With millions of Australians complaining about physical ailments brought on from makeshift home offices during the pandemic, Endeavour College massage lecturer Georgina Turelli has shared some key exercises to improve posture and relieve pain in the neck, back and shoulders.
To combat working-from-home aches and pains, she recommends workers incorporate the following stretches and slump-busters into their daily routine.
Hips – chair twerk
Move over Miley, the chair twerk is here to help engage your postural muscles whilst gently massaging those pesky tight muscles in the lower back.
To chair twerk, sit upright in your chair and imagine that your hips are a bowl of water. As you start to tilt the bowl forward, you tip a little bit of water out the front. Then roll your hips back like your tipping a little bit of water out the back. Repeat this forward and backward rocking motion slowly 15-30 times, making sure your only tipping a small amount of water each time and not the whole bowl. Now you’re chair twerking.
Shoulders – Goldilocks rolls
Everyone has probably tried shoulder rolls at some point in their life but not everyone is doing them right. Shoulder rolls are designed to mobilise your shoulder blades and stretch the upper trapezius muscles, meaning they are perfect for neck pain, upper back pain or shoulder pain caused by working at a computer.
To do a shoulder roll just right – not too fast, not too low and just enough rotations – sit up in your chair, pull your shoulders up to your ears then pull your shoulder blades back and together. Now glide those shoulders down away from the ears whilst holding them back, squeeze and hold for 5-10 seconds, then relax and repeat 5-10 times.
Neck – Armpit sniff
This isn’t about checking if you applied deodorant this morning but a great stretch for tight muscles in the back of the neck that can lead to headaches.
For the nose to armpit stretch, sit up straight then rotate your head and direct your nose to your armpit as if you’re giving it a sniff. Using the same arm as armpit, lift your hand to the back of head to gently assist the neck forward for a little extra stretch. Hold each side for 10 seconds and repeat a couple of times whenever your neck feels tight.
Back/Chest – Posture pole
To release pressure from the back, we need to first release the tension pulling from the front. Most of us spend a large chunk of our day with our arms in front of us, whether it’s typing on a keyboard, using a phone or even driving a car, which can cause a hunched position as our shoulders roll forward.
A great way to counterbalance all that forward motion is the posture pole exercise.
Start by grabbing a foam roller (or a rolled mat or towel) and lie backwards on it length ways on the ground so it runs from your bottom to the top of your head. Then open your arms out to the side making a giant T shape and stay here for up to 15 minutes allowing your chest to open and your spine and shoulders to reset.
For more information visit endeavour.edu.au
