Movement is the best defense against repetitive stress, and strategic snacking can beat brain drain.
Remember all those grandiose New Year’s resolutions you made last January, and abandoned by March? This year, local experts offer some simple suggestions to make 2009 a healthier year on the job—and these resolutions are realistic enough that you could actually be practicing them well into 2010.
For desk jockeys, the long road to repetitive strain injury is paved with thousands of repeated muscle movements, repeated daily and performed in awkward positions with poor technique, poor posture and insufficient rest periods. Eight concerted hours on the computer keyboard amounts to 10,000 to 20,000 finger strokes, according to Petaluma physical therapist Teri Burk. Other office chores, including fielding phone calls or paper shuffling, can also tally up to hundreds of hand and arm motions by day’s end. Repetitive retrieval of objects positioned just out of comfortable reach is another common source of injury to the office worker’s long-suffering upper extremities.
With repetitive strain injury, an ounce of prevention is worth exponentially more than a pound of cure—particularly when the injuries are so painful, and the prevention techniques are so simple. The best antidote to the cumulative tension caused by incessant, isolated motion of one small muscle group is to regularly break it up with a bit of large-muscle, whole-body movement. And to eliminate the arm and shoulder strain created by repetitive over-reaching, Burk recommends positioning all the necessary objects on your desk no further away from your hand than the length of your forearm.
Her occupational injury patients at the Body of Knowledge Physical Therapy often suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome, chronic neck or back pain, tennis elbow or rotator cuff complications. And her clientele generally includes a sampling of entrepreneurs. “Self-employed people often push themselves and work through signs of fatigue and physical discomfort,” she says.
To help patients recover from repetitive stress injuries, Burk developed a simple movement series entailing large muscle use. And driven desk jockeys who incorporate these movements into their day increase the odds they’ll remain injury-free, she says. None of them are outlandish enough to raise coworkers’ eyebrows, all of them contribute to general stress reduction and muscle relaxation, and the first step is literally as easy as breathing in and out.
Disengage and breathe
“When we stare at a computer screen for hours, we don’t blink often enough and we tend to breathe very shallowly,” Burk says. But the computer binger’s overused hand muscles and underused musculature everywhere else need a healthy dose of oxygen, since oxygenated muscles and nerves are healthier, more functional and less injury-prone.
No matter how enthralled you may be with what’s on your monitor, take a deep, slow breath from your diaphragm every 15 minutes or so. Sit up straight with hands in your lap and shoulders relaxed.
Before we began communicating with coworkers via email, we used to actually walk across the room to deliver a phone message. Burk says that kind of whole-body movement should break up repetitive, isolated muscle activity about every 30 minutes. “Take a 10 minute break to walk outside,” she suggests. “Walk anywhere, even if it’s to the bathroom—and make it brisk!”
Motion is lotion
You can work your body from head to toe in short, incremental bursts with a series of behind-the-desk stretches. According to Burk, 30 minutes of motion squeezed in throughout the day is just as valuable as a concerted half-hour workout. “Blood is the motor oil of our bodies,” as she puts it. And every motion, however brief, involving large upper and lower extremity muscle groups gets the blood flowing, which helps keep hard-working joints and muscles nourished, lubricated and less injury prone.
Surprisingly enough, Burk begins her list of therapeutic stretches with a body movement we generally associate with fatigue. A long, strong yawn is good for you in a number of ways. The mouth stretches open wide, flexing tight facial and jaw muscles, and yawning also entails inhaling deeply. Typically, Burk says, we often accompany the yawn with large-muscle head and neck movements, which frees them from the frozen physical stance we often assume behind our desks.
While you’re yawning, she suggests you envision a cat waking up from a nap, and treat yourself to the same kind of slow, luxurious stretch. Extend your arms over your head, press your hands together, and reach for the ceiling. Then, let your arms open out to either side in one smooth, controlled motion. “That simple movement does so much to alleviate the tightness in the arms and the upper extremities caused by cumulative stress,” Burk says.
After a period of inactivity, be sure to move slowly, gracefully and purposefully. Over-taxed muscles don’t take kindly to speedy switches between tiny movements and large extensions.
From the neck down
The average human head weighs between eight to 12 pounds. If we’re sitting or standing up straight, the upper body shares that weight-bearing task with the neck. But in this era of computer binging, Burk says we often forget about ergonomically correct posture.
The hours can speed by with the body frozen in front of that hypnotic monitor, she says, “and the more intensely involved we are with our work, the more we hunch over with our heads forward.” As a result, most neck and upper back pain is “almost exclusively caused by poor posture,” she adds.
Along with the hunched-forward position, the physical therapist notes many of her patients exacerbate back and neck strain by holding the phone up with one shoulder while turning their head to look at the computer screen.
Burk recommends the following movements to elongate and relax neck muscles. First, with your head upright and facing forward, slowly tuck in your chin, lower it toward your chest and hold it long enough to feel the stretch. Then resume an upright head position, looking forward, and slowly lower your head toward your left shoulder. After raising your head to the upright, looking forward position again, lower your head toward the right shoulder.
With your head back in the upright, looking forward position, swivel your head slowly so that you’re gazing over your right shoulder. Move your head back to the forward position, and repeat the same movement to the left.
A cautionary note: if the sensation accompanying any of these stretches goes beyond muscle tightness into actual pain, it may be time to see a doctor. Acute pain could indicate an occupational injury, Burk says.
Reward your rotator cuffs for a job well done with a moment’s relaxation. With arms relaxed at your side or in your lap, slowly rotate your shoulders in a backward, circular motion, holding for one breath when the shoulder blades are in the “back and down” part of the motion.
Your arms deserve a dash of large-muscle movement, too. While either standing or sitting, extend both arms straight out to the side. Then bend your elbows and raise your forearms straight up to create a 90° angle (if it helps, visualize the movement a sailor makes while communicating with semaphore flags). Repeat the same motion with your arms held out in front of you. Try straightening and bending several times in each position.
Try this stretch for back relief. With feet flat on the floor, in a sitting position with your knees apart, bend over with your hands sliding down along your shins until you feel a gentle stretch in your back. Hold the position for the space of one relaxed inhalation and exhalation.
Get those hips moving with this stretch. In a seated position with back straight, raise one bent knee up until you can grasp your shin with both hands, pulling it in toward you—but don’t stretch it past your comfort level. Repeat movement with the other leg.
Here’s a movement to reawaken your lower legs and feet. In a sitting position, extend one leg straight out in front of you. Make small circles with your foot from the ankle; repeat the motion with your other leg.
Burk’s suggested 30 minutes of movement within the work day can be worked in with a few minutes’ worth of stretches from the neck on down at regular intervals, or spending one half-hour of your lunch break walking. Sonoma County copy editor Margaret Petersen, who calls Burk “the angel that helped me through two frozen shoulders,” does a bit of both.
Petersen, a former high-tech industry executive assistant who logged long hours at the computer and often had “97 different responsibilities to be fulfilled all at once,” was diagnosed with severe shoulder impingement syndrome in 2001. Her recovery for this repetitive stress injury required extended time off of work, and when she finally returned to that position months later, Petersen says she faithfully incorporated large body movement at regular intervals. “I used to set a timer to go off every 15 minutes.”
Now, one year into her new, computer-intensive editing position, Petersen’s approach is a bit more relaxed. She still gets up and moves whenever possible during work hours, and does an extended stretch every time she walks to the printer from her desk. And without fail, she walks for 30 minutes at lunch—a routine that she now knows is essential for her continuing capacity to sit and work for extended periods.
That brisk walk in the residential area surrounding her office refreshes both mind and body. “ I walk by nice gardens, I stop and pet the cats, and I’m calmer when I get back,” Petersen says.
Strategic snacking
It’s 3 p.m., and your body’s all limbered up after your stretches. Still, you’re having a hard time framing a coherent thought. And that leftover birthday cake in the office fridge seems like an excellent idea about now—maybe with an espresso chaser.
Before you resort to that high-calorie horror, San Rafael registered dietitian Chris Berman has a few snack ideas for you. Berman, founder of nutrition consulting firm Feeding Frenzy, says eating healthy on the job requires forethought. “Standing in line at the corner coffee shop isn’t the best time to make snacking decisions.”
The healthiest snacks contain a complex carbohydrate matched with some protein and fat, she says. The carbohydrate speeds glucose to your brain, the protein keeps blood sugar even, and the fat slows digestion enough that the snack will likely stick with you until dinner.
Berman advocates packing your healthy snacks in sealable plastic bags, or yogurt containers of a given size, so you can track your consumption. She also suggests reading the original food container labels as a “reality check” on how many calories you get per serving (and what the serving size truly is).
Berman, an adviser for Community Action Marin’s adult and child nutrition programs, says she’s one of many people who seem to do better with five or six “mini-meals” a day. Her ideal calorie count for a mid-afternoon nosh is around 200. But if your snack complements three substantial meals per day, she suggests shooting for around 150 calories.
For nibbles you can store at room temperature, try these combinations:
• Dried fruits and nuts;
• Organic soup-in-a-cup or an oatmeal packet with dried fruits and nuts;
• Banana or apple slices, with a nut-butter dip (Berman recommends almond butter); and
• Popcorn and nuts.
Most components of these snack combinations require refrigeration, and all of them will tickle various taste buds in your discriminating palate:
• Hard-boiled egg and whole-grain crackers;
• Cut vegetables with hummus;
• Tofu “eggless” salad on rye crackers;
• Half of that enormous sandwich you ordered for lunch;
• Fruit-and-cheese kababs;
• Soybeans and whole-grain pretzels;
• Dark chocolate and string cheese or walnuts;
• Plain yogurt, flavored with diced or mashed fruit, blended with sliced almonds— “and maybe a bit of agave syrup,” Berman adds;
• Vegetarian refried beans mixed with salsa, with corn chips or vegetables to dip;
• Popcorn and string cheese;
• Leftovers from last night’s dinner; and
• Cold baked sweet potato and cheese.
Don’t forget to hydrate
While Berman is predictably in favor of staying hydrated, the longtime nutritionist says adults are better off eating a piece of fruit than drinking its juice. And late-afternoon caffeine consumption “can mess with people’s sleep patterns.” That’s why non-caffeinated tea and water—plain or bubbly—top her list of beverage choices.
A small glass of low-fat milk or soymilk might also fill the bill, but Berman cautions that sweetened soymilk has a surprisingly high calorie count. So do most smoothies, Berman says, “but they’re fun once in a while.” If you occasionally need that fun in fluid form, try a small Jamba Juice with a scoop of protein powder.
In discussing on-the-job eating, Berman notes that some food cravings have nothing to do with hunger. “If we’re munching away on chips as a habitual response to stress, that’s not likely to be helpful when it comes to keeping us healthy,” she says.
So before opening your mouth to eat, Berman suggests asking yourself if you’re truly hungry. And her next pre-snack question is one that Burk encourages her clients to ask themselves throughout the day: “Do you just need to get up and stretch, or maybe go outside for a walk and a little air?”
In short, breathe, get up and move. Snack strategically. These modifications to your workday routine are modest, but the health rewards can be significant. There’s no Spartan self-discipline required here: You can do this, and your body will thank you for it.
