What do you and this prawn have in common??
Do you sit at a desk?
Do you sit at a desk with poor posture?
Do you have the habit of looking like this prawn when you’re sitting at a desk with poor posture?
If you’ve answered yes to any (or all) of these questions please read on…
Our spine is naturally designed to have three main curves in it. Looking side on there is an inward curve in the neck and lower back and the opposite in the mid section.
We’re built this way so that the forces that we exert through our spine every day are balanced and protect the joints, discs, nerves, ligaments and muscles of our spine. When these curves aren’t working well (or they become reversed like our little prawn friend) we run the risk of damaging these structures leading to aches and pains, osteoarthritis and sciatica to name only a few.
Here’s my three top tips to start implementing to avoid this happening:
Set an alarm on your phone to ring every hour. This is your reminder to stand up and move! Sitting for too long makes your body think “oh well, I’ll just stay in this terrible position as I’m always here anyway”.
Integrate stretching into your daily routine. Hold each of these for 10 seconds and don’t ever force through pain. Tilt your chin to your chest, bring one ear down to its nearest shoulder then repeat on other side, shrug your shoulders up to your ears and circle them backwards pulling your shoulderblades together.
Imagine a helium balloon tied to the crown of your head pulling up towards the ceiling. This elongates the muscles ligaments making you taller and enhancing those beautiful natural spinal curves.
There’s your homework! Please share with all of your office colleagues or anyone else you know working at a desk on a daily basis. This doesn’t only apply to workers, I hear on a daily basis in clinic the all the retirees out there surfing the web are guilty of marathon sessions on computers too!
So what’s the message?
I guess it’s be more human and be less prawn…
‘til next time,
Francesca x