Computer Slump Fix

So in these days, so many of us are spending hours working at the computer so it's very easy to end up as a day goes on getting more and more slumped and having neck and shoulder pain and discomfort. And so I am going to take just a little excerpt from a three hour workshop that I do and pick a couple of exercises to show you. So the recommendations are good work station set up and that is a given. But in addition it's to take breaks frequently including walking, even if it's just to get a drink cup of water or go to the copy machine. In addition, we can add some little micro breaks that consist of one to two exercises and I've selected two exercises to show you today that I hope you'll find useful for relieving some of that slump and helping you to feel like you can sit in a more upright neutral position.

The first exercise that we're going to do is to start with your elbows close against the chair and as you externally rotate, you're going to think about pressing those shoulders and elbows back towards the chair. And just hold two, three, four and then come back again and extremely rotate as you're rotating. Still lift those low abdominals as you press back and just feel the backs of the arms working as you press. Now we're going to add on upper back extension, so you're externally rotating, lifting with the [inaudible], low abs and then arching that back up and over the chair and hold two, three, four and come back. And again rotate and lift that up or back, way high. As you continue to press back with those arms, think of lifting even higher over that chair and return to more like that and rotate and upper back lifting up and over, up and over. And in. Last one, rotate and lift.

Stay here and lift just a little higher and lift just a little higher. And now reach the arms out to the side and bring them back behind you. Elbows in and forward and rotate up or back and extend. Reaching side, pressing back behind you. Elbows in and forward. Last one, rotate upper back and extend.

And here rotate those thumbs up and back and arch. Further up and over the chair. Hold two, three, four and come back in. Now the second exercise is a variation on that theme, but it's also to add the dynamic stretch and bringing those arms overhead. Since we do so much in front of our body that we want to stretch both back and forward in terms of the shoulder. So we're going to start the same thinking of lifting with those low abs, but now reach the arms up and then lift up and over that chair.

As you reach, reach long in the back diagonal. Bring the arms forward to your starting position and scoop and reach up and think of that sternum lifting way up and back as you are arch over, allowing yourself to lean on that chair to give you some support and allow you a little more range of motion as you go back and come forward. Again, lifting up, leaning against the chair as you go up and overstay in that position. And now bring your hands behind your head, extend them overhead and return and lifting up and arching over and bring the hands in. And here, shoulder blades pulled together one and pulled together. Two, you'll feel your chest going a little forward and that's okay for this exercise. Three and four, hold that arch and then reach the arms back overhead and bring the thumbs down to the floor.

One [inaudible] and two and three and four and come back to your starting position and hopefully you can feel a little bit more upright after doing that.