Alpine Physical Therapy has you covered with strategies to manage your transition to working at home. Laptops are great for portability and ease of transport, but they are not designed for comfort with prolonged use. Lets take a look a 5 simple exercises to ease the stress and strain to your muscles after a hard days work. It’s recommended to stretch and move every 30-45 min.
FINGER EXTENSION: Take a moment to spread and extend your fingers out in the shape of a “5” as far as you can focusing on increasing distance between thumb and pinky finger. Pause and hold for 5 secs. Repeat 5x.
FOREARM STRETCH: Extend your arm out straight in front of you (or down by your side) and with your palm facing up. Grab your palm and fingers with your opposite hand and pull down and rotate your hand in towards your mid line to stretch. Hold 15-30 secs. Repeat up to 3x. Perform on each side.
UPPER BACK EXTENSION: Place your hands at the base of the neck and upper back with your elbows pointed forward or slightly out to the sides. Push forward at base of neck/upper back with your fingers and extend (bend back) biasing movement at your upper back as you extend your neck. Careful to avoid end range neck extension if painful. Pause to stretch. Repeat 5x.
BICEPS/CHEST STRETCH: Grasp your hands together at waist level behind your back in standing. To stretch: extend your arms away from your body holding your chest in an upright posture. Hold 15-30 secs. Repeat up to 3x.
ISOMETRIC SQUAT: Postural muscles can become deconditioned with extended sitting. Take a periodic break and perform a sustained squat keeping hips just above knee level. Hold for 15-60 secs.
TAKE A BREAK! Periodic rest breaks every 45 min can be helpful for both the mind and the body. Get up, stretch, walk to the kitchen for a glass of water or grab some quick sunshine outside and let the mind relax and reset before getting back on task.
For a pdf download of these exercises click here.
This is part 3 of Home working strategies. See Part one: Laptops and Ergonomics or Part two: Finding proper Posture
Alpine PT’s team of talented Physical therapists is proud to be serving the Central Oregon Community since 2006. From orthopedic and sports injury care to women’s health, we have a solution for you.
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