this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2025
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The forgotten art of squatting is a revelation for bodies ruined by sitting (qz.com)
submitted 2 months ago by cm0002@piefed.world to c/science@lemmy.world
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[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 174 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Buried in the article:

"any posture held for too long causes problems”

"that populations that spend excessive time in a deep squat (hours per day), do have a higher incidence of knee and osteoarthritis issues."

So squatting is worse than sitting, but moving is better than either.

[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 36 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I’m 30 years into my career as a keyboard jockey and the main principle that works for me is to change things up throughout the day and week. Having more viable positions to switch to is a net positive. I’m not looking for one perfect position anymore.

[–] pulsewidth@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I'm just imagining trying to squat in front of a PC on the floor now.

[–] Linearity 14 points 2 months ago (2 children)

L

[–] SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 months ago

How did you find a picture of me in college?!

[–] Juice@midwest.social 1 points 2 months ago

Keep posting Ls

[–] scarabic@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Haha yeah it’s not much use for that, but I suppose for other forms of work it might be one of the poses you’d cycle through.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago

That's what I was going to say... squatting kills my knees and back. Did it during work far, far too often.

[–] FarraigePlaisteach@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

My guess is that this problem affects westerners. People who have grown up sitting cross legged for meals and TV etc find it comfortable.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 16 points 2 months ago (1 children)

People who have grown up sitting cross legged for meals and TV etc find it comfortable.

The article says nothing about sitting crosslegged. The article is about squatting. And it doesn't say the problem affects westerners. Westerners don't spend excessive time squatting. It says populations that spend time squatting have higher incidence of knee and osteoarthritis. The conclusion from this is that while squatting is worse than sitting, it doesn't make sitting healthy either.

[–] FarraigePlaisteach@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

I’m aware that the article isn’t about sitting cross legged. I mention it because it’s analogous, even if the muscle groups are different. But I did miss the detail about the population they were writing about.