Working at a desk is not good for your body. It forces you into a compromised position that can lead to all sorts of muscular issues. Most notably, you can adopt a bad posture, causing numerous pains. As such, it’s important to do some daily stretches to counter the effects of desk work. Here are four stretches that you simply need to do at regular intervals throughout the day:
Hip flexor stretch
Hip flexors get incredibly tight from sitting down all day long. Therefore, you should get up every hour or so and stretch them out. It’s a simple lunge stretch that really opens up the front of your hips. Ensure you don’t arch your back while doing this stretch, and put something under your knee if it feels uncomfortable. Really squeeze your bum while you do this to emphasize the stretch on your hip flexors.
T-spine stretch
Your thoracic spine is the middle part of your spine below the neck and above your lumbar spine. It gets very tight when you sit at a desk because you’re always hunched over. This creates an excessive curve that makes you look like a hunchback. So, you really want to open up and extend your t-spine as much as possible.
Additionally, the t-spine loses a lot of rotation when you sit at a desk for too long. So, this stretch will help you get a good twist while also opening up the spine and extending it. Simply get into the position to perform a glute bridge – back on the floor, knees bent with feet planted on the floor. Then, squeeze your glutes to perform the bridge, but reach over with your arm so you twist. You want to reach overhead and twist in the opposite direction, the video below shows you how it’s done:
Chest stretch
Your chest gets very tight when you work at a desk, especially if you’re typing. There are countless chest stretches you can do to alleviate the tightness. The best is to stand in a doorframe and place each of your forearms on either frame. Then, lean forward and feel the stretch.
Forearm stretch
An often overlooked aspect of your body that feels the burden of constant typing or writing. It’s quite hard to explain this stretch, so watch this video to see how to do it:
If you always feel a lot of forearm pain, it could be down to medial epicondylitis, which is a type of tendinitis. This is very common amongst desk workers, so you need to know how to treat it as well. The stretches will help, but with Kinesio tape, medial epicondylitis is easier to deal with. It takes the stress off the tendons and muscles, so everything feels less stiff. Combine this with regular stretching and breaks to ease your pain.
And there you have it; four daily stretches you need to do if you work at a desk. Try to do them every hour or two hours while you work, correcting all the common issues that plague your body.