All Chair Stretches

All Chair Stretches

Laura Brooke: I'm Laura Brooke with the National Center on Early Childhood Health and Wellness. And I'm going to share with you some strategies, some stretches that you can do in your chair.

So, for those times when you are on your conference call, at your computer, can't really get away from your work area. At the same time your body is wanting to move, and needs to move, most importantly.

So, I'm going to start with the seated spinal twist. And we're going to use the chair as our prop to help us.

So, you're just going to bring both hands over to one side of the chair. You're going to bring your chin down towards your chest. And you're going to bring your shoulders down. And you're letting the back shoulder float back toward the chair. Shoulder is down.

There's going to be a tendency for the front shoulder to rise. See if you can try to think about keeping it back. And you're just doing a gentle stretch.

Let your chin fall towards your chest, and your gaze, head toward the earth. You don't want to strain your neck. At the same time, you're going to feel a really nice stretch along the neck. 

Hold that maybe for a couple of breaths. See if you can deepen it a little. 

[INHALES]

And come round to neutral.

[EXHALES]

Take a little moment to re-center. Then let's head the other direction.

So again, opposite hand, chin to chest. Oh, that feels really good. Again, listen to your body.

Only do as much stretch as your body wants to do.

Back shoulder is against the chair. Front shoulder is down and back as much as possible. Gaze toward the earth. Chin toward the chest. Stretch along this neck side. A couple of breaths. See if you can deepen it a little.

[INHALES] 

[EXHALES]

That should feel really good. You're doing an actual seated spinal stretch in your chair.

Seated spinal stretch.

This stretch is called seated hip-flexor stretch. Again, done in a chair, while you're working, at a meeting.

And what you're going to do is just take one leg and cross it over the other. And what we're going to be stretching here is your hip flexor. Just put your hand right here on your hip, and  you're going to sense it and wait for it, and you're going to know when you want to stop stretching.

The reason that we want to keep our hips stretched — variety of reasons — but probably the most important for us is to know that this is where we store our stress, right in our hips. So, releasing the hip flexors actually helps us release stress.

So, what you're going to do is just begin to sense how much stretch you want. This might be enough right here. Others of us may want to come down a little further using the upper body weight to add to the stretch. Add to the stretch. Stop when your body says, "I've had enough stretch."

As you become more accustomed to this stretch, you can hold it longer. You can take it a little deeper. And that's the hip-flexor stretch.

This stretch is a nice stretch to open the chest. And it's called chest opener.

So, what we're going to do is start with your nice long spine against the chair, shoulders down and back. And then, as you're ready, bringing the shoulders back as our hands come behind the chair. You may stop anytime your body says "Ooh, that's enough stretch."

Feel the opening in the heart.

Feel the opening in the chest.

Feel the drawing together of the shoulder blades. Picture your shoulder blades trying to touch

each other, like you've got a string pulling them together.

Listen to your body.

Opening, opening.

Big stretch.

If you want, and are ready, you can clasp the hands behind your back.

If you want a little more stretch, you can press those hands together as you move outward with your clasped hands. You're going to notice that the shoulder blades are drawing together even more now. Even more.

Now, as we release, first, we want to bring the hands back down, if they were up. And then bring them back around to your body. 

Chest opener.

I'm going to share some leg stretches now, done in the chair. You can do these, again, while you're at your computer, while you're on a call, when you're at a meeting. Don't kick the person across from you.

And first I want us to begin by just checking in. Where is our spine? Is it against the back of the chair? Are we sitting tall? Are our shoulders down, feet flat on the earth? 

Let's begin by just elevating one leg at a time. Start small. Don't go above your knee.  

So, this is the highest you want to go.

You can be here.

You can be here.

You can be right here, marching or lifting.

You can try two legs.

It's kind of nice because you've got the bracing of the back of the chair, so, you're getting a little core work as well as leg work.

Both legs. 

One leg.

Lifting the foot off the floor.

All are great ways to move the legs, to keep them flexible, to keep them stretched when you're at your desk, or in a chair.

Leg stretches.

We're going to do some side stretches in the chair. So, these can be done while you're just taking a couple minute break, while you're on a work call, conference call. But, they're in the chair stretches.

So, we're going to get the benefits of a standing side stretch while we're in the chair. 

o, as always, we want to start with thinking about our posture in the chair. So, make sure your spine is long and tall against the back of the chair. Feet are firmly placed on the earth. 

Now bring your shoulders back toward the back of the chair. And just check in and make sure they're floated down.

Now, take one arm and let it just fall open alongside you, and grip your other arm — or I guess hold your other arm — with the hand gripping the bottom of the chair for some extra stability.

Now, we're going to raise that arm. And the important thing here is to keep your shoulder behind your ear. Very important, so you don't injure your shoulder. So, what I mean by that is that rather than here — we have a tendency sometimes to stretch this way. That provides a big pull on the front of the shoulder. 

Bring it back so you can't see your shoulder as you reach. So, you want to not be able to see your shoulder when you're looking out of the corner of your eye. It's disappeared. 

If that's too much of a stretch, bring it in. Bring it closer. Don't even go over your head. Come right here.

Full stretch.

Partial stretch.

Feel the opening of the ribs. The space in between the ribs has just gotten bigger. 

Shoulder behind the ear. Spine against the back of the chair. Then turn that palm and float that arm down wherever it was. 

Seated spinal stretch.