Stop niggly aches and pains, as a busy person, in 3 simple steps

 

Do you sit for hours concentrating on something, only to realise you’re feeling stiff and a little chair-shaped?

Have you noticed more aches and pains since working from home?

Does it feel like a continuous juggling act between your work and your wellbeing?

 

I’ve been there with the juggle! I had a busy desk-based job and chronic low back pain (you’re right neither one helped the other). I was also the world’s worst Physio patient; I’d attend the appointment, get prodded about, feel better, listen to the exercises and then struggle to fit them into my day. I was going around in circles!

If you’re struggling to balance your work and your wellbeing and quite fancy getting rid of niggly aches and pains, here are my 3 simple steps towards making that happen.

Step # 1  Discover Your ‘Why’ and Take Stock

How could feeling more like yourself impact your mood? How could moving well improve your day-to-day?

Understanding this empowers us to feel that it’s worth the effort to change. It all begins with making very small changes. For me, I wanted a way to manage chronic low back pain not just for a week or so, I needed something that could work long term. Equally, ‘waking up without feeling like a much older version of myself’ might be where you start.

Taking stock of how things are right now gives you a chance to be honest with what is and isn’t helping. It can also highlight things you can easily tweak and things you need help with.  If you’re starting to notice changes to your posture, mobility or flexibility exploring the following and making small tweaks could help.

Work on a Wonderful Workspace

(Or at least a comfortable one!)

Very much overlooked, but oh so important in terms of your joint health, your posture and being able to finish work feeling good. An efficient desk set-up can help you can avoid repetitive strain injuries, and back pain. Choose a chair that feels comfortable and supports the natural curves of your back as you sit.

Scrutinise Your Day

Think about how much time you spend sitting, the variety of tasks you do, your workload, your breaks for example. Getting away from your desk throughout the day and moving more could be a good start to help joint stiffness. A break from your desk and your screen can benefit your mental health and your eye health too.

Honour Your Mental Health

Do you notice that your busy lifestyle is having an impact on your mental wellbeing?

You might be already thinking:

I feel better when I do a few more things for myself and take care of my wellbeing, so I can be there for everyone else.

Notice how you’re feeling, make time for yourself, and if things are overwhelming talk to someone. Top tip – put an ‘out of office’ message on your email when you’re not working!

Tune in to Your Body

Are you noticing any changes to your flexibility, strength, posture, or balance? List those aches and pains that are annoying and irritating you!  Back pain, stiff shoulders, tight hips? Aging well is about noticing these things and taking small steps to change so you can keep your body functioning well and feeling youthful. More about this in Step 2.

Step # 2 Movement Snacks!

A reason to be moving well helps motivate you to start. These ideas take care of your mental health and your physical health with functional movement for everyday life (my favourite work of healthy aging). Bone health is worth a mention too, it’s really important, particularly as you age, particularly for women post-menopause. At this time, a dip in oestrogen means there can be a sharp decline in bone density. These movement snacks are small actionable things to incorporate during your day and around your day, not only to move more, but to move well!

During Your Day

Toilet breaks

The easiest way for many of us to get up and move a bit more often is to drink more (easy hydration boost). You move about to make the drink and you’ll need to get moving to get rid of that drink too. Bonus points for choosing to visit the toilet that involves a flight or two of stairs!

Timers

Similar to the Pomodoro technique, where you set a timer for a particular task then take a break, here you’ll use the timer as a prompt to get up and do something!  It’s a movement snack! Something small that is going to feed into your why – why you wanted to be moving more or moving well in the first place.

ABC’s – Building Blocks to Moving Well

Think about the natural curves of your back, as you sit, stand, move, or balance. Focus on your breathing and how that connects to your deep postural muscles so you can move in a more supported way. In terms of back pain, this mindful, intelligent way of moving can be helpful. It’s a supportive way of moving to manage and prevent back pain (for the long term!). When that timer goes off choose a movement snack to address a problem from from Step 1.  Focus on your ABC’s – your alignment, your breathing and your centering (or how you’re using your ‘core’ to support yourself).

• • • Stiffness in your shoulders and neck?  Start with shoulder rolls and gentle neck turns.
    • Upper back still aching? Follow up with some extension exercises. A lot of our day is spent forward flexed; extension work wakes up the back muscles. These postural muscles keep you upright, they need a reminder to do that if you’re constantly flexed forward!
    • Need a stretch?  Rotation of your spine might be what you fancy on your next timer break. Rotation is usually the first type of movement that deteriorates as you age. This loss of rotation can account for many a strained back or neck.
    • Want to build up strength?  Keeping hand weights on your desk could be great a reminder to do some bicep curls. Tricep presses at the wall, even easier, no equipment needed. Keeping your wrists strong is important, wrists are in the top 3 most vulnerable sites for fracture.
    • Hips feeling tight?  Regularly taking a break from sitting is a great starting point and there are plenty of exercises for tight hips in a Pilates mat class. Meanwhile, a squat with great alignment is good for mobilising your hips, knees, and feet.
    • Your feet are aching?  This is an easy one; keep the feet moving while you’re sat working by rolling a tennis ball or spiky ball under the feet. A point and flex of your foot under the desk won’t go a miss either!

Around Your Day

Take advantage of established habits

Make the most of things you do every day without even thinking about it. Tagging on a new habit to something you already do regularly can easily help you with consistency.

Cleaning your teeth?  Add a balance exercise 

Challenging your balance is a great way to improve it, practice most days and you’ll see a difference. Start where you are and improve from there, slowly building up the challenge.

Boiling the kettle in the morning? Add mindful breathing

Notice your breath, noticing how you’re breathing, what moves as you breathe in and out, perhaps notice where you’re holding tension. You can calm your nervous system simply by slowing down your breath out. This is good news for your mental health. Super useful in busy times when you want to take some time out or if you’re feeling anxious about the day ahead.

Add simple things that take little or no planning

A walk or cycle to work, a walking meeting with a colleague, a lunchtime stroll – all lovely ways to squeeze in a bit more movement. A walk is a great way to break up the day, boost your mood and get some bone building exercise. Change the intensity of your walk; the same type of surface, same incline, same pace doesn’t stimulate bone to regenerate. Challenge and variety are needed for that, so to boost bone density you need to mix it up.

Throughout the day try mobilise all the joints of your body.  Your body is designed to move and move regularly, if you’re feeling you don’t have time for that step 3 might help.

Step # 3 Discover what’s Stopping You

What’s going to get in the way of you moving more and moving well to see off aches and pains for good?

Anticipating stumbling blocks can give you a head start.  I don’t have all the answers, just some ideas to think about.

Overwhelm

Firstly, if you’re feeling that there’s just not enough time in the day, I think that’s pretty normal. Secondly, start small and pace yourself. It’s down to you to be realistic, to figure out what can work with your life without being overwhelming.

It’s not Enough

Think these small things won’t make a difference? I challenge you to give it a try! I’m a big lover of a list. Start ticking things off and you appreciate that they all add up. When you see you’re moving in the right direction that boosts your motivation.

There’s Pain

It may be that you need to seek out some more specific help for ongoing niggles, aches, and pains before making a start. Finding help can be the first step towards you feeling confident to add in movement you’re happy with on your own.

Priorities

Many of us are guilty of putting everyone else first. However, when you start putting yourself first and feel your best, all areas of your life can benefit. Your family, your caring responsibilities, your work can be a priority AND yourself.

I work with people who want to feel more like themselves, whatever is going on health wise, so they can get on with what they love doing in life! I teach small group classes and private sessions online; find out more here or contact me here.

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