“I just don’t have enough time to exercise.”
This is a phrase we hear all the time! While we understand that life gets crazy sometimes and it can be challenging to fit in a dedicated time to exercise, there are steps everyone can take to fit some movement into our daily routines. In fact, one thing we recommend to people that don’t have a chunk of time to perform 5-6 exercises all at once is to portion out their movements into even smaller chunks. Keep reading to learn about some simple exercises for desk workers!
Take Breaks to Decrease Pain
Taking breaks helps you physically by decreasing stiffness and tightness which can help decrease pain. It can also benefit your ability to work greatly. In fact, according to research (Chignell, 2021) taking breaks has been shown to help with:
- Processing and retaining information.
- Improving creativity.
- Improving productivity.
- Cultivating better habits.
One thing we recommend whenever possible is to take a 1-2 minute break every 30 minutes and stand up, walk around, or perform one or two exercises before returning to work.
Simple Desk Exercises for the Day
So finally let us share with you a few simple exercises to work into your busy work day!
T-Spine Extension over the back of a chair – sit in a low backed chair, slide your hips all the way back, interlock your hands behind your neck and arch your upper back over the backrest. Breathe with your movements. Repeat this 5-10 times.
Bilateral ER: Sit upright with your feet supported. While keeping your elbows at your side, rotate your arms away from your body. Breathe with movements. Repeat this 5-10 times.
Bonus! Add resistance with a band to make this a little more challenging.
Chin Tuck: Sit upright or stand upright (against a wall). Pay attention to keeping your joints stacked – if you don’t know what this is refer to our neutral spine video. Try to make a double chin and hold it for about 5-10 seconds! Make sure to breathe as you do this. Repeat 5-10 times.
Try to incorporate these into your work day and take a small break for every 30 minutes of sitting. Let us know if you have any questions or give us your thoughts on how this has helped you! For tips on how to set up your work space to increase productivity and decrease fatigue and pain, check out our blog on Ergonomics!
References
Chignell, B. (2021, November 26). Five benefits of taking regular breaks at work. CIPHR. Retrieved February 14, 2022, from https://www.ciphr.com/advice/taking-breaks/
