Spending many hours at your desk in front of your computer can end up giving you back and neck ache, not to mention repetitive strain injuries in your arm!
There are a few simple things you can do to minimise your risk of pain.
Your chair – make sure when you’re sitting on your chair so that your knees are a right angles to the floor, feet flat down, don’t cross your legs.
You should be sitting right on top of your sitz bones (the 2 bony bits you can feel in your buttocks). When you sit right on top of these sitz bones, your spine will be lengthened with its natural curves. To start with, if you are used to ‘slumping’ you are going to find this tiring, so use a small cushion in your lower back for support.
Make sure that your computer is at eye-level, you may have to place it on top of a pile of books to get it at the right height! Be careful that you are not sticking your chin out, as this puts your neck into extension & causes excessive stress in you neck.
Finally, check your arm position, ideally you want your elbow to be at a right angle, so you may need to rest it on a small book to achieve this.
5 top exercises to do at your desk:
- Retract your chin so that the BACK of your neck lengthens. Hold for 10 seconds & repeat 5 times.
- Tip your head over towards your shoulder, place your hand on your head & gently encourage your ear towards your shoulder, whilst reaching the opposite fingers towards the ground. Hold for 20 seconds, do each side 4 times.
- Keep your chin retracted & rotate your head as far around as possible, as if you’re trying to look over your shoulder. Put your tongue in your cheek (the side which you are turning) & notice that you can go a little further. Hold for 10 seconds & repeat both sides 4 times.
- Lift your arms wide above your head, leaning back as far as feels comfortable, sending your breast bone to the ceiling & release 4 times.
- Place your right hand on you left hip, sit lovely & tall & rotate to the left as far as you comfortably can, then release 4 times each side.
Finally, spend 2 minutes breathing deeply, drawing the breathe right down into your belly so that your belly expands & release.
Back to work feeling released & re-energised 🙂