The Desk Job Menace

Desk jobs are bad for your health. On some level, everyone who has one already know this. Your posture is awful, your upper back and neck feel tight and full of tension, your lower back hurts, you’re hips are tighter than a hangman’s knot. Plus, on nice days, you probably stare out the windows and wish you were anywhere but stuck at your desk. I’m yet to find anyone who celebrates the fact that they have a desk job. For good reason. There may be nothing more destructive to a person’s physical well-being than being confined to a desk for 8-10 hours a day. With that in mind, follow these recommendations and you’ll be able to relieve some of those aches and pains pretty quickly.

1. Get up. Don’t stay seated for more than 60 minutes at a time.

2. Change positions. The “ideal” seated position, if it exists, is up straight with your shoulder blades back and down. For the majority of the desk-bound population this is a tall order. You may start off the day in a good position, but very quickly you’ve turned into Quasimodo. Any seated position can stress your lower back, so the best thing to do is change positions often.

3. Foam Roll. Your gym should have a foam roller. Foam rolling helps get rid of tension and adhesions in your muscles that will lead to sub optimal tissue quality. Any qualified trainer should be able to show you how to use it. You can foam roll almost your entire body. Stay away from the lower back, however. Start with your hamstrings, quads, calves, and hip flexors. In addition, perform thoracic (middle back) extensions on the foam roller. I’ll put up a video for these as soon as I can. Keep in mind that foam rolling can be VERY painful in the beginning. This is due to poor tissue quality. The more you do it, the better you’ll feel.

4. Stretch your hip flexors. Your hip flexors attach your pelvis to your upper leg. When seated, they become short and tight which leads to a condition called anterior pelvic tilt. I’ve had this. It stinks. Not surprisingly, I had a desk job for 4 years. What exactly is anterior pelvic tilt? It’s when your pelvis tilts forward because your shortened hip flexors are pulling down on your pelvis. Among other things, this promotes a potentially painful situation where the curve in your lower back is exagerated. Stretching your hip flexors and restoring their normal length can fix this problem and bring your pelvis back into alignment.

5. Strengthen your glutes. Strong glutes are the key to a healthy life. That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the point should be noted. Almost everyone I work with does not have good gluteal function. Prolonged sitting and general inactivity lead to inhibited glutes. When I ask a client to squeeze their glutes and they’re not sure if they are doing so, it’s a sure sign that their glutes are dormant. First, activate them through exercises like glute bridges and then start strengthening them with squats and lunge variations.

6. Increase range of motion in your hips. If you have a desk job, there is a good chance that your hips are tight. Tight hips can lead to a host of issues, most notably lower back pain. No one thinks of mobility until you lose it. You can get it back, however. Perform quadruped hip circles, side lunges, and piriformis stretches during warmups each time you go to the gym.

7. Strengthen the muscles responsible for posture. Middle traps, lower traps, rhomboids.
They’re most likely very weak, hence your poor posture. Start with some targeted activation movements such as the Y, T, and W and then add all types of rowing variations. When you row, you should draw your shoulder blades straight back and slightly down at the end. Don’t shrug your shoulders as your row! I’m partial to seated cable rows with strict upright posture and one arm standing cable rows.

8. Stretch your chest and shoulders. By constantly working with your hands in front of you, and thanks to the graces of gravity, we become very anteriorly dominated. This adds to your poor posture.

9. Stretch your upper traps and levator scapula. These muscles are almost always tight and can be implicated in problems ranging from headaches to stiff necks. You can stretch them by placing bending one arm behind your back-this will keep your shoulder blade in place, and using the other hand to gently pull your head to the side. Hold it for about 20 seconds. Next, keeping your head to the side, gently pull your head forward. Again, hold for 20 seconds. Repeat on the other side.

My desk job ruined my life for more than 3 years. It’s tough to be happy when you are in chronic pain. The crazy thing is that I attributed my pain to aging, even though I was only 25! If you have a desk job, you simply must do the things I mentioned in this article. If you know someone who has a desk job, please forward this article to them. You won’t believe how many people have been relieved of the chronic pain they thought was with them forever by doing what was outlined above.

Share on Facebook