Upper back · Shoulders
Chair open chest
Mobility · Seated
- How to do it
- Sit tall, hands lightly behind the head, elbows wide. Lift the breastbone a little without jamming the low back or flaring the ribs.
- Dose
- 8 reps
- What you should feel
- Your chest widening across the front
- Common mistake
- Flaring the ribs and overarching the low back.
- Make it easier
- Move through a smaller range.
- Avoid this movement if
- You feel pinching at the front of the shoulder.
- Why DeskBreak uses it
- Uses the chair back to gently extend the upper spine, which spends the day rounded.
Stop this movement if it causes sharp or worsening pain, numbness, weakness or dizziness.
Evidence
General movement principle.
- Effectiveness of workplace interventions in the prevention of upper extremity musculoskeletal disorders and symptoms: an update of the evidence (Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2016)