Streches You Can Do At Work
Page 2
Side Stretch
- The side body isn’t as much of an obvious part of the body to stretch, but doing it will
benefit the body as a whole. - A good side stretch will release tension from the muscles that attach to the ribs & the
muscles between them. - You’ll also help to create more space for the lungs, diaphragm, hear & digestive organs.
- Reach your left arm up toward the ceiling & rest your right arm anywhere that’s comfortable, such as on your armrest or directly on your seat.
- You can grab your armrest or your seat to help with stability.
- Lean your torso to the right as you keep reaching & lengthening your arm as much as
possible, so you feel a nice stretch on the left side of your abdomen. - Hold for 20 seconds or longer & repeat on the other side.
- To deepen the stretch, revolve your torso slightly upward so that your chest opens up toward the ceiling.
Chest Stretch
- As desk workers, we spend most of our workdays with our arms forward in front of us & our chests closed.
- Over time, repeated performance of tasks that require us to extend our arms out in front of
us can lead to limited range of motion in the shoulder joints, weakened chest strength/
flexibility & even a rounded upper back. - A simple chest opening stretch you can do involves sitting up straight, extending your arms
out to each side & pushing your chest forward. - Your shoulders & arms will move back slightly.
- You can do this same stretch by placing your hands behind your head.
Reverse Prayer
- Reverse prayer is a yoga pose that looks simple, but will leave you feeling the stretch in
more parts of your body than you might expect. - In addition to opening the chest, it helps release tension in the shoulders & improves
flexibility in the wrists & forearms. - If you spend a lot of time typing or using a mouse, this is a great counter stretch for your
hands. - Maintaining good posture, bring your arms behind your back.
- If you shoulders, arms, or back are extra tight, you’ll probably want to stick with the modified version of reverse prayer by simply crossing your arms & grabbing opposite elbows with your hands.
- If you’re more flexible, you can bring the palms of your hands together into a prayer position with your fingertips facing upward.
- The sides of your hands should be resting firmly up against the middle of your back.
- Tip: Don’t try to push your chest & shoulders forward to the point that it’s painful, just to
get into this pose. - Stick with the modified version & work your way up toward the full version as your flexibility improves.
Cat-Cow Stretch
- Another popular yoga pose is cat-cow, one of the most basic & beneficial stretches you
can do for your back. - In addition to increasing the flexibility of the spine, it also releases tension in the neck, shoulders, back & torso while also providing a gentle massage for the abdominal organs.
- Sitting up straight with your hands resting in your lap, slowly inhale as you arch your back
by pushing your hips forward & opening your chest. - Then exhale as you roll your hips back, curl your shoulders forward & lower your chin
toward your chest.
Forward Bend
- A chair yoga variation of the original standing forward bend pose, this stretch is great when
you need to target the lower back. - This traditionally restorative pose also helps calm the brain & central nervous system.
-
Simply bend at the hips and fold your upper body over your legs, resting your torso on
your thighs. - Let your arms hang freely down toward the floor
Spinal Twist
- Spinal twists help to lengthen the spine, relieving tension right from the shoulders & down
to the lower back. - The longer you can lengthen your spine, the deeper you’ll be able to get into your twist
- Start by sitting slightly forward in your chair with your knees together, anchoring your hips
to your seat. - Take a deep breath & sit up straight, lengthening your spine as much as you can
- Without moving your hips or losing length in your spine, exhale as you twist your torso to
the right and grab your left knee with your right arm. - Place your left hand behind you and grab your seat, armrest, or back of your chair for
stability..
Repeat on the other side.
Use your hand to pull gently on your knee so you can twist deeper
but remember to keep your hips anchored & your spine tall.
Seated Triangle
- Seated triangle is yet another yoga pose variation.
- It involves a slight twist of the spine with a side stretch, helping to relieve stiffness from
the entire back body. - Sit up straight & comfortably in your chair with your legs hip distance apart.
- Extend both arms out horizontally, take an inhale & then exhale as you fold forward,
twisting to the right so that your arms go vertical.
- The left arm should extend down to the floor while the right arm should extend up toward
the ceiling. - Keep your head aligned with your chest or optionally tilt it slightly to look upward, as long
as it doesn’t cause pain.
- Repeat on the other side.
- If you can’t get your hand all the way to the floor, try grabbing the calf or ankle of the
opposite leg.
Shoulder Strech
- This is one of the most basic stretches you can do for your shoulders.
- It’s great if you’ve been tapping away at a keyboard all day or performing any other
forward facing tasks with your arms. - Take your left horizontally across your chest and use your right arm to lock it in place by bending at your elbow (so your forearm is extended upward)
- Use your right arm to gently tug backward on your left arm to deepen the stretch.
- Repeat on the other side
Forearm Stretch
- This one is for all you typists and computer workers out there.
- You might never know just how much tension is really in your hands, wrists & forearms
until you hold this stretch. - Extend your left arm out in front of you so that the palm of your hand is facing the ceiling.
- Use the four fingers of your right hand across the four fingers of your left hand to gently
pull the entire hand at the wrist joint downward,as much as you can without it feeling painful. - Repeat with the right arm.
Eagle
- The chair yoga version of eagle takes the balance aspect out of the pose & is also a great modification if you’re working your way up to the full version.
- It incorporates pretzel-like twists to stretch the shoulders & upper back, engage the core,
& strengthen the lower body. - Sitting up straight, take your left arm, bend it at the elbow & cross it over your bent right
arm,so that the bottom of your left elbow is held in place by the inside of your right elbow. - If you can, hold the palms of your hands together as if in prayer.
- Now take your right leg & cross it over your left.
- You can keep it crossed simply or try to wedge the top of your right foot underneath your
left calf. - It’s harder to wrap your foot around your calf with shoes on, so you might want to try
taking your shoe off. - If the legs are too much, just keep them in a normal seated position while you focus on the
arm portion of the pose.
Pigeon
- Sitting for long periods of time can lead to some seriously tight hips.
- Pigeon pose (again taken from yoga) performed in a chair will help to open the hip joints, lengthen the hip flexors, and stretch the upper leg muscles.
- Sitting comfortably in your chair, take your right leg, bend it at the knee & cross it over
your left thigh so that your right calf or ankle rests on it. - Since everyone’s hip flexibility is different, your bent leg may be very open so that it can
rest horizontally over your left leg, or it may be very tight, equiring you to keep your bent
leg resting slightly at an angle. - If you have good hip flexibility, you can take this stretch deeper by folding your upper
body over your bent leg.
Hamstring Stretch
- If you have tight hip flexors from the limited range of motion associated with sitting, you
might as well have tight hamstrings too. - These are the muscles at the back of your legs, which affect the extension of the hips &
the bending of the knees. - There are lots of different ways you can stretch the hamstrings, but this one is one of the easiest & perfect for beginners with more tightness.
- Sit at the edge of your seat & take note of your posture, making sure you’re sitting as
straight up as you can. - Keep your left leg bent & secured to the floor for stability as you extend your right leg out straight, resting your heel on the floor.
- Place your hands right above your right knee, flex your right foot & bend your torso
forward, straight like a hinge as far as you comfortably can. - You should feel it in the back of your legs.
- Use your hands to push down & forward slightly on your leg for deepening the stretch a
bit. - Make sure you don’t round back.
- A straight back is essential to targeting the hamstrings.
Streches You Can Do At Work - Page 3
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