Core · Upper back
Seated side bend
Mobility · Seated
- How to do it
- Sit tall. Reach one arm overhead and lean gently to the opposite side, lengthening the side body. Don’t collapse forward.
- Dose
- 5 reps · each side
- What you should feel
- A long stretch down your side
- Common mistake
- Collapsing forward instead of lengthening.
- Make it easier
- Keep the hand on the chair and lean only slightly.
- Avoid this movement if
- You have a rib or side strain.
- Why DeskBreak uses it
- Sidebending is a direction the spine almost never goes at a desk. A little goes a long way.
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)