5 Exercises That Combat 'Computer Body'

5 Exercises That Combat 'Computer Body' (Yes, It's a Thing!)


Back and neck giving you grief? That’s because your desk job is actually changing your muscle composition. (Photo by EJW/Westend61/Corbis)

Your typical typing pose probably isn’t pretty: shoulders rounded forward, chin stuck out, upper back hunched over.

Not exactly the look you’re going for, right? But spending your day frozen in front of your laptop can change the length and composition of your muscles to force poor posture. Enter, computer body.

When your muscles are placed under low amounts of tension for long periods of time—like your back muscles are when you spend eight hours a day at a computer—the muscle tissue elongates. “Think of it as if you’re trying to slowly push your hand through a plastic bag,” said fitness expert Mike Boyle, owner of Boston-area Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning and creator of Men’s Health Thrive. “That’s kind of what happens to the muscle tissue.” Your back muscles become locked into a lengthened position, while your pecs, abs, and the front of your hips actually shorten. Plus, the makeup of your muscle tissue changes in a way that makes your muscles stiffer, Boyle told Yahoo Health.

Lucky for us desk dwellers, we can cure computer body in 10 minutes per day. Simply stretch out muscles that have shortened—and massage tissues that have tightened. To perform self-massage, you’ll need a foam roller, which you can find for less than $20 at any sporting goods store or online. “Think of foam rolling like kneading dried-out Play-Dough,” Boyle said. “Your back is like Play-Dough that’s started to harden. But if you simply pick it up and knead it, it starts to get that suppleness back.”

For your best results (posture like a prima ballerina) do each of the five exercises below every day—we suggest during commercial breaks at night. The whole shebang should take no longer than 10 minutes.

https://www.yahoo.com/health/5-exercises-that-combat-computer-body-yes-its-a-101718377147.html

 

Yeah, who'da thunk it. lol

 

I also found this helpful since I do end up with a lot of neck & shoulder stiffness/pain after a lot of time working on the computer or playing games. A past neck injury also makes me more prone to it.


How to Treat and Cure Stiff Neck or Shoulder to Ease The Pain

http://sue-adams.hubpages.com/hub/how-to-treat-a-stiff-neck



"How To Treat and Cure a Stiff Neck or Shoulder to Ease the Pain" follows the upward progression in body awareness versus gravity. In previous articles we began at the feet, the base, the roots or foundation of the body, and worked our way up through articles on the ankles, knees, pelvis, waist, and the torso etc. Similarly in this latest article, we explore the shoulder area first to create a strong base to support the neck and head.

You can treat and cure a stiff neck, frozen shoulders and upper back ache, even headaches and migraine by being aware of your posture. There is no such thing as a short neck. We all possess 7 cervical vertebrae. A short neck is merely curved too deeply. The neck supports the head and it is therefore obvious that if the head is carried too far in front of the body instead of above it, where it belongs, the muscles at the back of the neck are doing unnecessary overtime. Permanently tense and raised shoulders, poor sleeping habits, stress, or cold drafts also contribute to neck and shoulder pain.

Continued here:
http://sue-adams.hubpages.com/hub/how-to-treat-a-stiff-neck

 

It isn't always necessarily a lack of exercise issue. Sometimes it's the lack of balance in one's workout routine, or just not doing the best exercises for overall body wellness.

Stress, long work (or gaming) hours with not enough breaks, lack of proper rest, old injuries, etc. all take their toll, and sometimes people don't realize that until they're hurting.

 

My son is bad about those kinds of 'all nighters' online too. lol

I'm typically better behaved when it comes to taking breaks during games (I don't play online games though), but I've had plenty of all nighters when it comes to work or writing projects. Whether it's a deadline I'm trying to beat a deadline or I'm engrossed in what I'm working on, I'm sometimes bad at listening to my body and giving it the breaks/attention it needs and end up paying for it.

 

Yeah, they knew how how to get everyone hooked and make a killing doing it.

 

Yep, it's as bad as internet porn addiction.

 

:smt005