desk-jockeys take to a conveyor belt that perpetually propels them away from their PC’s made me a bit nauseated. Most of them didn’t seem to enjoy it much either. The problem with this setup is the same reason they tell you not to hold onto the sides on a regular treadmill.

When we bipedal creatures trot naturally, we counter-rotate (arm swing opposing hip swing). To repeatedly resist this motion we’re meant to do (by making the upper body tense or stationary), causes strain.

It has potential, though.

The interesting thing is that of those tested, the differences in treadmill technique seemed to parallel their overall manner.

The guy who hated it (and had his mind up as such before even mounting the machine) was going fairly fast. In explaining to the cameras how much he loathed it (kind of like when we complain out loud), he was getting visibly flustered and even more uptight. The more he reiterated his discontent, the more hunched his posture got. The mood induced posture and tension couldn’t have been good for any genuine discomfort he was already feeling (nor for getting any actual work done).

Another girl was trying her hardest to enjoy combining the rat-wheel with the rat-race, but I could tell from how she kept her hand on the mouse the whole time – arm lifted, elbow out, shoulder internally rotated – that her shoulder and neck would be murdering her if she spent a week like that. (I remember that posture setup quite well from desk-periment number two or twelve: glass coffee table edition).

Interestingly, the dude who was most easy going and happiest about trying it out, knew to take on a super simple speed. The idea is to keep moving – not win marathons. But even he felt woozy at the end.

One addition I’d inject to his slow-motion-fuh-me method is my PRN Arm Lift technique I just made up.

Most jobs don’t require 100% click and shoot. There’s at least some assimilation or proof-reading involved. It’s immensely helpful to only hover my hand on the mouse when I need to, and leave my shoulders and arms relaxed and free when reading. A finger on the trigger is ready to shoot before it gets shot. With my job, though, sometimes I need to “get shot” with informational bullets before I can reload them into my brain chamber to motivate ideas of my own.

Perhaps a better setup would be a keyboard with wrist rests (open at the top for free motion to and from the board) that swivels as your upper body does? That way you don’t have to keep your upper body still and you’ll be less likely to do that awful shoulder thing both I and the chick in the video tend to do.

The only other question I’ve got is… what’s it do to your eyeballs and balance? On the one hand, 8 hours of this would probably make anyone dizzy and fatigued.

On the other, maybe that’d be a good way to force people into those breaks we’re all supposed to take from technology… but never do.