For some people sitting on a desk for an extended period of time is not a choice, daily stretches comes to rescue. For most of us, 8 hours of sitting can hurt our backs so much. And now, after COVID, it’s almost impossible not to sit around all day long. Too much sitting is causing illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, weight gain, high blood pressure, disc herniation or other conditions that put our health at risk.
While sitting, you may have poor posture, making your neck and shoulders work harder just to keep your head up, one hand on the mouse, your legs are still. Basically, your muscles are contracted in a static state to steady your body, not allowing the blood to flow and cause the muscles to become tight.
It’s hard to imagine such a simple act can be harmful to our health, but there are many destructive associations to our health from having a desk job.
If you’re having problems with your neck, shoulders, arm-pain working at your desk, pay attention because these stretches will change your life!
1- Stretch For Your Chest
Chest stretching is one of the best exercises you can do to your body! Since we all sit about 99% of our time arched and bowed forward. Leaning forward can cause an anterior tilt which might shorten the pecs, leading to shoulder pain and postural problems.
To stretch your chest, do the following steps (gif moving image above):
- Standing or seated, take both arms behind you and lace your fingers together.
- If you can’t lace your fingers together, you may as well skip it, just push the arms away as much as you can. Make sure your hands are straight all along.
- Lift your hands until you feel a slight stretch in your chest.
- Hold from 10 to 30 seconds.
There are other ways to help do this exercise. You can use a resistance band and hold it over your head or place your forearms on a wall and gently press forward until you feel a slight stretch in your chest. Avoid this exercise if you have back problems.
2- Stretch For Your Torso
Ever been so swamped at work losing track of time, only to end up with horrible back pain realizing you’ve been hunching down all this time?
Even if you pay attention to your posture, you might subconsciously sink back to an arched position. This simple exercise will stretch all the muscles in your back, arms, and sides.
To stretch your torso, do the following:
- Lace your fingers together and stretch them up towards the ceiling in a standing or a seated position.
- Stretch as high as you can and take a deep breath.
- Exhale and open your arms.
- Sweep your arms back down.
- Repeat 8 to 10 reps.
You can also take both arms to either side to deepen the stretch down the sides of the torso.
3- Stretch For Your Legs
When you just stand up after sitting for a long time, you can feel the relief. But standing is not enough to avoid damaging the muscles of your leg. Sitting for an extended time leads to varicose veins or a smaller version of varicose veins called spider veins. Varicose veins are not usually dangerous, but they can lead to blood clots in some rare cases.
- Stand in front of your chair.
- Step one foot forward and the other foot back.
- Open your feet wider than your hips.
- Keep the back leg straight while bending the front knee.
- Turn the toes of the back leg facing them to a 45-degree angle.
- Place both hands on your hips or your desk.
- Relax the shoulders and pull the abs in
- Repeat on the other side.
- Hold from 10 to 30 seconds.
4- Stretch Your Neck
Neck pain is so common. Studies found that every one in three individuals is having neck problems. Holding tension and tightness in your neck can lead to headaches and upper back pain and tension as well. Many of us drop our heads forward when we sit in that hunched-down position, which can plant additional stress on the neck muscles. Here’s a straightforward exercise that will ease all the tension and discomfort away!
- Sit on your chair, and grab the side of your chair with one hand.
- Gently pull the side of the chair while tilting your head to the left. You can also use the other hand to tilt your head further.
- If you feel a slight stretch down the right side of your neck and shoulder, congratulations! You’re doing it correctly.
- Hold for 10 to 30 seconds.
- Repeat on the other side.
Keep in mind that the human head might weigh up to 12 pounds (5.4 kilograms.) When your neck is bent down to 45 degrees, your head weighs nearly 50 pounds (23 kilograms) of force on your neck. In case you didn’t know, 12 pounds is the equivalent of a bowling ball!
5-Stretch Your Shoulders
Your neck and shoulders hold a lot of stress and tightness when you’re in a seated position all day long if you have poor posture. Doing simple shoulder shrugs will keep the circulation going and release the tension!
Your shoulder muscles get weaker. No matter how much you try to fight it, you’ll end up sitting the way you don’t want to sit. Your back bent forward, looking like an arch, with your shoulder blades collapsed into a slouch that forces them to curl inward and tip forward.
If you leave the door open for this slouch, it can completely alter your shoulder’s mobility and functionality.
- Whether you’re sitting or standing, raise both of your shoulders in the direction of your ears at once.
- Drop them and repeat as much as you want.
6- Stretch Your Lower Back
Extended pressure over time puts the lower back muscles under pressure, leading to stressing all the surrounding muscles and joints. After just one hour of continuous sitting without any breaks, your back and legs muscles begin to lose their ability and power to operate to their full potential.
Sitting for long periods can leave your lower back tight and achy. These twists will help working out some of the tension. Don’t go too far on this.
- In a seated position, make sure your feet are firmly pinned to the floor.
- Contract the abs and rotate the torso (gently) towards the left.
- Use one hand on the armrest or seat of the chair to help deepen the stretch and make it more effective.
- You can raise your arms to stretch all your back, tent a little to the right, then to the left as shown in the illustration above.
- Repeat for 30 times
- Stop if you feel any discomfort.
Anther Stretch (the image on the left)
- In a standing position, left your arms extended above your head.
- get in the squat position with your legs close together
- You can add weight to increase the effect (Don’t do this if you’re just beginning)
- Repeat for 30 times
You consume little to no energy while sitting. Your muscles are not in use, which can weaken them. Try to rearrange your work environment to encourage good posture. Lower your mouse and keyboard, so you don’t have to reach up for them and get sore shoulders. Raise or lower your monitor or higher your chair to eliminate some of the neck tension.
If you frequently talk on the phone, use a headset. Adjust your chair, so you’re sitting straight, not bent or arched. Make sure your feet touch the ground. You can always use a stool if you set your chair too high.
It’s the best and most effective to repeat the exercises above for 2-5 mins throughout the day. Set a timer or an alarm every 60 minutes. If you don’t feel like exercising, just take a walk around your office, maybe swing your arms a little as you move.
Don’t spend your time with conference calls and meetings sitting. Get up and stand on your feet!
If you want to send us your stretches to post it in this blog post instead, please contact us!