Stretches for the Pregnant Office Worker
Three Minute Stretch Exercises to Do at Your Desk
A total body warm-up in the morning, followed by three minute stretch intervals throughout the workday virtually lessens the discomfort that pregnant women notice more as the months go on.
Maintaining a pregnancy stretch and flexibility program is valuable to you in a variety of ways, not the least of which is delivering your baby! Using your office chair, it’s possible to get a good stretch and feel more comfortable during the day.
Warm Up to Warming Up Every Morning
A warm up should raise your core temperature slightly, and prepare muscles and joints for the work to come later. Try his gentle warm up:
- To start, walk in place while swinging your arms rhythmically, followed by alternate knee lifts and end with big arm circles. This takes just three to five minutes to do!
- Spend another three minutes performing some gentle stretches; do the neck, shoulder, wrist and lumbar rotation stretches listed below and end by standing with your back, heels, head and shoulders against the wall, contract your abdominal muscles and gently push your lumbar spine toward the wall.
Try the Following Stretches at Your Desk Several Times a Day
- Active Neck Rotation and Lateral Flexion: Sitting in chair, do three sets of neck rotations; relax your shoulders and neck, drop your chin and gently rotate your head from side to side. Lateral flexion stretches; keep the shoulders down, bring right ear tilt the ear toward the shoulder. For tight necks, grasp the seat with the right hand, elbow straight, tilt the ear toward the left shoulder; keep shoulder down.
- Wrist stretches, Extensor: With elbow straight, slowly bend wrist down with opposite hand until a stretch is felt. Flexor: With elbow straight, slowly bend wrist back with opposite hand until a stretch is felt. Rotation: rotate wrist slowly right and left.
- Shoulder Shrugs:Bring both shoulders up toward the ears, bring the scapulars together, and push the shoulders down.
- Active Lumbar Rotation: Cross arms over chest and slowly rotate upper trunk from side to side in a small, pain-free range of motion. Rocking the baby!
- Piriformis or hip-flexor stretch: Sitting in the chair, cross the right ankle over left knee, with straight back, chin up bend slowly over the bent knee. You will feel this in the buttocks and on the outside of the thigh. Just the slightest forward lean is all you need.
Once you’ve completed an exercise on one side of the body, repeat on the other side. Use gentle movement, no bouncing, while moving to a feeling of tension, but never pain. Do not over-stretch. Perform the stretch slowly with good body mechanics to avoid problems. A good ergonomic workstation setup during pregnancy is equally important to your comfort, but that is a discussion for another time.
If you experience pain with any of these stretches, stop doing them and ask a professional to get you on the right course of action for that part of your body.
To Learn More on This Topic
Globally, finding additional information such as this or credentialed health fitness professionals is easy! Resources through the American Pregnancy Association (APA), the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the International Dance Exercise Association (IDEA), your local healthcare provider or doula association can be found on the web.
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