After sitting at your desk all day long, you finally stand up and feel your hips, lower back, and shoulders extremely tense and sore. Rather than feeling this discomfort at the end of the day, however, there’s a way you can leave work tension-free and energized: office yoga. In the infographic, “Office Yoga,” Furniture At Work, an office furniture company in the UK, illustrates five yoga poses, from Chair Cat Cow Stretch to Seated Double Hamstring, to reduce stress and lower back pain while at work.
Taking breaks at work with yoga is seen as one of the most effective ways for employees to relieve stress and even become more refreshed and focused. The Chair Cat Cow Stretch involves a deep-breathing exercise of inhales and exhales from your chair. When you inhale, you should arch your back, look up, push your belly forward and shoulders backward. To exhale, you should round your spine, bring your shoulders forward, and look downward to get into the cat position. You can continue moving between cow and cat inhalations and exhalations for five breaths. This can help reduce stress-related back pain.
Lower back pain and hamstring tightness from sitting for too long can lead to the development of sciatica. This pain radiates along the path of the sciatic nerve, branching from your lower back through your hips and buttocks and down each leg, according to the Mayo Clinic. This condition usually affects one side of the body. The Seated Double Hamstring pose can stretch out the hamstring and lower back, improve circulation, and ease leg tightness.
This pose requires you to sit near the edge of the chair and place your feet on the floor. Then, take a towel around the balls of your feet, lengthen your back, and lift your sternum from the hip crease and lean forward. Remember, only go as far forward as you can with your back and knees straight to prevent muscle strains.
View the infographic below for more yoga moves that can give your health a boost while you work.
From: Medical Daily Pulse