RSU Expert: Exercises for Office Workers

The World Health Organization reports that 1.4 billion adults face health problems due to a lack of physical exercise. This applies to almost all office workers in Latvia, as working a sedentary job in an office for at least six hours, our body does not get enough blood circulation and other complications can arise, which in time can create irreversible health problems. Physiotherapist Daiga Pulmane, also an assistant at the Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) Department of Rehabilitation in the Faculty of Rehabilitation recommends that all sedentary office workers should exercise for five minutes every hour. 

In the video she explains why you should exercise and demonstrates a few simple exercises that can be done either sitting or standing at one's desk.

Sedentary office workers, whose muscles are tensed for long periods of time and the lumbar vertebrae are compacted, can end up with changes in the spine, to the neck, chest and lumbar vertebrae and can lead to headaches and other health problems.

By gazing at one particular point – in other words, documents or at a screen, the eye muscles are strained and as a result this leads to headaches and also neck pains, aches in the entire length of the arm. "The computer screen should always be located directly in front of the user, so the spine is not twisted around the long axis and you should get up every hour and look over your computer screen into the distance," explains the physiotherapist.   

If your job involves monotonous work using the mouse, your fingers and wrist are strained and by the end of the day your wrist may ache, or experience a tingling sensation after work or even all night.

Sitting for long periods of time, your pelvis and groin region are compressed, then blood flow is obstructed to the legs and the waist and pelvis regions are under stress. "The muscles are in imbalance – your legs are bent at the hips at a 90 degree angle, the abdominal muscles are relaxed, yet at the same time in order to keep your body upright, the muscles in the waist area are tensed," explains RSU assistant Daiga Pulmane. "When our muscles are fatigued, then we take on incorrect, slouched poses where one part of the pelvis is up, the other - down, and as a result the position of the spine also changes. If this position is taken up for a long time you may end up with muscle imbalance and pain in the lower back."

When we are in a seated position and slouching, the lungs and diaphragm are compressed and consequently our breathing is not as effective and this leads to a lack of oxygen in our body.  

All of the previously mentioned is proof of the fact that long sedentary periods are not healthy for the body and therefore you should get up every now and then, stretch, stand up, go for a walk, exercise. "And when you have completed the simple exercises I've demonstrated which will only take up a few minutes of your time, I suggest you stand up and go and get a glass of water to drink," the physiotherapist concludes, smiling.