Are you moving around enough?
I was talking to a new client prior to her massage treatment last week, to see what she wanted from her session and to check which areas of muscle tension she wanted me to focus on. Like a large majority of my clients she has a desk bound job and tension in her back, neck and shoulders, a lot of which could be attributed to and caused by sitting for long periods at a desk.
I have been talking to my clients a lot over the last few years about the benefits of moving around, and in particular standing up, at work. I try to encourage them to take short breaks, to go and get a drink of water, nip to the toilet, take phone calls whilst standing or just have a little stroll, every now and again. What ever works for them.
Any way, back to my client last week. As we were talking she went to her new smartwatch to put it on to ‘do not disturb’ mode, which links to her phone. Good idea before a massage. She then happened to mention that she has recently set it to go off every hour, 12 hours a day, to remind her to stand up, so she is not at her desk all day without moving around. And the sofa at home she added!
Fantastic, just what we should all be doing, when sat for long periods of time. Muscles get easily stuck, and used to moving, or not moving in a particular way. So the more we can encourage a wider range of movement in our muscles the better, especially for muscle tension, and something as simple as moving around every hour, each day can have a very positive effect on our bodies.
So, if you’ve been sat looking at your PC or phone whilst reading this……STAND UP.
