6 valuable exercises for a healthy back in the home office
No time right now?
Formerly a rare exception, today the new standard: the home office is here to stay. So it pays to establish healthy routines for working at home. We’ll show you one of them.
The media regularly confirms with ever new studies that we are not physically active enough. This is reinforced by the home office. The recommendation of the WHOExercising at least 150 minutes a week at moderate intensity is almost the answer, according to a recent study 50 percent of people not.
Again and again you find yourself finding yourself preferring professional as well as private activities instead of being active for your own health. Often with the reason that the other tasks cannot be postponed or are simply more important at this moment. But actually it is more the lack of motivation and the weaker self that prevent us from being active.
Contents
- 1 The power of little habits
- 2 Meeting over – time for a short break
- 3 Exercise 1: straighten up from the hunched back
- 4 Exercise 2: Rotating the upper body 1
- 5 Exercise 3: piriformis
- 6 Exercise 4: Loosen the wrist and forearm
- 7 Exercise 5: Rotating the upper body 2
- 8 Exercise 6: straighten the thoracic spine
The power of little habits
It doesn’t have to be. With the tactic of small habits – the tiny habits – it is possible to firmly integrate new routines into our everyday life. Because small steps are less intimidating and require significantly less motivation. The likelihood of maintaining it increases.
An important factor here is to link the new little actions to existing everyday routines. This can be brushing your teeth, morning coffee or the daily meeting. To put it simply: after a “after me” there is a “I’ll do”. A simple method that works well with constant repetition.
Because there are no trips to the office or between meeting rooms in the home office, we move much less at home. The time at the desk increases. This lack of exercise does not go unnoticed to our back, neck, and shoulders. It’s not just about movement, but also about activating our muscles. A deficiency can lead to back and joint problems over time, which become a constant companion in our everyday life.
Meeting over – time for a short break
Activating our muscles regularly during the day is an extremely important preventive measure for maintaining and promoting our health. With the concept of Tiny Habits, we have the opportunity to do just that – and with a high probability of success.
In the end it is very simple: You choose a daily recurring event as a kind of anchor. You then attach your short break from movement to this. Sometimes it can only be 60 seconds long, on other days maybe five minutes.
The following six exercises are ideal for activating and stretching the muscle groups that suffer most when working at a desk. This includes our neck, shoulders, back, arms and hands as well as the hips. At the beginning, you can simply choose three favorites and repeat them over the course of the day. If you do this every day, it is such a valuable routine that you do a lot of good for your body.
Exercise 1: straighten up from the hunched back
With this exercise you move your entire spine and activate the deep muscles.
Position A: Start in an upright sitting position and place your hands on your thighs. Now you consciously hunch your back and move your hands towards your knees. Hold this position for two seconds.
(Photo: Senseble)
Position B: Then straighten your upper body vertebra by vertebra and drive back again with your hands on your thighs. Straighten your head, pull your elbows back, and do a double chin.
(Photo: Senseble)
Repeat this exercise three to five times at a controlled speed.
Exercise 2: Rotating the upper body 1
This exercise serves to mobilize your thoracic spine and at the same time activates the right muscles in the shoulder and neck area.
Position A: Start in an upright seat with one arm on the inside of the thigh. Take the other arm up and place your fingers loosely on the back of your head.
(Photo: Senseble)
Position B: Actively turn your elbows and upper body backwards and follow the movement with your gaze
(Photo: Senseble)
Repeat this exercise three to five times. Then the side changes. Again, move at a controlled speed.
Exercise 3: piriformis
Because we sit a lot, we lose mobility in the hips. With this exercise you not only do something good for your sacroiliac joint, but also stretch the often tense muscles in your buttocks.
Position A: Start in an upright seat and place one of your ankles on the other knee. Keep your knee out.
(Photo: Senseble)
Position B: Lean slightly forward with your back straight and increase the tension in your buttocks.
(Photo: Senseble)
Repeat this exercise three to five times. Then the side changes.
Exercise 4: Loosen the wrist and forearm
In the workplace, hands are strained every day. The following exercise helps to mobilize the wrists and stretch the muscles in the forearms.
Position A: Start in an upright position and place both palms on top of each other in front of your chest. The fingers point upwards, the elbows outwards. Then turn your hands and fingertips forward.
(Photo: Senseble)
Position B: In the same position you now turn your hands and fingertips towards your chest.
(Photo: Senseble)
Repeat this exercise five to ten times.
Exercise 5: Rotating the upper body 2
This exercise is a real treat for the back. You mobilize your spine and stretch your core and chest muscles. In this way you can specifically prevent tension.
Position A: Start in an upright seat. Now bend forward slightly and support one forearm on your thigh. Again at a moderate pace.
(Photo: Senseble)
Position B: Then you turn your upper body together with your free arm towards the ceiling and stretch yourself.
(Photo: Senseble)
Repeat this exercise three to five times. Then the side changes.
Exercise 6: straighten the thoracic spine
With this passive exercise you can really relax and improve the mobility of your thoracic spine and shoulder joints. In addition, you stretch the often tense chest muscles and the latissimus – our largest back muscle.
Position A: Take a little distance from the table. Lean forward with your back straight and support both elbows on the table. Put your palms together.
(Photo: Senseble)
Position B: Now dip your chest and head between your arms. And hold the stretch for ten seconds.
(Photo: Senseble)
Repeat this exercise three times.
Thomas Kirchner is the founder of the Munich startup Senseble Health. He was previously a co-founder of the digital therapy app Kaia Health. Getting people excited about a healthy lifestyle is not just his job, but above all his passion.
