Home strengthening program
Working from home will be a permanent phenomenon for most office workers now. While that does take away time needed for commuting, the lack of walking and increased job demand can take their toll on the body. Four specific exercises will help you to release endorphins, lessening your stress as well as increasing work efficiency.
Foam rolling your stiff back
Start with positioning the foam roller at the middle of your back or the level just underneath your shoulder blade. Starting around the mid-back and moving the foam roller up/down. This is an effective, self-releasing method that releases muscle tension.
If you do not have a foam roller, an alternative is to use a rolled-up towel and position yourself in the same way as the picture shows the foam roller. Both will help you to rebalance the persistent forward curl of the thoracic spine.
Squats
Sink back through your hips and bend your knees so you are folding yourself over your feet and. Keep your spine neutral. Add in a kettlebell or any weights to make it more challenging. Squat works on your gluteal (buttock) muscles as well as your back extensor muscles. This is important because the gluteal muscles are often weakened by prolonged periods of sitting.
Instead of bending only at the knee as shown in the picture on the left, sink back via the hips and lean forward via the chest like the picture on the right. 10 repetitions of 3 sets.
Repetitive cobra
Slowly push up to a point where you can just feel a slight pressure in your lower back. Sitting for prolonged periods puts stress over your lumbar discs. This helps to improve the mobility of the lumbar spine as well as ensuring the lumbar discs stay in good shape.
We recommend 10 repetitions of 3 sets.
Calf raises
This is better conducted on a step. You want to gently lower your heels down and raise them faster as you engage your calf muscles. The gastrocnemius and soleus (calf muscles) are much neglected in office workers, and we have seen cases where people develop numbness and swelling over the legs because they sit for too long.
10 repetitions of 3 sets. Sets can be separated so they are done throughout the day.
Deadlifts
This will help to enhance the stability and endurance of your lumbar spine. This will also strengthen the much-neglected hamstring muscle. Be sure to keep your lower back muscles engaged and “Sink back via your hips” when you squat down.
When conducting this at home, replace the weights with bottles of wine. With a relatively lightweight, you can do 20 reps for 3 sets. Be sure to keep your back stabilised and straight as you lean forward to pick up the weights. The weights should be positioned close to your feet. In this case, dumbbells are just as good if not better than the bar.
There are plenty of other exercises that you can do from your home with any objects around your house. Here in Sydney Health Physiotherapy, we are a promoter of postural muscle strengthening programs as more than 50% of our patients are officer workers based in Sydney CBD.
