SITTING AT WORK ALL DAY
Many jobs require us to sit all day. SafeWork Australia says extended periods of sitting is associated with a variety of health problems including musculoskeletal disorders, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity and many more.
When we sit for protracted periods our body simply isn’t moving enough; we are not expending enough energy – burning our food – and we are not changing our position often enough.
Our physio Andrew Olson says many patients experience prolonged pain as a result of their daily activity. Here he discusses how to counteract sitting all day.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION
“If you sit all day for work, what can often happen is you can start to become very stiff in the muscles around, your neck and your shoulders and your lower back.
“This can often cause pain and discomfort and if this isn’t treated it can lead to an injury.
“I am often asked ‘how do you counteract sitting all day’ and the really the answer is to try and keep moving; to stop sitting in one place all day long.
The other thing you can do is to regularly stretch the muscles that get tight from when you’re sitting.
This is really important. So if we take a break every 30 minutes – that means stand up, walk around the office, maybe go get a cup of coffee, get a drink of water. go to the bathroom.
Basically just get up and move from the position that you’ve been in while sitting at your desk all day. There are some great exercises that we can do – stretching the muscles that become tight when you’re sitting all day, stretching the muscles in your neck, your back and your chest.”
