Simple deskercises’ improve employee health
Seattle-based VIVECORP has designed a series of exercises called "deskercises" to help combat stress and reduce injuries. Here are just a few of the more effective exercises and/or health tips, organized according to the part of the body they target:
• Back Exercises:
Lean your back against the wall, your feet approximately one foot from the wall, knees bent. A slight space will exist between your lower back and the wall. Exhale and press your belly button to the wall. Hold this position counting to five. Then return to the starting position and repeat.
To realign your cervical spine: Pull your chin straight backward while keeping your chin level. Then, reach your chin forward and return to a neutral curve of the neck. Repeat slowly five times.
To relax your shoulders and improve circulation in your neck, shoulder, and upper back muscles, do slow shoulder circles, 10 to the front and 10 to the back.
• Hands and Wrist:
Keep your wrists as straight as possible at all times. It is especially important that your wrists are not extended (fingers above the wrist), since this position increases the pressure inside the carpal tunnel threefold compared to when the wrist is flat. Avoid any outward deviation of the hands from the wrist.
Keep your hands warm to promote circulation, and mix tasks throughout the day as much as possible.
Avoid working with your hands above your heart for extended periods. Stand on a step or platform to position your body above or level with your task. If this is not possible, bring your arms down at regular intervals to allow blood to return to your hands.
• Eye Strain:
At regular intervals, look away from your task or computer screen and focus on an object in the far distance.
Pretend your nose has a pen attached to the end of it. With your eyes, trace the following shapes the pen would draw in front of you:
— a circle;
— a square.
Without moving your head, move your eyes in the following patterns:
Pattern #1:
— Look up to the right.
— Look down to the left.
— Look up to the left.
— Look down to the right.
Pattern #2:
— Look straight down.
— Look straight up.
— Look to the left.
— Look to the right.
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