Seated Spinal Stretch

Seated Spinal 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 around to neutral.

[EXHALES]

Take a little moment to re-center. And 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.