Our fitness coaches and physiotherapists, Malcolm and Rebecca, share their best methods to ease the daily pain we judges suffer from sitting hunched all day over desks and benches. Relax, take a breathe, adjourn, stretch … it just takes a minute!
The head is the heaviest part of your body. Weighing in at about 5kg for the average adult, the head is the heaviest part of the body. “Your neck has the job of supporting the head and when you consider that every 2.5cm it is moved forwards increases the force by 4.5kg, it is easy to see how the neck is under immense strain,” says Rebecca. “Sit reading, texting, judging or doing DIY with your head even just a few centimetres forward and it adds considerable stress.”
That pressure can result in neck pain and headaches, which is why releasing neck tension is important. Malcolm says, “Use gentle movements, slowly developing range of motion over several weeks.” They suggest at every break in the judicial day you take a moment and release this tension by performing these 4 simple exercises.
Rotate your neck
Start with simple neck rotations at least every other day. Sitting or standing with relaxed shoulders, look over first your right shoulder, then your left. “Use a mark on the wall to gauge how far you can turn your head,” Rebecca says. “Then return to the start position and repeat, this time applying two fingers to your jaw to stretch your neck a little further.” Hold each stretch for 10-30 seconds and repeat 4-6 times on each side.
Perform figure-of-eight loops
Slow-motion head rolling is a great tension reliever, says the osteopath James Davies, author of Body. “Sit facing a wall and imagine you have two pencils for eyes,” Davies says. “Slowly and carefully start drawing a figure of eight with your ‘pencils’ and as your neck muscles loosen, make the loops larger.” Perform 3-4 times one way before changing directions. “Then repeat again but this time imagine the pencil has shifted to your nose and finally to your chin,” he says. “Altering the point of focus means you loosen muscles in the top, middle and base of the neck.”
A quick fix at your desk
Neck tension can spread to the head and upper body, but there is a quick-fix release to try at your desk, says the movement therapist Roger Frampton, the author of Stretch. Sit comfortably and clasp your hands together behind your head. “Gently and lightly pull your chin towards your chest to the point where you feel a light stretch,” he says. “Aim to keep shoulders relaxed and chest as ‘open’ as possible, meaning don’t hunch too much into the movement.” Hold for 8-10 seconds and slowly release back to the start position. “If you find it easier, you can perform this lying on the floor and looking up to the ceiling,” Frampton says.