Gelisim News

Especially office job brings back pain, a stiff neck and stretched shoulders. Stating that working at a desk for more than 8 hours in a fixed position without moving at all exhausts our body, Physiotherapist Lect. Gülşah Konakoğlu from Istanbul Gelisim University (IGU) School of Health Sciences Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation said: “Our back hurts, we put a load on our neck, and our muscles around the hip and shoulder are tightened. Therefore, by adding some of the yoga exercises we know at this point to the office environment, we can increase our energy and keep fit. We wear masks for a long time and our breathing is very important now. We breathe carbon dioxide in these masks. In this sense, we can work by balancing our breath.”

Stating that a certain yoga flow or stretching exercises can be applied in the offices at the beginning of the hour, Konakoğlu said: “We can do the movements for 5 minutes and continue our work. In researches, the use of computers and tablets puts up to 60 kilograms on our spine, especially in the office environment. This brings serious problems in the long run. There are a number of relaxing exercises we can do for this. This is not just for our spine; we can also exercise to relax our wrist muscles depending on the keyboard usage.”

Saying that immobility causes waist and neck problems, Konakoğlu spoke: “The more flexible our spine actually means the healthier we are physically. The flexibility of the spine is also very important for participation in physical activity. Our goal is to provide flexibility to our spine with these movements. We work in fixed position for a long time. We are closing forward and the muscles around the shoulders and thighs are shortened and tightened. We want to stretch and relax them.”

Physiotherapist Konakoğlu gave suggestions on exercises to be done in office as follows:

“Due to the use of the keyboard for a long time, our wrists lose their flexibility. For this, we can do some wrist stretching exercises. We lift our arm up and stretch our wrist. Then we can stretch our fingers one by one. It will reduce the risk of discomfort such as carpal tunnel syndrome, which occurs due to the use of the keyboard. It is an exercise we can do for nerve compression.”

Konakoğlu added: “We open our shoulders by lifting our arms up. Our heads extend as a continuation of the spine parallel to the ground. Then we put our right hand to the side and we open to the side and do the same to the left. Then we put our left hand on our right knee and turn to the right side where we sit. We are doing the same move towards the other side. Then we look up without pinching our heads at the back and we stretch back.”

Stating that inactivity causes nerve compression for a long time, Konakoğlu said: “There is a movement by placing our left leg on our right knee. When we work hard for a very long time, our muscles contract and stretch. Under this, the sciatic nerve passes. This situation can also be confused with waist problems. When we work at the desk for a long time, this muscle can be shortened and contracted. Our flexing this muscle minimizes the occurrence of back pain-like conditions.”

Stating that we need to do some movements to strengthen our muscles, Gülşah Konakoğlu finished her words with following:
 

“Here, we raise our arms and go to the chair pose. We bend our knees. Every person has a point of difficulty, we pay attention to this. We strengthen the hip muscles in the chair pose with arms up. When we remain steady at the desk for a long time, our shoulders are facing forward in front of the computer. There is a shoulder opener and standing exercise. We extend our feet forward with a shoulder width, our arms to a fixed table. We get an angle of 90 degrees from the hip. If there is burning in the posterior muscles, the knees can bend. We stretch our spine like a bow as much as possible. Here, while our spine flexes, our shoulders open. The aim is both to provide the flexibility of the spine and to flex the shoulder capsule a little more. Closing forward is important to stretch the muscle group around your waist. We bend our hands by bending and stretching our fingers and then lifting our arms upwards.