Canyon Ranch (Massachusetts)
The average American works 1,978 hours per year, which, according to the United Nations' International Labor Organization, is more than people in any other industrialized country. You spend a lot of time at work, so if there's one place where you should look for ways to be healthier, it's at the office.
If you need additional incentive, consider this - especially if you work sitting down: Eight of 10 adults suffer significant lower back pain at some time, and lower back pain is the leading cause of missed work in the United States. Sitting for extended periods puts more strain on the lower back than jumping, lifting or twisting - the only thing that's harder on the lumbar spine than sitting is lifting while sitting.
The bad news doesn't stop there. Sitting slumped in a chair for eight-plus hours a day can lead to pain in the neck, shoulders and upper back, as well as in the vulnerable small of the back.
The work-a-day world
There's plenty you can do to ease and protect your back while you're on the job. Integrating simple stretches derived from yoga poses into your workday is a practical, effective and efficient way to minimize back pain, improve flexibility, promote emotional well-being and maximize mental performance.
Yoga is a vast discipline that encompasses spirituality, breathing, flexibility, movement and fitness, and you can dedicate a lifetime to studying its many aspects and not exhaust all it has to teach. One of the benefits of yoga is its power to improve body mechanics by increasing body awareness.
Even if you stand perfectly, using the legs, feet and pelvis all in alignment, you still need to be conscious about what happens when you sit, and yoga can help. Too often, when we sit, we plop in a chair with the pelvis tucked under and shoulders rounded forward. That bows the spine, pulling the head and shoulders forward and down, closing the chest and eventually causing pain in the shoulders, back and neck.
See yourself from a different perspective
When someone looks at you from the side, you should look like a right angle. You should fold not at your waistline, but at your hip joint, so that most of your weight is on the backs of the thighs, not the buttocks.
The pelvis should not be tucked under: It should remain directly under the spine to support it, allowing you to sit up tall.
And don't forget your feet: Be sure they're placed firmly on the floor: Use a footrest if they don't rest solidly. It helps, too, if feet can be bare.
Take off your shoes off when you sit at your desk so your toes and feet can breathe. It seems like a small thing, but all the nadis and meridians (reflex points associated with the chi or life-energy pathways) are in the feet and hands and ears. When you can move your toes and the balls of your feet, the rest of the body is more relaxed.
It's also useful to keep a tennis ball under your desk to roll your feet around on. This simple action is incredibly energizing and helps keep feet flexible and blood circulating.
Get on the ball
A large exercise ball instead of a chair can also help keep you in healthy alignment while you sit, by encouraging your abs to work and your chest to lift.
You need to lift your sternum (breastbone) while you're sitting. When you lift the sternum, the shoulders and head automatically go back and you lose that forward stoop. Keeping the breastbone lifted uses abdominal muscle from the pubic bone to the sternum - the body's core.
When you sit on a ball, those abdominal muscles must be lifted and pulled into the spine or you'll fall off. It's that simple. And when you sit correctly, you keep your spine supple, allowing fluid to flow into the spinal channel and preventing the spine and the muscles around it from locking up.
Ease your desk-bound aches, naturally
Here's a pain-preventing stretch you can do without even getting up from your desk.. Sit with the chest lifted and the abdominal muscles engaged. Clasp your hands behind your back. Beginners may want to simply grasp their fingers or wrists. Advanced: Put your palms together.. Straighten your arms behind your back while simultaneously lifting your sternum even higher. (Do not crane your neck: Raise your gaze only as high as the point where the wall and ceiling meet.). Breathe deeply 10 times.
This stretch releases tight muscles under the shoulder blades, which are connected to the muscles in the neck, which, in turn, cause most tension headaches. This move also stretches the front of the chest, "reminding" the sternum to lift and the shoulder blades to come back and down. Finish by shaking both hands vigorously for a few seconds. This releases tension all the way up to the neck, improves circulation and helps prevent carpal tunnel syndrome and other repetitive motion problems in the hands.
Do this several times a day, or whenever you feel tension beginning to accumulate in the back and neck. Be active, and proactive, at your desk. Your body will thank you.
