A PHYSIOTHERAPIST is sharing her top tips for desk workers to beat aches and pains.
Physiotherapist Natalie March said she has had an increase in enquiries from office workers who believe their aches and pains are caused by working from a desk.
Natalie, who runs a clinic in Rowlands Castle, Hampshire, Physio-logical, has found that the majority of people are poorly educated on how to relieve their pain and most people believe that poor posture is the main root cause, whereas, she said, this is not the case.
She has shared her top tips for office workers to reduce the pain caused by sitting at a desk all day, in a bid to dispel the myths around the topic.
Natalie said: ‘A lot of patients come to me complaining of joint pain, many of which are office workers. It seems to be the time of year where solidly working starts to take it’s toll on people with the weather getting colder and the end of the year drawing closer. There are a lot of trends I see when it comes to what they think the cause of their pain is and what they think they need to do to get rid of the pain.
‘A lot of people think that posture is the most important thing about working from a desk – this is not the case. You could be sat upright – screen and chair at the perfect height – for hours on end, but at the end of the day, if you’re stationary the whole time, you’re still going to experience stiffness and pain as a result.
‘This is why it’s more important to simply get up and move. Set a timer to go off every 20 minutes and get up and walk – whether it’s doing a load of washing or making a coffee. This is more important than perfect posture.’
A commonly known guideline that many people follow is reaching 10,000 steps a day – but Natalie said that there are other guidelines that people are unaware of that are just as important, such as strength training.
She said: ‘10,000 steps is a good target, but you should be pairing that with 150 minutes of aerobic exercise per week and strength training twice a week for it to make a difference. The key is strengthening your muscles so they protect your joints, this will reduce the risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders such as back pain, neck pain plus also arthritis later on in life.
‘Strength training doesn’t always mean lifting heavy weights, either. It can simply be lifting your children up to play with them or whatever kind of resistance you’re comfortable with.’
Lauren Allen, a fitness coach for mums, advocates for strength training through her online coaching and her Instagram page and agrees that strength training is one of the most beneficial forms of exercise.
She said: ‘Weight training offers a great opportunity to strengthen muscles, joints and bones to help us move better for longer. We naturally lose muscle mass and bone density as we age, and resistance training can help slow down this process as well as reduce our risk of injury.
‘If you are new to strength training, try implementing body weight exercises such as squats, lunges and push ups into a routine to build the basics.’
Natalie wants to raise awareness of the guidelines that are in place to ensure people live healthy lives for longer and hopes that by educating people, she will allow them to do so.
For more information, go to www.physio-logical.net
