Do You Sit at a Desk All Day?

In this blog post series, we will discuss some occupations that perform repetitive tasks day in and day out and some helpful exercises, posture adjustments, etc., to enhance your health. The following are occupations will be covered in a series of writings: hair stylist, desk worker, and teacher. If there are other occupations that you know that you think would be beneficial to hear some tips on, let us know and we can write additional blog(s) on those occupations. This writing will address the occupation of a desk worker. Do you sit at a desk all day, if you do, this is a must-read!

Whether you are a financial advisor, business consultant, front desk receptionist, etc., if you spend most of your workday on a computer, this is for you! We will start at the ground, our feet, and then work our way up throughout the body for tips and exercises to do specifically for that area. So firstly, feet should be flat on the floor, forming a solid foundation. One device that would be beneficial is a foot massager that you can use while working to stretch out the bottom of your foot – it would need to be done in stockings or barefoot. We have no affiliation with any foot massager product.

A way to strengthen your feet is to walk barefoot at home and do exercises at home, as your intrinsic foot musculature will have to engage more while completing them. The feet have 200,000 receptors; other sources say they have more receptors in them, which can provide our brains with insightful information. Walking barefoot provides so much sensory input to the brain and central nervous system, and the more information the brain receives, the better.

Working our way up to the hips, you will want to sit with your hips rotated anteriorly (forward) to keep your low back in an erect position. Being in a slouched position where the hips are rotated posteriorly (backwards) makes your back go into a rounded position, which places extra stress on areas that are not meant to handle that stress. You can either accomplish the proper hip positioning via manually remembering to sit with your hips rotated forward, or, if you would like help, you can order a seat wedge where the thicker end goes towards the back of the seat, and the narrower end goes towards your knees. Again, we do not have any affiliations with any seat wedge cushions.

A stretch for your hips/low back is to do hip windshield wipers. Perform 2-3 sets of 10-20 reps per side. If you are unfamiliar with that stretch, googling “hip windshield wipers” will provide you with videos and images of it. A strengthening exercise for the hips/low back is supermans. Perform 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps, holding each rep for 5 seconds. Complete all exercises within a pain-free range.

Now, onto the shoulders and neck: computer screens should be level with your eyes to avoid placing excess stress and strain on your cervical (neck) spine and musculature. The keyboard and desk should be at a height where your forearms come to rest at your side. There are many gadgets, whether keyboards, mouse pads, or headsets, on the market to promote ergonomics. However, we will not dive into those in this writing.

A stretch to target your upper back/shoulder/chest region is to put your arms on the side frames of a doorway and then lean forward while in a staggered stance to maintain your balance the entire time. Perform 2-3 times, holding for 30 seconds each time. You can either perform bilaterally or one side at a time – just do 2-3 reps per side then. A strengthening exercise for your neck is chin tucks which can be performed laying down on your back or seated. Perform 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps and hold each repetition for 3 seconds. Again, perform all exercises in pain-free ranges and intensities.

If you would like a more in-depth stretching and strengthening exercise regimen or posture assessment and helpful tips to improve your ergonomics, or if you have further questions about exercising tolerance, feel free to stop in at one of our Freedom Physical Therapy locations. We are located in Mukwonago, Brookfield, Grafton, and Fox Point. As always, enjoy more Freedom!