BACK PAIN ISN'T BECAUSE YOU SIT TOO MUCH, IT'S MORE LIKELY BECAUSE YOU DON'T MOVE ENOUGH…

How long have you been sitting at your desk today? How is your back feeling? A bit stiff? How about your shoulders?

So many of us accept such aches and pains as being ok because that’s just what happens when you have a desk job. Like there’s some trade off between between sitting at a desk and feeling physically great and so that the more you sit, the more you hurt.

To a certain extent this can be true. Especially when sitting absolutely still and in a funny croissant-like position. BUT this doesn’t have to be YOUR truth!

Sitting more actively and adding short amounts of movement into your working day can have a significant impact on how you feel. Leaving you feeling less achy, more energised and definitely more productive.

We shouldn’t take pain/tense muscles as a given as it doesn’t have to be this way. Here are some simple ways to change your sedentary habits today:

• Sit actively: feet flat on the floor, up on your sitting bones (the bones under your bottom/bottom of pelvis) and imagine a tug of war between your sit bones and the top of your head (so your spine is in a lengthened position). Press down firmly onto your heels and this gets your legs engaging too!
• Roll your shoulders: focus on the movement starting at the shoulder blades and draw little circles. Go both ways.
• Squat up and down from your chair: hinge forward from your hips so you’re on the front of your sit bones, press down firmly through heels and stand up (no hands) then squat back down. You could do this 8 times every time you get up and down!
• Side-bend your spine: lift one arm up straight in line with your ears and go up to over to side bend to the other side. Keep both sit bones down. Do both sides a few times.
• Wiggle it out: have a wiggle of all your body parts either standing or sitting. It feels great and it’s a good way of resetting the mind too.
• Mix up sitting and standing: standing to work uses more energy than sitting and you could add in some wiggles and two-steps while standing, some turns side to side and standing on one leg to improve your balance too.

Give these things a try and I bet you feel less tense?

These are the sorts of moves I share with teams through Pilates At Your Desk workshops and Postural Assessments and through the Move At Your Desk membership. I’m constantly told how much better people feel by simply moving more at their desks each day.

As with all movement malarkey there are 100s of exercises you could do at your desk which are simple and effective you just need to learn the moves and figure out how you’re going to make sure you do more movement each day.

Remember, PAYD has got your back…