The dangers of being a "desk jockey" and 5 ways to fix it (If you sit at work you must read this!)

For those of you who are stuck at a desk most of the day I have some bad news.  Prolonged sitting is not good for you.  I know, I know, mind blown right.  In all seriousness sitting longer than 6 hours a day increases most, if not all, of our risk factors for things like: 

• diabetes
• cardiovascular disease
• metabolic syndrome
• cancer
• erectile dysfunction
• low back pain
• obesity and more

The truly scary thing is that if we sit for long periods of time without breaks most of the current research says that our leisure time activity will not reverse our increased risks.  This means if you sit at your desk 8 straight hours at work then go home and exercise the rest of the evening, you still will have an increased chance of having these dangerous problems.  

So what can we do?
First off stop sitting for longer than 1 hour in at a time.  If you can take a 5 minute WALK break every 30-60 minutes you will mitigate most of the increased risk factors.  I have heard many recommend the pomodoro method (25 minutes of work 5 break) for productivity but it may be even better for your health.  

The other alternative is to get a sit-to-stand desk.  This is the ideal option but it does not come without its own challenges.  First, standing does not eliminate the importance of good positioning, you must still stand and work with good posture and still need to take breaks. (Probably will need quite a few for the first week or two)  Second, you need to set up your work station so that you have the best chance of sustaining your new standing position comfortably.  The best tips are to:

• Get a foot stool. Trust me you will use it
• Get a bar stool to lean on from time to time (This really helps)
• Have a cushioned pad to stand on and wear comfortable shoes
• Start slow.  In the first few weeks it is wise to only stand for a max of 2 hours in a row.  This gives your body some time to acclimate to your new level of activity

Besides sitting causing issues from a disease and metabolic stand point it also creates many issues from a musculoskeletal view.  Sitting causes the shortening of and decreased blood flow to many muscles throughout the body

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The major muscles affected are: Iliopsoas, hamstrings, calves, pectorals, abdominals, suboccipitals (upper neck) and shoulder muscles.  The problem with all of these being tight or dysfunctional is that many of them contribute to things like, headaches, neck, low back, knee and hip pain.  So if you are one of those that may be relegated to the desk for a while you need to spend some time at the end of the day restoring your body to normal function and movement. If you don't, the years of tightness, dysfunction and matted/scarred tissue builds up usually resulting in pain and injury.  Spending a few minutes each day to do these few moves will have less pain, problems and injuries.  

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These are the moves you will do every day that you sit longer than 6 hours:

1. Neck: Self mobilization with rotation
2. Thoracic extension mobilization
3. Pectoral myofascial release 
4. Hip mobilization and lengthening
5. Ankle mobilization with movement

That's it.  Five moves, all of which will probably take you about 10 minutes once you get them down and give you greater mobility, decreased pain, and increased longevity.  i.e. NO EXCUSES DO THEM!

Neck: Self mobilization 

In order to do this move you will need a towel. 

Step 1: drape the towel so that each end hangs over your shoulders.

Step: 2: Take the right hand and grab the left end of the towel.  (this hand will not move during the mobilization)

Step 3: Grab the right end of the towel with your left hand so that the towel is firm around the neck and your hand lies right on the jaw line (hand closer to your face and jaw than in the picture) 

Step 4.  Starting with your head straight forward turn slowly to the left as you apply tension with the towel.  

Perform 10-15 per side at the end of the day to keep the muscles and joints in the neck supple and healthy

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Thoracic Extension Mobilization

For the thoracic extension mobilization you can either purchase a 10 dollar foam roll from your favorite local sports store or do what I do and use the arm of a couch. 

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In this mobilization you are trying to restore the movement to your upper back that stiffens up during sitting.

Sit with your upper back against either your foam roll or the arm of your couch.  

Clasp the hands together and place them at the base of your neck and bring your elbows together.  

From this position you are rocking back over the roll into extension to increase the glide and joint mobility of the thoracic spine. Perform between 20-30 or as many as it takes to make a change.

Pectoral Myofascial Release

After sitting for an extended period of time the muscles in your chest and shoulders begin to tighten and become restricted.  The longer this goes untreated the more tension it will put on your neck, shoulders and upper back.

To do this (or any) myofascial treatment I recommend using a tennis or lacrosse ball as your tool.  You can use your hands like in the picture to find and work out the knotty restricted tissue in the chest and shoulders. You can also use a door frame and lean your body weight against the ball with it pressing into the muscles at the chest and shoulder.  

The best technique to make a change in the tissue is to find the knots and slowly start making large circles around the restricted tissue, making each circle smaller and smaller until you are in the center of the knot or most painful area.  

Remember healthy tissue will not hurt so if you are getting some pain that means that you have some abnormal tightness, scarring, nerve activity, or blood flow in these muscles.  Do the technique until you make a change but at minimum 2 minutes on each shoulder. 

Iliopsoas (hip) Mobilizaton

The major muscle associated with back pain is not actually in your back, it is in your hip.  This hip flexor muscle (*Iliopsoas) traverses through the pelvis to attache on the front of the vertebrae in your lower back. 

*for the sticklers it is actually 2 seperate muscles the iliacus and the psoas and the psoas is the one that attaches to the spine)

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As this muscle tightens it causes increase pressure and shearing on these vertebrae.  The longer you sit the more it tightens and for those of you who have had back pain in the past doing this one thing at the end of your day will help you maintain a health mobile back and hip.

You can do this without the band in the picture but it is much (probably 75-80%) more effective if you get one.  (an ebay search for mobility joint band will find many for 10-15 bucks)

Get on one knee with your other leg out in front like in the picture. (put a pillow down if it bothers the knee cap)

Keep your back straight and shift your entire pelvis forward until you feel a pull across the front of your left hip (if left knee is down like the picture).  Hold the position for 1-2 minutes and repeat on the other side. (remember it takes about 30 seconds for your body to stop fighting the mobilization so to make a change we need to get through the initial discomfort)


The major mistake I see with this is people bending forward as the shift the pelvis forward.  This shortens the iliopsoas and will make it a less effective mobilization.  

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Ankle/Calf Mobilization

The other issue is that when we are sitting the blood and circulation decreases in the lower legs.  Our calves tighten up and the joints in our ankles stiffen.  This usually doesn't cause problems at the ankle but because of the stiffness here our knees must compensate during normal movement creating excess force and tension at the knee joint.  This will eventually lead to pain or injury if it progresses.  

So again this works without the band but is much more effective with it.

1. Set the band across the front of the ankle with the stretch pulling from behind.
2. Walk out until the tension is significant.  
3. Place your toes on a book, block, weight anything that raises them off the ground
4. Keeping your stretching heel on the ground and leg straight you will step forward with the opposite leg increase the tension on the calf and ankle.  
5. Hold this for 1-2 minutes and repeat on the other side.  
   

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Of course there is so much that we can do to get our body moving and performing better so don't limit your self to just these.  BUT, if you are not doing anything to counter the stresses you are putting on your body these are a great place to start.  


Let us know what you think and if you have any questions.