Are you sitting most of the day? Are you feeling neck tension, mid back stiffness or the strain of sitting through your hips?
Here is a stretching routine built for office workers. You only need a chair, a doorframe and comfortable shoes.
Five moves
Hold for 10 to 15 seconds, then repeat on the other side.
Lean forward until you feel the stretch across your chest and shoulder.
Slowly draw your shoulder blades together without shrugging, and hold for 5 to 10 seconds.
Sit upright and cross one ankle above the opposite knee, forming a four.
Build movement into the day.
Shoulder stretch
Hold for 10 to 15 seconds, then repeat on the other side.
Chest stretch
Lean forward until you feel the stretch across your chest and shoulder.
Mid back squeezes
Slowly draw your shoulder blades together without shrugging, and hold for 5 to 10 seconds.
Figure 4 stretch
Sit upright and cross one ankle above the opposite knee, forming a four.
Walking
Build movement into the day.
Shoulder stretch
Do 3 to 5 reps on each side every two to three hours. Sit straight, relax your arms, slightly tuck your chin and gently tilt your neck towards one shoulder. Hold for 10 to 15 seconds, then repeat on the other side.
You should feel the stretch in your neck and upper shoulder. Use your opposite hand to guide your head closer to your shoulder for more stretch.
Chest stretch
Do 3 to 5 reps on each side every one to two hours. Stand in a doorway and raise your shoulder and elbow to 90 degrees, resting your forearm on the frame.
Position one leg forward and the other back, like a lunge. Lean forward until you feel the stretch across your chest and shoulder.
Mid back squeezes
Do 10 reps, twice daily. Sit upright, tuck your chin, and bend your shoulders and elbows to about 90 degrees.
Slowly draw your shoulder blades together without shrugging, and hold for 5 to 10 seconds. You should feel the contraction between your shoulder blades.
Figure 4 stretch
Sit upright and cross one ankle above the opposite knee, forming a four. For a deeper stretch, lean forward gently.
You should feel the stretch along the hip and inner thigh of the bent leg.
Walking tips
Build movement into the day. Take the stairs instead of the lift, park further from the office, walk while you catch up with colleagues, or get outside for a stroll if you are working from home. Movement is the point.
Put your own day in
Hours seated and how many times an hour you get up. Two minutes is counted for each time you stand.
That is about 16 minutes
on your feet across 8 hours at the desk.
Adding one more trip out of the chair each hour roughly doubles that total. The chest stretch in the doorway is a good excuse for it.
Why the routine is built this way
Sitting for long periods can fatigue the muscles that hold you up, which tightens other muscles in turn. Stretching what is tight while strengthening what holds you up is the counter.
How often, across a working day
Shoulder stretch
Do 3 to 5 reps on each side every two to three hours.
Chest stretch
Do 3 to 5 reps on each side every one to two hours.
Mid back squeezes
Do 10 reps, twice daily.
Figure 4 stretch
When your hips feel it.
Walking
Across the day.
Work within a comfortable range and avoid pain. None of these moves should be a fight.
The counter
Stretch what is tight
Shoulder, chest and figure 4.
Strengthen what holds you up
Mid back squeezes.
We are here to help
If you want a plan built around you, to move better, settle the pain and keep it away, book a session with our practitioners and we will build one.
What happens on a first visit
We assess you properly, show you what we find as we go, and map the plan backwards from the thing you want to get back to.
Read about your first visitSources
- The Spinal Studio practitioners. The reps and holds here are the ones we give people in the room.