Stretches for sedentary work sitting at a desk in a chair


These stretches are for sedentary activities involving prolonged periods of sitting in an office chair using a computer at home or in an office environment.

Sitting at a desk and typing on a keyboard mainly involves the contraction of the muscles responsible for head, cervical, upper thoracic and lumbar extension, scapula retraction, wrist extension and finger flexion and extension. Long periods of sitting may result in postural fatigue, muscle strain, atrophy and shortness and over time prolonged sitting may also result in structural changes such as an increase in fibrous tissue within muscles.

The postural muscles most affected by sitting include the posterior cervical muscles, the extensor muscles of the spine (erector spinae) and the shoulder retractor muscles (rhomboids and middle trapezius).

Muscle atrophy is a result of the prolonged disuse of muscles during sitting. Most significant is the atrophy and weakness of ….