hey everybody it's Doctor Jo and today I'm going to show you some real-time
stretches for my office series that you can do in your office to get your move
back. but you can do it anywhere as well so let's get started.
before we get started if you haven't subscribed already make sure you
click down here. so let's get our move back. Upper trap stretch. and here we go.
so as you put your hand down to keep that shoulder down look straight ahead
and just take your hand and pull your head over, almost like you're trying to
take that ear to your shoulder. so not shoulder to your ear, you're not trying
to bring it up you're just keeping it nice and relaxed. but again make sure
that your head is in a nice neutral position as you pull it over. and you
don't want it to be painful, you don't want to pull so hard that you can't hold
it for that thirty Seconds. alright so we're gonna take a little break. I like
switching sides just because then it gives the other side a little bit of a
break. so sitting on the right side now and then taking your hand and just
pulling it over on that side .and you should feel the stretch kind of here
down into the back of the neck a little bit.
it might go all the way out into the shoulder, but again you want it to be
comfortable. I always call stretching like a good hurt it hurts so good kind
of feeling because you don't want it to be painful because then most likely
you're stretching too hard on that muscle and when you stretch too hard
your muscles are gonna fight back. so once they start fighting back then
you're just kind of fighting that muscle and trying to stretch it and it's
pulling back and you're not getting a very good stretch. so now let's go back
to this side and then just hold nice stretch there. if you feel like just the
pull with your hand is too much, you don't even have to do that part you can
just turn your head over to the side and I'm still feeling that stretch right
through up in there. and so you have three parts of the trap up trap middle
trap in the lower trap. so this is that upper part that connects with the neck
and that trap muscle looks like a diamonds on the back. so that's how it
looks. so then another little break, and if you want to kind of wiggle out your
shoulders during the rest break you can. you don't have to, but sometimes that's
stretching for a long period you want to kind of shake it out, and then switch
back over to this side getting that nice stretch and hold. sometimes you might get
a little pop in your neck when you're stretching it over that's okay as long
as it's not painful. that's just sometimes you're readjusting
your spine a little bit, that cervical spine so as long as it's
not painful, it's okay, but if it's a painful pop then you
definitely want to stop. this is just a general stretch to get everything nice
and loosened up so we'll have one more on each side taking that little break.
getting the hand over on this side and then getting that nice gentle pull over
this way, and again you can see try and keep that head up like this so it's not
the chin down this way it's not up this way.
you want it in that nice neutral position when you're pulling it over
nice and relaxed muscles.
and usually you feel most of the stretch right in here. if you happen to feel any
numbness tingling going down your arms when you're doing this, again you might
be pulling just a little bit too hard or you might have some nerves kind of being
pinched, so you might want to back off that a little bit and get it checked out
if you're getting something like that. so this is the last one just nice big
stretch. some people like to do some deep breathing while they're stretching
that's fine but just try and kind of keep a normal pattern. you don't want to
hold your breath while you're stretching you just want some nice deep breaths
while you're stretching. this is more to relax the muscles, so you're trying to
relax that whole body. PEC stretch. so with the PEC stretch you're going to
take your hands clasp them behind your back and you're gonna push down and out
and then push your chest forward. so just holding that stretch right there. and
with stretches, they shouldn't be painful so if you're feeling some pain in the
chest area, take a little bit of pressure off of it and don't push down quite as
hard. you should feel that right through the front here in that PEC area and just
holding that stretch for 30 seconds and then take a little 10-second break. so
right up and here's where you should feel it. if you have some issues where
the nerve is getting pressed on you might feel a little bit of tingling
while you're doing this stretch, so again pushing down and out and pushing your
chest forward. try and keep your head and neck relaxed kind of in a neutral
position. so you're not pushing out like that. I tend to do that try and relax
your neck and head area, but if you feel some of that tingling that's probably
just because you're stretching that muscle and putting a little bit of
pressure on the nerves. so hopefully each time you do that it will get better, but
if it doesn't then you probably want to hold off on the stretch and get
everything checked out. so we've got one more. if you want to shake it out a
little bit you can and then just bring their hands back
and pushing down and out and pushing that chest forward, and you should really
feel it right where your arms connect to the body. maybe in that armpit area just
a little bit, but again stretching shouldn't and hurt. it should be that kind of good
hurt, hurts so good kind of feeling. so just a nice stretch there getting those
muscles nice and loose in that chest area. wrist flexors and extensors stretch.
so you're gonna put your hands out in front of you and we'll start with the
stretching the wrist extensors first, so just going downwards so with this if you
just hold it this way you get a lot of stretch. if this is too much stretch, put
your fingers out and it's just a little bit less of a stretch. if you want even
more of a stretch, you can push in on your hand and curl it in and that will
give you even more of a stretch. so after that little 10-second break. these are
great if you're working on a desk especially on a computer for long
periods. if you're doing a lot of stuff with your hands, these are really great
to do. so now we're going into the wrist flexors so this time is kind of opposite,
if you have your fists in a fist it's not quite as much of a stretch, but if
you open up your hands you get even more of a stretch, and you feel it under there.
so again if you want more stretch, than that, you can just do a little pull, a
gentle pull on each side, or you can put your hand on a wall. so any kind of work
with your hands, a lot these muscles get really tired, so it's great for these if
you're an artist or a guitar player that works really well as as well. and if you
want a little bit more you can stretch three on each side,
but this is just to kind of give you an idea. so again curling down with your
fingers to get a lot of stretch opening them up. if you just want a little bit of
a stretch and if you want a little bit of overpressure, you can push it into a
wall or you can just kind of alternate back and forth giving a little
with your other hand that way, but again this is probably enough if they're sore
and tired. getting that good stretch in there and then take a little break.
sometimes you want to shake them out a little bit cuz it feels like a big
stretch in there, and then we're gonna do one more going upwards. so hands out up
almost into a stop sign position so getting that nice stretch. and so when
you're up stretching out the wrist flexors underneath and then when you're
down you're stretching those wrist extensors up on top. so stop sign getting
that nice stretch in there. remember if you don't want quite as much, make a fist
and then more and then over pressure. seated piriformis stretch. so here we go.
so with the seated piriformis stretch, we bring your foot up and just cross it
over, almost into a figure four position. that's what we call the stretch a
figure four, and then keep your back straight,
and just lean forward at your hips. and so you should feel the stretch right in
that booty area underneath the leg that you're crossing over. now don't curl your
back because if I come over like this, I'm getting less of a stretch than if I
keep my back straight. so make sure you keep that back straight and lean forward.
so take a little break. sometimes you might feel some tingling going down the
leg, but that might just be that nerve getting pressed a little bit. so crossing
over to the other side keeping that back straight and just leaning forward. so a
lot of times if you have some sciatica issues, that sciatic nerve runs
underneath that piriformis muscle, so if you're sitting for long periods at your
desk at work or if you're doing a Netflix marathon or something like that,
you might get what we call monkey butt, or have that nerve pain going down your
leg, so these are some great stretches to do if you're sitting for a long period
and maybe your legs start falling asleep a little bit. I think we've all had it
happen to us once or twice, and so this is a really good way just to stretch out
that muscle and get it going. so crossing over again,
going back to the other side keep that back nice and straight and lean forward.
so the stretches that I'm doing here is also a part of an office stretching
series that I have, and so there's a whole bunch of different stretches I
kind of go from head to toe so make sure you watch all the way to the end so you
can check out that link there that I have. so again feel it kind of in that
booty area hopefully each time feels a little bit better. you can lean a little
bit further and get that stretch even more then come on back up shake it out a
little bit, and then get ready to go back to the other side. so again that
piriformis muscle can sometimes cause a lot of problems so going back into that
stretch. people who have that sciatic pain sometimes it can be coming from
your back, but sometimes it really is that nerve just getting pinched at that
piriformis being too tight. so this is one that you should if you don't do any
other stretches, if you're sitting for long periods this is a great one to do
and it's pretty easy because you can do this and still work if you want to. you
don't even have to take a break. so I know sometimes it's hard to take that
break, but this is one that you don't even have to stop doing your work. you
can really continue to do whatever you're doing while you're at your desk.
so that's why I really like it it's easy to do and if you say you don't have time
for it, you don't actually have to take the time for it you can keep on
working. so leaning forward again and then just leaning in. some people ask
about the foot should I flex it should I relax it. it doesn't really matter. I
personally like you to be completely relaxed. some people might feel more of a
stretch if they flex that foot, but when I'm stretching I want my whole body to
be relaxed. that's how you're gonna get a really good stretch. so I like it to be
just relaxed, and if you want more just lean in a little bit more. so stretches
should never hurt, they shouldn't be pain. it should be that good kind of hurt, hurt
so kind of hurts so good kind of feeling. so if you're leaning in and you're just
really really hurting, you're having lots of tingling and numbness going down your
leg, try not pushing hard. try maybe reset yourself. but if you
could keep getting a lot of hurt the whole time, then hold off on that stretch,
and you should probably go check with the doctor or your physical therapist
and see if there's something going on because the stretching should always
just feel really really good, and it does it feels like a very good stretch. seated
hamstring stretch. so with this one be careful if you have a rolling chair
because you're going to just kind of put both feet out and then get on the edge.
with the hamstring stretch seated and standing make sure you're just bending
at your hips and keep your back straight. so just kind of leaning forward here.
some people want to kind of curl their back and try and touch their toes, but
I'm not getting quite as much of a stretch. if you keep your back straight,
those hamstrings are attached at the butt muscle there, and so if you lean forward,
keeping your back straight, you're gonna get more of a stretch. so taking a little
break. if you want to do each one individually you can, so you're coming
forward just hold kind of stretch down that way. you can definitely do it that
way, but I think sometimes if you're in a hurry and you want to get them stretched
out, you can do both and you still get a good stretch with both of those, but
again if this feels uncomfortable or if you have a rolling chair and it's hard
to do, you can stand up and do the exact same stretch just make sure you're
keeping that back pretty straight and bending more at the hips versus trying
to curl down and touch your toes. so again just take a little break, shake
it out, and then get ready to go back in. so again if you if you have one that
maybe needs a little more of a stretch, you can do one, but doing both of them
just save some time and you still get a good stretch in there. so holding that
stretch down. hamstring stretches are great especially if you have to sit for
a long time because you're putting a lot of pressure on those hamstrings. if you
have some tight knees it's great to stretch out the hamstrings because they come
down and cross the knees. so when those are tight, a lot of times you have some
knee pain or if you can't straighten out your knee all the way. sometimes that has
to do with your hamstring being tight. so it's it's good to check
those out and stretch them if you need to. calf stretch. so here's the first 30
seconds. this one you're going to stand up, excuse me,
and make sure you use a chair or a counter top to just have something to
support yourself in balance. on the sides you're gonna stretch, put back behind you
and then keep your toes facing forward. the back leg stays down keep that heel
down and keep that leg straight, and then push the front one forward holding it
for 30 seconds. you want to feel good stretch,
nothing painful, and make sure that heel stays down. these are great stretches the
calves when they get tired, they get tight and sometimes it makes it hard to
walk. if you're sitting for a long time they get really tight and you want to
keep the calves moving and stretching. so make sure again keep that back heel down,
and then just lean forward into it. so if you're sitting at your desk working this
is easy to do you can get up use your desk to hold on to and just stretch. so
it's really nice you don't have to have a whole lot of equipment, you don't
really have to have anything because you can stretch without holding on if you
want to, but if you just need a little balance, you can hold on to it and just
really hold that stretch right there especially if you're sitting for
long periods. the blood gets down to your feet you're not moving sometimes if it's
really long periods you can be at risk for DVTs which are really scary. so you
want to make sure you keep those legs stretched out and moving especially the
calves because they work as natural pumps, and so that's really good because
that helps keep that circulation going when you're moving those calf muscles. so
really important to stretch them, really important to keep your feet facing
forward, not turned out like that. so this is a part of an office series stretching
that I'm doing, so make sure you stay till the end to find the link for that.
it is a whole bunch of different stretches from head to toe. all right and
then take that little break if you need to. shake it out. you can and then switch
back over to the other side. and this is also really good because even though you
have to to do the stretch, if you're sitting for
long periods either at work, or if you're doing something at home, if you're doing
a marathon of some TV series, you want to get up and move around a little bit
sometimes. especially if you're at work, you get focused on doing something and
then before you know it you've been sitting in the same spot for two or
three hours, and that's just really really bad for your body. so even though
this might take some time away from your work, it's really getting good to get up
and move around usually about every hour if you can .I know that's sometimes hard
to do while you're at work, but it's it's a really good idea to make sure that
you're doing all that. all right and then heal back again the more you put your
leg back, the better stretch you can get. so if your calves are really really
tight, you can bring it up just a little bit more because you really want to keep
that heel down. if you can't keep your heel down bring it up, but if you're not
feeling a really big stretch, you can put your your foot back even further and
then really lean into it, and you should feel that stretch through that calf area
there. so again this is really good not just for the calf's and the legs in
general, but even if you have some knee pain, the calf muscles come and cross
that knee joint, so if you're having some knee pain, this is a great stretch to do
because you think the calves kind of a lot of times people associate that with
your feet and your ankles, but it really comes up and crosses that knee as well.
so if you're having some knee pain - knee tightness in there, you definitely
want to stretch these as well. so kind of is a great stretch for a little bit of
everything. it's really leaning into it keeping that heel down getting that good
stretch. the stretching should never be painful just a good kind of good hurt. so
those were some real time stretches to get you moved back in the office or
just anywhere. so if you'd like to check out some other office Series stretches,
make sure you click on the link up here, and if you'd like to help support my
channel find out how by clicking up here. and
don't forget to subscribe click down here. remember be safe, have fun,
and I hope you feel better soon.