How long are you standing on your feet?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Overmjnd

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2010
Messages
152
Reaction score
2
.

Members don't see this ad.
 
Last edited:
Hi,
So obviously this will differ dramatically from specialty to specialty, but I've been wondering how long your on your feet everyday.

I have plantar fasciitis (ugh) from running too much with crappy shoes and wanted to see if there are any residencies that don't require you to stand for 24 hours straight.

I'm sure you won't be standing that long in any specialty unless you are in a surgical field. The biggest sit down jobs may be optho, EM (you see them sitting in front of the computer most of the day, getting up on and off), rads, or NM.
You may sit down in outpatient IM or FM, but inpatient you'd have to deal with standing, but you can pull up a chair and sit if you wanted.
 
Hi,
So obviously this will differ dramatically from specialty to specialty, but I've been wondering how long you're on your feet everyday.

I have plantar fasciitis (ugh) from running too much with crappy shoes and wanted to see if there are any residencies that don't require you to stand for 24 hours straight.

I would get good orthopedic shoe inserts and learn the stretching exercises recommended for plantar fasciitis, because some specialties are going to be tough on the feet. A good pair of Merrills or Danskos or Rockports is advisable, and the subject of annual threads. There is no set number of hours anyone can tell you in terms of hour on your feet -- it varies wildly from specialty to specialty, and even week to week within most specialties. The fields with lengthy rounding and those with long OR procedures are going to be the ones with the longest stretches on your feet. But even in most other fields there will be times when you are taking care of lots of people who need close attention and you might be running from room to room all day/night on a given day.
 
I found both internal medicine and anesthesia to be almost an intolerable amount of standing when I had foot pain in residency-- and that's without mentioning the hell that was surgery rotations in med school.

I have been really surprised at all the standing in anesthesia-- despite the reputation, its easily >8 hrs a day.

NSAIDs are your new best friend? Best of luck.
 
Top