After you sit for an extended period of time, be sure to wake up the muscles that matter

Everyone knows that sitting too much is bad for our health. But for those of us that sit for a living, it is hardly to be avoided. Which means that we must pay special attention to the muscles which suffer when we sit. For the purpose of this blog, we will focus on the three most endangered:

• Glutes 
• Hamstrings
• Hip flexors

After a long day of sitting, you need to wake up your butt to reactive its ability to support your spine and biomechanical movement. How do you go about this?

 

Glute activation exercises are for everyone

Getting your glutes going is about more than just restoring strength to the butt- it is about restabilizing your spine at its very base. Letting your glutes weaken while your hips and hamstrings tighten is a signal way to create a problematic pull at the base of your spine, leading to misalignment, pain and dysfunction. Stretches and exercises including:

• Psoas stretch 
• Hip flexor stretches
• Hip extension exercises 
• Hip abduction

Using these stretches helps get your glutes in conducive shape to support your spine no matter how much sitting you have to do.

Get those glutes going

At our office in Alameda, we know that preventive healthcare is the right way to go about treating a sit-heavy lifestyle. If you sit all-day, everyday, let us help you determine the problem areas that you can focus on strengthening and stretching in your free time so that your job does not take an irreversible toll on your spine.