Your body wasn’t designed around your inbox.

Yet sitting for hours has become completely normal.

We sit to work.
We sit to travel.
We sit to eat.
Then we sit down to relax.

Exercise matters. Walking matters. Getting up matters.

But so does what happens in between.

Sitting still is exactly that. Still.

The World Health Organization recommends limiting sedentary time and replacing it with physical activity.

Its message is refreshingly simple:

All physical activity counts.

That doesn’t mean a tiny movement is the same as a workout.

It isn’t.

But it does raise an interesting question.

If you’re going to be sitting anyway, does moving a little make any difference compared with not moving at all?

Research suggests small movements can make measurable differences.

Now for the bit we find really interesting.

Scientists have actually studied the small, almost forgettable movements people make while sitting.

Fidgeting. Shifting. Moving a leg.

And they’re not necessarily insignificant just because they’re small.

Research led by Professor James Levine measured energy expenditure during different everyday activities, including sitting still and fidgeting-like movements while seated.

The researchers found that energy expenditure increased with fidgeting compared with remaining still.

Another study took the idea into the workplace.

Researchers tested an under-the-table apparatus designed to allow people to move their legs while continuing to sit and work.

Average energy expenditure increased compared with sitting in a standard office chair.

They called it dynamic sitting.

We like that idea.

Sitting doesn’t have to mean staying still.

Small movement. Measurable difference.

And energy expenditure isn’t the only thing researchers have looked at.

In another study, participants sat for three hours while one leg remained still and the other performed periodic fidgeting movements.

The researchers found increased blood flow in the moving leg and found that the movement prevented the decline in vascular function seen in the inactive leg.

It was a small laboratory study.

It studied legs, not hands.

And it certainly doesn’t mean fidgeting replaces getting up and going for a walk.

But it does show why small movement is worth paying attention to.

Meet Micromovement.

This is the space that interests us.

Not exercise.

Not your morning run.

Not your lunchtime walk.

The movement in between.

The small movements that can happen while you’re answering emails, sitting through a meeting, studying, travelling or watching television.

We call it Micromovement.

Robori was created to give your hand something physical to do — creating small, repeatable movement while you sit.

It doesn’t replace walking.
It doesn’t replace exercise.
And we’re not pretending it does.

It fills a space that was previously doing nothing.

If you’re sitting anyway, why sit completely still?

Made to Move.

Go deeper

WHO Guidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour

Energy expenditure of nonexercise activity — PubMed

Dynamic sitting and an under-the-table movement apparatus — PubMed

Prolonged sitting and leg fidgeting — PubMed