Stretches for Office Workers
Stretches for Office Workers
Overview
Stretches will help you stay limber and flexible throughout the day. They also make you feel better and reduce stress levels. And since most office workers sit all day, they will benefit from these exercises.
Level
Beginner
Targets
Lower back, hips, hamstring, glutes and quadriceps
Step by Step Instructions
- Use a wobble chair or movable seat to keep your back loose when working on a computer.
- Alternate between sitting on a wobble chair and a regular chair every 15 minutes to prevent muscle fatigue.
- Stretch your hips by practicing figure four position stretch for 20-30 seconds on each side.
- Stand up to stretch your quadricep muscles by balancing on one leg and bringing your foot towards your hand.
- Perform a hamstring stretch by placing your foot on a stable surface, hinging from the hips, and bending forward.
- Divide the hamstring stretch into two parts, holding each part for 20-30 seconds to target different muscle areas.
- Stretch your hip flexors by lunging forward while keeping your body upright, focusing on the front thigh area.
- Incorporate these stretches into your home or work routine to keep your body mobile while at the computer.
[Video Transcript]
I have this question come up so often from a lot of my office workers who are patients, and they ask me things like, “How do I keep my back loose while I’m sitting at a computer station, whether it’s at work or at home?”
The first thing is that most of you have something to wobble on. In this case, I have a wobble chair here at my house. Some of you might have a portable chair or an inflatable wobble disk. If you have the ability to, take it to wherever you’re working or wherever your computer station is and move on it—just like you would to warm up your back before getting a treatment or before doing any sort of spine molding.
I wobble on here for at least 15 minutes, and then, because I don’t want my core to get too tired and the muscles to get sore, I’ll switch that out and just sit on a normal chair. I know this is a computer chair, but you would switch between a regular chair and a wobble chair every 15 minutes. Every 15 minutes, you want to get the body moving.
The other thing you can do is stretches. Let’s start by stretching out your hips. Put your leg in the figure-four position, sit upright and straight, and gently lean forward, hinging at your hips. Try not to round in the middle back. Lean until you can feel a stretch in your glutes—I can definitely feel it right now. Hold that stretch for 20 to 30 seconds, and then switch sides. One side is often tighter than the other, and that’s okay—just make sure to stretch evenly from side to side.
The second thing you can do is stand up and stretch out the front of your hips, your quadriceps. I like to hold on to a chair and balance on one leg, bring my foot into my hand, and start stretching out my quadriceps. If you can’t feel the stretch, pull your foot back a little more and gently push your foot into your hand to deepen the stretch.
The third stretch I like to do is a hamstring stretch, for the back of the legs. Put your foot right on a stable chair (not your wobble chair), point your toe straight to the ceiling, and keep your back straight. Hinge gently from the hips, not the back, bending forward until you feel a nice stretch in your hamstring. Hold for 20 to 30 seconds. Then, for the second part of this stretch, bend your knee while keeping your toes pointing toward the ceiling, push your bum back, and lean forward until you feel the stretch in a slightly different part of your hamstring. Hold that stretch for another 20 to 30 seconds.
The last stretch is for your hip flexors, right in the front. To stretch your right hip flexor, put your knee on the chair, move your leg forward, and gently lunge forward while keeping your body upright. You should feel a really good stretch there. Make sure your knee stays at or just below 90 degrees. You’re looking for the stretch right in the front of your thigh, in your hip flexor.
Those are some stretches you can do while at your home or work computer station. Don’t forget, you have to keep moving. That’s why it’s nice to have a wobble chair at work.
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