hey everybody it's doctor Jo, and today I'm going to show you some real-time
stretches from head to toe. it's a part of my office series, but you can do them
at home, you can do sitting at a desk, or even if you've been watching TV for a
while. so let's get started.
The levator scapulae stretch. so for the levator SCAP, which is this muscle here, you're going
to bring your arm up of the side you want to stretch try and get that elbow
as high as you comfortably can and then gently pull your head towards the
opposite knee. so you're just going to go down in this direction and that's
stretching this muscle right through here. and the purpose of bringing this
side up is to hold that scapula or that shoulder blade down. so it's gonna give
you a better stretch. if you have a lot of pain there and you feel like that's
too much, you don't have to put that arm up. you can still stretch over to the
side, but if you can bring it up it really kind of pushes it down. so you can
get that good stretch. and if you can't, again if that feels like it's too much,
just bring that arm down but maybe try and push it down a little bit or maybe
even sit on it if you can. that'll give you a little bit more of a stretch there
as well. but the best way to do it is kind of just resting that hand on the
back of the shoulder and then pushing that elbow up as much as you can, but
make sure you're getting an angled stretch here. so it's not over towards
the side, it's not straight down, it's at that angle. and this is really important
because that levator SCAP muscle is the one that elevates our shoulder blades, so
when we're sitting at a desk working all day, a lot of times are our soldiers
start hunching up and we overwork those muscles and they get really tired and
fatigued. so this is a great stretch just to get it all nice and loosened up and
relax everything and start everything kind of over again. and it also the
muscle connects down here to your scapula, but it goes all the way up into
the neck as well so sometimes this can cause
some shoulder pain. it can cause neck pain. it can cause tension headaches
sometimes, so again this is a really important one just to get it all
stretched out. so again bringing that arm and that elbow up, and then just gently
pulling down towards the opposite knee. and a lot of times after you're doing it
more, you'll you'll feel it just get a little more stretch you can pull just a
little bit more, but you don't ever want that stretch to be painful. you just want
to feel some tension in there. so if you're feeling some pain, maybe back off
a little bit up here, or just go ahead and bring that on down and get that a
little stretch in there as well. so the the rest break in between if you want to
kind of shake out the shoulders a little bit you can. if you want to kind of rub
these out a little bit you can do that as well, but then just going right back
into that stretch. and gently pulling over make sure you're not pulling your
whole body over like that. I've had some people try and do that. you want to keep
your back upright and just get that pull at your neck. so you're really getting
that good stretch right through there. so nice hold getting that stretch and then
just looking straight down towards that opposite knee, and if you feel like
you're getting more of like a pinchy pain versus a stretchy pain, make sure
you stop. make sure you talk to your doctor or physical therapist about it
because if you're not getting a stretch with this, if you're just getting pain,
you might have something going on where you where you actually don't need to be
stretching this out, but if you don't have any injuries and again if you're
working at your desk all day long, or if you're driving a lot. if you drive a lot
of the day and you're kind of holding on that steering wheel and those shoulders
kind of inch up like that, this is a great stretch to kind of work those
muscles back out for easing. the rhomboids stretch. so the rhomboids are
in the back they kind of hold those shoulder blades together. so you're going
to clasp your hands together and you're gonna punch forward now. as you push
forward, you're gonna tuck your chin in. so really just
round out your shoulders. so if you watch a lot of my videos, you know usually I
don't want people to round out their shoulders, but to get that rhomboid
stretch, you really just want to punch forward as much as you can and tuck that
chin in. so you're getting that nice stretch in your upper back area. so the
rhomboids are the ones that squeeze those shoulder blades, and they're right
in between and they connect into the spine, and on those shoulder blades and
squeeze them in. so a lot of times those get really tight and irritated when
you're sitting at a desk for a long time. maybe if you're driving or you know even
if you have to do a lot of lifting things at work, so this is a great
stretch to do. you can do it standing up you don't have to do it sitting down, you
can even do it on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you, but
really just punching forward and tucking that chin in. and you should feel that
stretch in your upper back area and it feels really good and it just kind of
lets everything be nice and relaxed. so again just kind of right through there
is where you should feel it and just kind of in between just get it nice and
relaxed and shake it out a little bit. and then go back into the last stretch
right here. so again punching forward, as far as you comfortably can. tucking in. try
and keep the lower part of your back straight, though, so you're not punching
forward like that, you're really just curling that top part forward and
punching as far as you can getting that nice good stretch in there. and that
stretching should never be painful it should just feel a little bit of tension
kind of stretch in there. the prayer stretch for your wrist.
so with the prayer stretch, this is for things like if you have carpal tunnel
syndrome, so put your hands together and bring them down as you bring them out
bring your elbows out. so you're getting a really good stretch right there. so
even if you don't have carpal tunnel syndrome, if you are working on a
computer a lot or using your hands for a lot of twisting and turning motions,
you're probably going to have a lot of tightness in the wrist area. so this is a
really good stretch just to kind of loosen everything up. and there so a lot
of times if you know that you're starting to get some of those symptoms
it's a tingly numbness kind of feeling in your hands. there's some pain through
there and so again this is a really great stretch. just see how my elbows go
out as I come down. if you already have some some symptoms of carpal tunnel
syndrome, you might get some more tingling when this when you do this
stretch, but as long as if you stop that goes away, that's okay because that's
just as you're stretching is putting a little more pressure on the nerve. but
like I said as long as it goes away as soon as you stop, then that's fine. but if
it seems to last a little bit longer you probably want to stop and make sure and
check with your doctor or your physical therapist because there might be
something else going on in there. but it's that median nerve going down and
there's usually the culprit that's getting pressed on right through that
carpal tunnel there. so I have a lot of other stretches for carpal tunnel
syndrome, but this is a good one to get you started. and again if you're working
on the computer and you rest those wrists on the table or on a little pad
while you're typing a lot of times that area gets really tight. so this one's an
easy one to do just to stop and stretch it out really quickly to get everything
nice and loosened up. and your co-workers might go oh that looks interesting maybe
we should try it too, so get everybody together and stretch out those wrists
Seated knee to chest stretch. so with the knee to chest stretch, all you're
gonna do is just bring your knee up towards your chest. so it's just how it
sounds. the key is don't bring your body forward, bring your knee up towards your
chest. if you can't bring it as high as mine that's fine. you know if you can
only bring it here and you're starting to feel a stretch that's cool.
okay if you have some knee issues, instead of holding it like this, you
might want to grab underneath and pull it up. I tell my patients to do that a
lot, but if you don't really have any issues sometimes you can get a better
pull when you're pulling on the outside versus the inside, but make sure you
don't end up irritating your knee by doing this stretch. but when you stretch
and you're pulling up you should feel a little stretch in your bottom area, in
your low back. that's where you're trying to stretch. some people feel a little
pinching in their groin area, so if you're feeling that little bit of a
pinching either bring your your hip out a little bit with your knee, or just
don't pull up as high because again you don't want to be pinching something and
get it hurting while you're trying to stretch something else out. but if you're
not feeling that that pinch in there, just give it a nice pull and get that
stretch as much as you can, and then take that little break in between. so make
sure that if you're sitting at a desk move out a little bit so you don't bang
that knee into the desk, but just get that nice little pull.
I like having the outside hand up on top and the inside on the bottom I just feel
like that's more comfortable for me. again you can kind of just hold it this
way if you want to as long as you don't have any finger issues or knee issues,
but again if you have some knee pain already
just go ahead and grab underneath and pull up and you're you're still going to
give the same benefit by holding up that stretch this way.
but again don't curl down and stretch like that keep your back nice and
straight and relax because anytime you're stretching something you really
want your whole body to be fairly relaxed. so if you're tensing up other
muscles to try and do it then you're kind of defeating the whole point. so if
this is hard and you're having a hard time pulling that knee up then you can
definitely do this lying down which might feel a little more comfortable for
people. you just might want to wait till you get home to do it. and you can check
out some of my other videos to be able to do it on the ground at home or even
on your bed if you don't want to lie on the ground. or if it's too hard to get up,
you can do it lie on your bed or on the couch as well so lots of different
places to try it, lots of different positions to try it, but just getting
that nice stretch in there. and again you should feel kind of in
that low back area kind of in the bottom area getting a good stretch in there.
again pulling up. some people ask about the foot should it be pulled up
should it be pointed down should it be relaxed. kind of goes back to the same
thing that I was talking about when you're stretching, I really feel like you
should be relaxed. so some people might feel more of a stretch if they're
pulling their toes up, but then again you're activating muscles
and the point of a stretch is to get those muscles nice and elongated and
stretched out so, if you're if you're contracting something, sometimes you're
defeating that point just a little bit. so again just taking a little rest break
in between. sometimes if you're on a harder chair versus softer chair it
might you know make it a little bit harder or easier depending on what kind
of chair surface you're on, but if it's a little bit harder it might be easier to
get the stretch but you might have a little more pressure on the sit bone, so
just make sure you're comfortable again while you're doing it because you don't
want to irritate anything down there while you're doing this stretch. and
again if you feel like you're getting a lot of pressure on that knee you can
even kind of bring it out a little bit because you're really focusing on
pulling this part up. but again if you want to get that knee in there too then
you can do that as well. standing quad stretch. so I'm going to go
ahead and start it and then we'll go along so with the quad stretch standing,
you're just gonna grab your foot and make sure the top part of your leg is
straight down. so the important part of that stretch is that that quad is down.
if it's here you're not really gonna getting a good stretch. so you want it there and
maybe even back just a little bit. the closer you can get your heel to the
bottom your bottom, the better stretch you're gonna get. but you know I have to
pull it all the way back just pull it until you feel a little stretch in there
and then take that little break in between. but again if you're if your
thigh is coming forward, then you're no longer stretching your quad, so you
really want to focus on that. so if you have to hold on a lot to be able to do
that that's fine also. the most important thing, second to getting that
that leg back there, is not to lean forward because see you can be like well
my legs back now but if you're leaning forward again you're taking away from
that stretch. so keep your upper body nice and upright and just pull backwards.
again you don't have to pull up as high as I do, I stretch every day so I'm
pretty flexible. so if you can only go to there that's okay, you just go until you
feel a comfortable stretch. with that you can also add in a little bit more
pushing your back to get the hip flexors as well if you want to, so if I'm
stretching here and I pull that knee back just a little bit more, I'm going to
get those hip flexors stretching a little bit as well. so if you really want
to get kind of a combination stretch you can do that because that's a great area
to stretch out if you're sitting, falling, if you're sitting a lot throughout the
day because those muscles are in a shortened position. so if you pull it
back just a little bit you're gonna get a combination stretch which is really
good as well. there's a whole bunch of different ways to stretch out your quad.
you can do it lying down, you can do it lying on your side, on your stomach, you
can use a strap to stretch it out, but if you're at work and you don't really have
equipment, this is the best way to stretch it out and it's pretty easy to
do. especially if you work at a desk and you don't get the move a lot because you
can just stand up at your desk, you don't have to go anywhere to stretch out, and
so this is a good way just to keep those muscles moving especially if you don't
get to move your legs throughout the day because you don't want to get blood
clots or DVTs or anything like that. and stretching out your legs is a great way
to prevent all of that. so again just with an out stretching it out a little
bit, getting that break in between, and
then we've got one more on each side. so with the quad stretch you should feel it
right through here. some people feel it a little bit more in their knee, that could
be because maybe that joint is tight as well, so if you're feeling it more in
your knee, in that quad muscle belly area, again
maybe you can't go as high but try and bring that leg back just a little bit
and that will should help you get that muscle versus that knee joint because
it's all connected. and since it's all connected if it's tight through here,
sometimes your knee is going to be very tight as well. so if you feel like your
knee is hurting, and you're having a lot of pain through there when you're
stretching, then go ahead and hold off because if you're having pain when
you're stretching then there might be something else going on and you should
check in with your doctor or your physical therapist because it might not
be just tight muscles, there might actually something going on in there and
you really want to find out what's going on. so it shouldn't be painful. you should
just feel tension with this stretch as you're stretching through it. anterior
tibialis stretch. so with the anterior tibialis, a lot of times if you have shin
splints, this is the muscle that's irritated. so an easy way to stretch that
out is just take your foot behind you, and you want your toes the top of the
toes to be flat on the floor. so I'm putting that on the floor to stretch out
your leg doesn't have to be completely straight. you can bend your knee a little
bit, but you want to feel the stretch through right there. so a lot of times
when you're stretching, you don't have to push really hard to get that stretch. you
can also move your foot around a little bit to stretch the inside and then
stretch the outside. so you're kind of getting that whole shin area. and I like
doing that especially after I do exercises or if I go for a run. so if I
have my foot down like this, I can kind of turn it in to get that inside of the
shin and then I can roll my toes to the outside really to get that anterior tib
stretch right there. and a lot of times when people do this, if you get cramping
in your feet this might trigger that cramping, so I would say if you get a lot
of cramping, maybe stretch with your shoes on first, and see how you feel. if
you're if you're starting to get some cramping,
then I wouldn't do it without your shoes on. but if you're not getting any
cramping, you're probably going to get a little bit better stretch if you take
your shoes off. so again just kind of putting your foot back again you can
bend your knee a little bit. straightening out completely is fine. you
might get a little bit better stretch, but you don't have to. you can keep it a
little bit and again I like to kind of halfway through roll it to the outside
and then roll it to the inside. so you can kind of see let me pull up there so
you can see, I'm pushing down on the big toe there and then kind of rolling out
to the the pinky toes right there. just to get that stretch all the way around.
but again like I said sometimes if people have a tendency to have some
cramping that might try and make your foot cramp just a little bit, so be
gentle with it at first. don't go too crazy with it just as a warning, so
you'll know that that might happen to you, but again a lot of times people who
walk a lot people who run if you're running on surfaces that a little bit
harder like concrete or roads with the pavement and stuff like that,
people do tend to get some shin splints. so this is a really good stretch to do
especially if you're exercising after you exercise, but a lot of times it's
good just to stretch this out if you're sitting at a desk when you work all day
because you're really not getting these muscles moving very much, and it's so
important to stretch out these lower muscles because when you're not working
those muscles throughout the day then you could be prone to getting blood
clots or those DVTs which can be very scary. so the more that you're moving
around and keeping those legs moving the less likely a chance you're going to get
a blood clot. so you always want to be safe than sorry and any kind of a
movement it's gonna be really good for that. so this is a good one just to get
that whole shin area stretched out a little bit. so we've got one more on the
other side and again you can kind of shake those out wiggle those toes a
little bit to loosen them up some just so they don't try and cramp up on you. so
if you want to really get that anterior tibialis good, roll it out to your
pinkie toes and that's going to get a nice big stretch, but maybe if you have
your posterior tibialis a little bit irritated then if you roll over onto
your big toe you're going to get more of a stretch on the inside there. so I
always say just go back and forth and do a little bit of both on each side just
to get that whole area nice and stretched out if you can feel pretty
good about all of it. so there you have it. those were some real time
stretches which are part of my office series. if you want to find out more
about the office series, make sure to click up here. and if you'd like to help
support my channel find out how by clicking on the link up here. and don't
forget to subscribe by clicking down here. so remember be safe, have fun, and I
hope you feel better soon.