Is Being Stuck in Your Office Chair Slowly Killing You?

Here is a quick 30 second stretch you can do a couple of times per day to unlock your hips and decompress your back, all without having to leave your desk.

Step 1: Set a timer to go off every 90 mins. Once the timer goes off, stand up, put your hands on the desk, take your feet shoulder width apart and lock your knees out straight.

Step 2: With a flat back, chest and eyes up, drive your hips (butt-bones) backward away from your hands until you feel a nice stretch into the back of your legs, while taking a deep inhale. (Make sure your back does not round at all, it must remain flat)

Step 3: Drive your hips forward to lift your chest back upright, roll your hips underneath you (posterior hip rotation) as you look up and drive your hips slightly forward toward the desk, exhale. You should feel a nice stretch into the groin/front hip area.

Step 4: Repeat for 30 seconds

Set #2

Step 1: Set yourself back up in the same position, driving backward the same as before. Once in the back position, remain there without driving forward.

Step 2: Slide your hips, slowly, side to side. Make sure your knees do not bend. By keeping your knees locked out straight, this will automatically move the hips into the proper position.

Step 3: Continue for 30 seconds, then return back to your upright standing position.

Step 4: Get back to work

What is this doing?

By driving your hips away from your hands on the desk, you are decompressing your spine and mobilizing the tissues of the body that you have been sitting on. When you sit on these muscle tissues for extended periods of time, they begin to stick to other tissues, leaving you feeling compressed and stuck.

By driving your hips forward and rolling your hips underneath you, you are opening up your hip flexors (the front of your hips) which are stuck in a shortened position while you sit. These muscle attach to the front of your spine and when they become tight, they pull on your low back. Leaving you with the feeling of a tight low back that you just can’t seem to stretch.

When you slide your hips side to side, we are creating what we like to call “time under tension”. This means that you are moving the tissues in multiple planes or dimensions of movement. This helps to better un-stick tissues, freeing you from your daily aches and pains.

Pay Attention to:

When sliding side to side you may feel this in the back of your legs or on the inside of your thighs. This all depends on which part of your body is more tight. When in perfect balance and your feet are just past shoulder width apart, you should feel the back of the leg you are sliding into equally as much as the inside thigh on the opposite leg.

If you feel increased low back tightness at anytime, please stop the mobilizations and contact us or your healthcare professional for assistance.

You may notice one leg is more “stuck” than the other, one knee bends when sliding into it, or you are unable to move into one side as well as the other. These are all signs that we need to take a more in-depth look into how your muscles are tensioned. The above signs would effect your posture, movement, and the overall compression within your spine and body.

If you would like to take your active life back, then it’s time to learn our proven system with a step-by-step process to teach you how to move and exercise the New Dimensions way.

Our superior movement and wellness system has been written about in over 500 publications and is designed for active individuals of all ages. We offer intro sessions to see if we are the right fit for you.

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