Long working hours behind the desk at a computer…… At the end of the day the neck and shoulders feel stiff, posture gets worse, those tight muscles can even cause a headache! Sound familiar? You are not alone. Big numbers of people stuck behind a desk feel the same way.
Think about your posture while working: the abdominal muscles are relaxed, the back rounded, slouched shoulders, and the chin comes forward. Not good! And you stay like this for HOURS. This posture creates muscles imbalances (meaning some of your muscles get shorter, others get weaker). If you don’t do anything about this, the bad posture may become permanent.
So what exactly is good posture? From standing position, in the side view, an imaginary vertical line should go through your ear, shoulder joint, hip joint, knee joint and your ankle. In a posterior view, the left and right halves of your body should be symmetrical. How can you improve your posture?
- Keep your muscles strong and flexible. Strengthen your middle and upper back muscles, buttocks, and abdominals. Spend more time stretching muscles that get shorter after long hours of inactivity: chest, upper trapezius, shoulder rotators, neck muscles (see examples below), and hip flexors. Staying fit will definitely improve your stamina and productivity at work. You won’t feel that stiff and tired at the end of the day. A good Toronto personal trainer can help you with this.
- At your desk, be aware of how you sit. Get a comfortable chair that supports your back. Sit up tall, and don’t slouch! Every hour spend 5 minutes working on your posture. How would you do that? Sit up tall, tighten up your buttocks and abdominals, bring your shoulders back, tuck the chin. Just 5 minutes! At the end of the day you will end up spending 40 minutes working on your posture. Isn’t that easy?
- How can you ease this pain and tension in your neck? Spend 5-10 minutes under warm water. This will increase blood flow in the area. Now let’s stretch:
a) Sit on a chair. Tuck your left hand under the buttocks. Wrap your right arm around your head and slowly pull the head to your right shoulder. As you feel a pull, hold for 15 seconds. Make sure your nose points forward through the stretch (don’t rotate your head). Repeat on the other side.
b) From the same starting position, tuck your left hand under the buttocks. Turn your head 45 degrees to the right. Wrap your right arm around your head (grap the base of the skull) and pull your head tucking the chin to the chest. Hold for 15 seconds. Repeat on the other side. I bet you’ll feel much better after these stretches.
c) A good stretch to loosen the chest and shoulders is as follows. Use a towel. Take one end in each hand, and hold it stretched out in front of your eyes. Move the towel over your head to behind your neck, keeping it extended. Do this back and forth 10-15 times. Get those joints moving!
