Sitting at your desk, looking at the computer, or looking at your phone for most of the day can be rough on your neck. In this post, you’ll learn two easy exercises ‘for your neck at your desk’.
These exercises are designed to reverse the posture that your neck tends to go into with prolonged work at the computer. They’re also super easy to do while you’re sitting at your desk, so you can easily add them into your workday.
Remember, it’s important to set yourself up in the best way possible in terms of body mechanics at your desk. To lean how to best set yourself up to sit at your desk, check out this video: Fix Your Sitting Posture
2 Simple Exercises For Your Neck At Your Desk
Exercise 1: Scapular Retraction
This one is a super simple exercise but it’s works great. Even though in this exercise we are not moving the neck, we are still benefiting the neck by working on the postural muscles of the upper back. The cervical spine (neck region) directly connects to the thoracic spine (upper back region). So what happens in one of these areas will impact the other.
- Start by sitting up tall.
- Next, squeeze your shoulder blades together.
- Hold this for 2 seconds and then relax back to the starting position.
- Repeat 10 times.
Exercise 2: Chin Tucks
Chin tucks are an exercise for your neck that reverse what is called forward head posture. Forward head posture commonly occurs while working long hours at the computer.
With this exercise, make sure you have no pain, numbness, or tingling in your arms or hands. If you do, stop this exercise and see your doctor.
- Start by sitting up tall.
- Tuck your chin straight back (so your head will move in the backward direction).
- When you tuck back, you don’t want to look down, you really want the head to be moving straight back.
- After you tuck, hold for 1 second and then return to the starting position.
- Make sure you return to the starting position, you don’t want to jut the chin forward after the tuck.
- Repeat 10 times.
This exercise can be challenging to perform correctly. For more information on how to do chin tucks, watch video shared below.
Those are your two simple yet effective exercises for your neck at your desk. These two exercises can be done sitting on the floor, as shown in the photos, or they can be done sitting in a chair. That’s what makes them so easy to do during your workday.
For those looking to really reverse the effects of sitting, check out my 5 day program designed to do just that by clicking here –> 5 Day Program to Reverse the Effects of Sitting