If you have an office job, you spend many hours sitting on your butt and staring at a screen. As a result, many of us get used to the feeling of stiffness or pain and often do nothing about it.
While the best treadmills for under desk offer a great way to increase your activity level while answering emails and taking calls, not everyone has the space or ability to work while walking. Fortunately, this is where a simple mobility routine can help, relieving muscle stiffness and pain caused by sitting for long periods of time.
This session comes from mobility coach Amir Zandinejad and aims to target problem areas in the upper body and improve your posture throughout the day. Whether you’re short on space or just need a quick break from the screen, these exercises offer an easy way to get your body feeling its best while you work.
What is Amir Zandinejad’s 8-Move Desk Mobility Routine?
The focus of the routine is on so-called “Controlled Articular Rotations” (CARs). This sounds complicated, but it simply refers to a type of movement in which a joint is rotated slowly and in a controlled manner through its full range of motion.
Zandinejad explains, “With CARs, we express our full range of motion to remind our nervous system that this range is important to us and we want to maintain it. We also influence the blood, oxygen and nutrient supply to our tissues to maintain their health.”
You’ll perform four to five reps of each exercise, except for the last two moves, where Zandinejad recommends doing up to six reps.
According to a study published in the Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, prolonged sitting leads to fatigue, lower job satisfaction, high blood pressure and pain, especially in the shoulders, lower back, thighs and knees.
Even if it’s just a few minutes of stretching at your desk, it’s important to look away from the screen and get some movement into your day. And as you can see from Zandinejad’s routine, you don’t need a lot of time or space to get started and feel the positive effects of sitting and working.
When performing the movements, focus on slow and controlled movements. Don’t ignore pain if you feel it during any of the exercises. Zandinejad says, “Make sure you only work in pain-free ranges of motion. If an area causes pain or a twinge, shorten the area, bypass the pain point, and then continue with the rest of the movement.”
Because it’s quite short, it’s important to be aware that you won’t see huge improvements right away. But you can take a short break from the screen and increase your body awareness, develop your mind-body connection, and bring your focus to the present moment to reduce feelings of stress.
