Do you know what hurts sometimes?

Sitting.  Yep.  Sitting.

Our bodies were not created to sit for 8 hours a day, especially not 8 consecutive hours.  Our postural muscles are designed to hold us up during movement and they really don’t like having to be constantly flexed or extended.  This is why we hunch over while typing and we often laze in our chairs.

Our back and neck muscles are overstretched.  So what?  The muscles that work opposite our back and neck muscles have become too tight.  Our pectorals are super tight and they bring our shoulders forward, which further complicates the issue and makes desk related pain more painful.

The solution: some quick and easy exercises that you can do at your desk to help strengthen and stretch.

There are some really great videos available online to show you proper techniques for desk exercises.

Here are some easy stretches from the Mayo clinic to get you started:

The chin tuck:

Face straight ahead.

• Lower your chin to your chest.
• Hold the stretch for 15 to 30 seconds. You’ll feel tension in the back of your neck.
• Relax and slowly return to the starting position.
• Repeat.

 

 

The side neck

• Face straight ahead.
• Tilt your head so that you’re moving your ear toward your shoulder. Don’t bring your shoulder up to your ear.
• Hold the stretch for 15 to 30 seconds. You’ll feel tension in the side of your neck.
• Relax and slowly return to the starting position.
• Tilt your head to the other side and repeat the stretch
• **If you hold your hand behind your back with your opposite hand, you will be able to keep your shoulder down and get an even better stretch!

I hope these two exercises help to loosen you up and lessen your pain!