4 Excellent Stretches To Do At Your Desk To Relieve Neck and Back Pain

4 Excellent Stretches To Do At Your Desk To Relieve Neck and Back Pain - Back pain is the leading global cause of disability. Frequent upper and lower back pain exercises and other healthy movements of the back muscles, vertebrae, and connective membranes have proven to be one of the best ways to help prevent back pain. Stretching relieves the pressure on the back and brings increased blood circulation into that area of the body. With certain exceptions, even for people with existing back pain, properly prescribed gentle back pain exercises can significantly improve their symptoms.

Benefits of Stretching - Stretching exercises offer their own particular physical benefits that are not replaceable by more strenuous exercises. Because it is such a relaxing and easy health activity, a little daily routine of chiropractic exercises for lower back pain is ideal for the office. The simple, easy act of stretching breaks up the spinal pressure of sitting for long hours, and it offers many important health benefits:

• Reduces stress
• Increases blood circulation
• Increases overall flexibility
• Helps lower blood pressure
• Helps minimize risk of strained muscles
• Increases your range of motion
• Helps prevent injuries
• Helps relieve lower back pain.
• Alleviates headache pain
• Helps improves posture

4 Excellent Stretching Exercises To Do at Your Desk - Here are some of the most effective and popular chiropractic exercises for neck and lower and upper back health that you can do even while sitting or standing at your desk during your workday:

Head Rolls (Sitting) - The only thing more satisfying than a big snack at lunch is doing these head rolls. You can feel all the tension leaving your shoulders, and you can feel your neck and upper back vertebrae opening and the pressure on them feeling relieved. After you stop, you’ll feel refreshed and crave other highly effective stretching motions. To do head rolls:

1. Sit with both arms hanging freely at your sides.
2. Drop your head to your chest, letting it hang limp.
3. In one smooth, slow motion, roll your head freely in a circular motion — first toward one shoulder, then toward the back, then to the other side, and finally back to the position of hanging forward.
4. Repeat the head rolls 3 to 4 times in one direction, then reverse the head rolls to repeat the motion 3 to four times in the other direction.

Torso Arches (Sitting) - Sitting at a desk for long hours can cause slumping shoulders, which can lead to upper back pain and neck and shoulder tension. Stretching your core, back, shoulders, and neck feels amazing and helps relieve all the pent-up muscle tension in these areas. To do Arch stretches:
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1. Sit near the front edge of your chair with your feet on the floor. Cross your ankles.
2. Straighten your back and place your arms to your sides on the chair a few inches behind you, and grip the edges of the chair.
3. Press your hands downward on the edges of the chair.
4. Take a deep breath as you slowly arch your whole back.
5. Flex your abdominal muscles as you keep your back arched.
6. Hold the arched position for 5 seconds as you inhale and exhale deeply.
7. Slowly relax your posture to your normal posture.
8. Repeat the arching exercise 2 to 3 times.

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Ragdoll Stretches (Standing) - Rag Doll stretching is a passive movement that amounts to hanging the torso of the body to let all the lower and upper back muscles and the spinal disks stretch. It relieves tension from the neck and shoulders to the upper and lower back, hips, and hamstrings all with one movement.
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1. Stand relaxed with your feet apart and flat on the floor.
2. Lower your torso and let the entire trunk of your body, head, and arms all hang limp and freely toward the floor — like a ragdoll.
3. Hang in this position for several seconds. Feel your spinal vertebrae stretching, releasing the pressure on the disks.
4. Curl your trunk slowly upward, one vertebra at a time, to return to a standing position.
5. Repeat this movement 1 or 2 times.

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Overhead Side Stretches (Standing) - Overhead side stretching releases tension along the spine, obliques, and shoulders.

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1. Start by standing with your arms at your sides and feet flat on the floor.
2. Stretch your arms upward toward the ceiling. Join your hands and loosely lace your fingers together. Leave your palms relaxed together facing each other.
3. Keep your elbows slightly bent and slowly bend your torso to one side to stretch it as far to that side as is comfortable for you.
4. Hold the stretched position for a few seconds. Then bend and stretch to the other side.
5. Repeat the stretches to each side several times.

Conclusion - Do all 4 stretching lower and upper back pain exercises and neck pain exercises in the order they appear above as your little daily routine for flexibility, relaxation, strength building, and relief of spinal and muscle pressure, tension, and pain. Doing this stretching routine daily only takes a few minutes, and it can help you be more productive and manage your tasks more efficiently so that you actually find you have more time to add tasks or enjoy downtime.

Why Choose Vitality Health Center, Family Chiropractic? We are a chiropractic practice in White Bear Lake, MN. We have been helping patients obtain relief from back pain, sciatica, and other health conditions for the past 20+ years. 

Call Vitality Health Center at (651)773-9414, or contact us here online for information about chiropractic healthcare or for an appointment.

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