Why do my feet feel less tired over time when standing on something soft vs. hard ground?
In: Physics
Basically you weren’t made to stand very still for a long time, but factory work can involve that.
If you think about how our bodies evolved, we “grew up” in environments where we were constantly moving. We’d walk, we’d sit, we’d crawl, we’d kneel.
So when you stand really still on a hard surface, you maintain the same posture for a long time. That puts increased strain on those muscles because they never get a “break”, not even a momentary one.
The softer surface of an anti-fatigue mat means your foot and lower legs can’t really sit still. They’re never really perfectly in balance, so they move around a little more. So even if you’re focused on something else and standing in the same spot, all those little posture changes add up and mean you’ll be less uncomfortable over time.
Think about what we tell office workers: stop and stretch regularly and take little walks. Maintaining *any* posture for a really long time is bad on our bodies.
stone/concrete floors are very hard and very flat; our feet (bone, muscles, tendons) were not built to stand on such hard and flat surfaces.
anti-fatige mats work because they allow more natural pressure or weight distribution on the different parts of your feet.
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