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Even if you love your job, spending 40-plus hours at a desk every week can sometimes lead to more than just a headache; it can also be a pain in the neck, shoulders, back, feet, and eyes. Being chained to your desk starves your extremities of blood, oxygen, and other fluids, resulting in tight muscles and stiff joints. But before reaching for the industrial-size bottle of ibuprofen, try these poses from Karin Wiedemann, yoga instructor and director of Urban Yoga in Washington, D.C. She suggests spending 3 minutes every 2 hours doing the following moves to relieve some tension.
The pain: Wrists and hands
The cause: "Typing is a very repetitive motion, and we do it for hours," Wiedemann says. On top of that, we hold our hands in a very tense position, so the muscles get stiff and blood doesn't circulate as well (as evidenced by how chilly your hands can get even in summer.)
The yoga fix: Sitting at your desk with your feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart, lengthen up through the crown of your head and let your shoulders gently drop away from your ears. Bring your hands together on your lap, interlacing your fingers. As you take a deep breath in, reach your arms out in front of you and press your palms away. As you exhale, raise your arms overhead and try to straighten your elbows as much as you can without scrunching your shoulders. If your shoulders rise up, keep your elbows slightly bent. Hold this pose for 10 complete breaths and lower your arms on the last exhale. Repeat twice more.
The pain: Feet and ankles
The cause: High heels push body weight to the front of the foot. "And the pointy styles we wear shove our feet into unnaturally narrow spaces," Weidemann says. High heels throw off your entire skeletal system because your foundation, your feet, doesn't have a solid connection with the ground.
The yoga fix: Remove your shoes. Next, sitting in a chair, cross your right ankle over your left thigh. Weave the fingers of your left hand from the bottom of your foot up between your toes as if you were holding hands with your foot. Begin making circles with your ankle. Make 10 circles in each direction. Next, carefully release your fingers and hold onto the top of your foot. Bend your toes back towards your shins and then down toward your heel. Do this five times in each direction. Now, using your thumbs, gently massage the bottom of your foot, especially the arches. Switch sides.
Last updated: January 4, 2010
YOGA EXERCISES FOR OFFICE WORKERS
Yoga For Workaholics
Yoga at the office: Use yoga workouts to relieve the pains of your desk job
Paige Greenfield
Even if you love your job, spending 40-plus hours at a desk every week can sometimes lead to more than just a headache; it can also be a pain in the neck, shoulders, back, feet, and eyes. Being chained to your desk starves your extremities of blood, oxygen, and other fluids, resulting in tight muscles and stiff joints. But before reaching for the industrial-size bottle of ibuprofen, try these poses from Karin Wiedemann, yoga instructor and director of Urban Yoga in Washington, D.C. She suggests spending 3 minutes every 2 hours doing the following moves to relieve some tension.
The pain: Wrists and hands
The cause: "Typing is a very repetitive motion, and we do it for hours," Wiedemann says. On top of that, we hold our hands in a very tense position, so the muscles get stiff and blood doesn't circulate as well (as evidenced by how chilly your hands can get even in summer.)
The yoga fix: Sitting at your desk with your feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart, lengthen up through the crown of your head and let your shoulders gently drop away from your ears. Bring your hands together on your lap, interlacing your fingers. As you take a deep breath in, reach your arms out in front of you and press your palms away. As you exhale, raise your arms overhead and try to straighten your elbows as much as you can without scrunching your shoulders. If your shoulders rise up, keep your elbows slightly bent. Hold this pose for 10 complete breaths and lower your arms on the last exhale. Repeat twice more.
The pain: Feet and ankles
The cause: High heels push body weight to the front of the foot. "And the pointy styles we wear shove our feet into unnaturally narrow spaces," Weidemann says. High heels throw off your entire skeletal system because your foundation, your feet, doesn't have a solid connection with the ground.
The yoga fix: Remove your shoes. Next, sitting in a chair, cross your right ankle over your left thigh. Weave the fingers of your left hand from the bottom of your foot up between your toes as if you were holding hands with your foot. Begin making circles with your ankle. Make 10 circles in each direction. Next, carefully release your fingers and hold onto the top of your foot. Bend your toes back towards your shins and then down toward your heel. Do this five times in each direction. Now, using your thumbs, gently massage the bottom of your foot, especially the arches. Switch sides.
Last updated: January 4, 2010
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This article is amazing! For women's health week coming up in May, I made a pledge to wake up an hour earlier so I could fit yoga and meditation time in before work. I've been very diligent about it. I'm definitely going to be doing these neck, back and shoulder exercises. Sitting at a desk is such a drag.
Do you have any other recommendations?
This article is awesome!! I have a ton of clients that are trying to lose weight and squeeze time in for a little exercise and relaxation. I will be sure to share this with all of Trim360 clients...thank you!!
This article is excellent! My fingers get so cold while typing, my arm, neck and back hurt so I'll definitely try these fixes! :)
if you're out in the open, get your work partners to join in! They'd probably love some stretching as well!
I'm frequently getting pain in my upper back/neck from sitting at my computer, and I have wrist pain from typing...I was amazed at how I my arms felt (the circulation) when I did the Wrist and Hands fix!! Perfect!!! I'll try this more often!
I think these are great ideas, but people tend to look at you funny when you're doing them while sitting in a cubicle. Any ideas for those of us who are forever out in the open???
i think these types of articles should be more frecuent here!, love it! tks
This is **EXACTLY** what I wanted to find.
I love my work so it's (too) easy to just sit in my chair for hours at a time. And that's meant a dramatic increase in my "weight PAIN" (knees hurt going down stairs, frequent neck & back cramps, dry eyes, crackly joints).
This is AWESOME!
Maybe, show us some pictures.
This article helped me because I spend a lot of time in front of a compiter,