Often due to our busy lifestyles, we tend to ignore the amount of time we are spending sitting at the office desk. There are some common desk exercises which anyone can do while sitting in their office or at home even. These exercises for chronic pain will help ease any discomfort and ensure that our joints get some much needed exercise. Some of these exercises are listed below:
1. Leg raises: Place both your feet on the floor and then lift each leg alternately. Do this exercise atleast 10 times for each leg.
2. Ankle movement: Rotate your ankle clockwise and anti clockwise atleast five times before moving to the other leg.
3. Shoulder movement: Roll your shoulders frontward and backwards 10 times. This will alleviate any back or shoulders pain you might be having.
4. Neck exercises: Move your neck in a left and right motion slowly, albeit you might feel a jerk. Then slowly do up and down movement. Next, do sideways movement, up and down. Do each motion atleast 5 times.
5. Eye exercises: While sitting in front of the computer or laptop, we tend to ignore the amount of strain we are putting on our eyes. Hence, every hour or so, do eye exercises like rolling them up and down, sideways and diagonal. Other exercises you can do are contraction of eyes. If you are experiencing a headache, use your thumb and index finger and pinch the area around the eyebrows.
6. Breathing exercises: Apart from these exercises, one should not forget to keep doing breathing exercises like Pranayam and Kapalbhati. These exercises are good for digestion as well as help to relieve any kind of chronic pain.
7. Gripping exercise: Folding your thumb inside and then contracting your hand into a fist and opening it atleast 10-20 times, improves blood circulation.
8. Knee contractions: Lift your feet up and place it on a foot stool or something. Then contract your knees. Firstly do each leg atleast 10 times, and then together another 10 counts. This exercise is very beneficial for arthritis patients.
Do these exercises at your workplace everyday and notice the difference! The first rule of Physiotherapy is “No pain, only gain.” Pills might not always work, but these exercises will surely help you in the long run. These exercises for chronic pain can help dull the worst of aches. A little exercise never hurt anyone. In fact, this will ensure some physical activity even during those busy office hours.
Sitting in the same position on one chair, takes a heavy toll on our backs as well. So try to keep changing your sitting posture every 15 minutes or so. Take a walk every half an hour for atleast 5 minutes. If not anything, just stand upright with your legs a little apart for atleast 3 minutes every 30-45 minutes. We hope that these exercises for chronic pain will ensure good health in the workplace and lead you towards a better and healthier lifestyle. Health is happiness!
