Simple Exercises to do at your Desk

Per­form these five move­ments every 60 – 90 min­utes through­out the day. There’s no need to even leave your desk. In addi­tion, try to stand up every 20 – 45 min­utes and always be look­ing for ways to move more through­out your day.

“6 O’clock Fin­gers” Stretch
Com­put­er key­boards require your hands to be in a near ​“forced prona­tion” posi­tion most of the day. In this case, the fas­cia of your ante­ri­or fore­arm mus­cles short­en and even­tu­al­ly give way to elbow and wrist pain.
* Stand at the edge of a desk or counter.
* Place your hands on the sur­face.
* Exter­nal­ly rotate your hands so that the fin­gers are fac­ing your body, as close to the ​“6 o’clock” posi­tion as pos­si­ble.
* With­out caus­ing pain or extreme dis­com­fort, lean for­ward and bring your palms toward the sur­face of the desk or counter.
* Attempt to straight­en the arms at the elbow.
* Keep­ing your palms on the sur­face, lean back, feel­ing a stretch of your fore­arm mus­cles.
* Hold for 30 seconds.

Lat­er­al Lean Lat Stretch
The ​“hunched” posi­tion so many peo­ple assume while sit­ting at a desk cre­ates a tight­en­ing of the mus­cle and fas­cia sys­tem asso­ci­at­ed with the lat mus­cles. Because the lat mus­cle inte­grates through­out the entire upper body, this can cause poor pos­ture and pain.
* Stand­ing upright, clasp your fin­gers behind your head with­out strain­ing the neck.
* Keep­ing both feet on the floor, turn your head to look at the left elbow.
* Main­tain­ing this posi­tion, lean your tor­so to the right with­out bend­ing for­ward or extend­ing back­ward.
* Hold the stretch for 30 sec­onds.
* Repeat on the oppo­site side.

Stand­ing Hip Flex­or Stretch
When you sit in a chair for extend­ed peri­ods of time, the mus­cles that help you ele­vate your hips against grav­i­ty become tight and short. Because these pow­er­ful mus­cles have ori­gins and inser­tions involv­ing the spine, pelvis and leg bones, improp­er func­tion can cre­ate pathol­o­gy, pain and poor pos­ture.
* Place your left hand on the sur­face of a desk or chair for bal­ance.
* Bend the right knee and grip the right ankle, slow­ly bring­ing the right heel toward the right glute mus­cle.
* While doing this, tight­en both glute mus­cles to avoid an exces­sive arc in the low­er back.
* Bring the right knee toward the left knee while keep­ing the glutes tight and spine upright; try to straight­en the left leg.
* Hold the stretch for 30 sec­onds.
* Repeat on the oppo­site side.

Stand­ing Figure‑4 Stretch
While sit­ting cre­ates a short­en­ing of the hip flex­or mus­cles, the hip-extend­ing, exter­nal­ly rotat­ing glute mus­cles often lose strength and func­tion­al­i­ty. This is because sit­ting holds the hips in a ​“flexed” posi­tion. With­out prop­er glute strength and func­tion­al­i­ty, the lum­bar spine is put under greater stress.
* Place your hands on a desk or chair for bal­ance.
* Place the out­side of your right ankle above the kneecap of your left knee (this forms a ​“4” posi­tion with your legs).
* Keep­ing the chest upright and the hips fac­ing for­ward, bend the left knee and lean back slight­ly.
* To increase the stretch in the right glute mus­cles, place a hand on the inside of the right knee and push gen­tly toward the floor.
* Hold the stretch for 30 sec­onds.
* Repeat on the oth­er side.

Open and Close Upper-body Stretch
Sit­ting con­tin­u­ous­ly forces your lum­bar spine (low­er back) into flex­ion. It also ele­vates and pro­tracts your shoul­der blades, while inter­nal­ly rotat­ing at the shoul­ders. In a nut­shell, every­thing is held for­ward. In this case, the mus­cles that help your spine to extend, your shoul­der blades depress and retract, and your shoul­ders to exter­nal­ly rotate lose strength and func­tion­al­i­ty. A whole host of pain and pathol­o­gy are the result.
* Stand­ing upright, flex for­ward at the waist with­out bend­ing at the spine. Your hips should shift back­ward and the arms should hang nat­u­ral­ly in front of the body.
* After three deep breaths, return to an upright posi­tion while simul­ta­ne­ous­ly mov­ing the arms away from the body lat­er­al­ly, approach­ing a posi­tion just below par­al­lel to the floor.
* While rais­ing the arms, rotate the thumbs back­ward, fac­ing the palms of your hands toward the sky.
* As your arms raise in this posi­tion, pic­ture the thumbs mov­ing toward one anoth­er behind your back.
* Once upright, con­tin­ue to extend the spine, with­out pain, to a posi­tion where your chest is fac­ing upright, your arms are slight­ly below par­al­lel to the floor, your palms are fac­ing upward, and your thumbs are mov­ing toward one anoth­er.
* Hold this posi­tion for three breaths and repeat five to 10 times.