More often than ever we find ourselves sitting staring at our screens, looking down onto our phones or watching television on the couch.
Before we know it, hours have passed and when we get up we suffer from aches and pains reserved for those much older than us.
The best way to alleviate or prevent these pains is to stand up and perform some basic range of motion exercises to get ourselves moving again.
When performing these exercises, it’s important to start slowly and involve the entire spine, so it’s best to do these whilst you’re standing, but sitting is also fine.
The first exercise that you can do is to breathe in, expand and lift your chest, when you do this you start to facilitate movement in your thoracic spine.
After you’ve done this add in a reach upwards towards the ceiling, whilst looking upwards towards your hands. This starts to involve the shoulders and cervical spine, finish with one hand on your head and the opposite hip, then lean over towards the lower hand. This final movement stretches the muscles through our lower back and shoulders.
For those of you that aren’t able to stretch in the workplace, a simple tip would be to frequently stand up and move around. A few more trips to the printer or water cooler during the day can allow your body to refresh itself.
If you’d like to find out more about how you can correctly set up your work station, press this link to make a booking with one of our Physios.