Over the last few decades, computers have increasingly become an integral part of our everyday lives. This is even more true today as physical distancing has made us dependent on our computers for work, entertainment and social connection. An unfortunate side effect of our ability to be constantly connected is the hours we spend sitting in front of our screens. So, what can we do to stay active as we work from home, stream and chat online?
One of the most useful tools to stay active is a timer that you can set to remind yourself to move. Whether its working on a project or streaming an entertaining show, we have all experienced how fast time can fly when you are sitting in front of your computer. Setting an alarm on your computer, cell phone or grabbing the kitchen timer can alert you its time to move. Getting up and moving every 30-60min can be beneficial to our overall health. A 2017 study found a relationship between sitting for greater than 1-2 hours at a time and early mortality. The lead author of the study suggested that people who sit while working should move every 30min to reduce this risk1.
If you can, get up and go for a short walk around your house. Get a glass of water or walk up and down a few flights of stairs to take a break from the seated position. If you cannot leave your computer, here are some suggestions of ten exercises you can do while sitting or standing in front of your computer.

1. Shoulder Rolls and Shoulder Blade Squeezes: These two are easy to do while sitting in front of your computer. Sit tall and shrug your shoulders up to your ears then rolling them back and down. Then, squeezing the shoulder blades back and down, holding it for 3-5sec.
2. Chin Tucks: Sit tall and shift head back so your ears are in line with your shoulders. It should feel like you are lengthening your neck, like a string is being pulled up from the top of your head. Hold this position for 3 sec.
3. Military Press: Sit tall with your arms out to the side and elbows bent to 90°. Squeeze shoulders back and press arms up over head. Make sure to keep shoulders away from ears. You can perform this without weights for more of an upper body stretch or add weight to make it a strengthening exercise.
4. Seated Rotations: Sit tall and twist to the right, grabbing the right side of the seat with the left hand and hold. Repeat to the left side.
5. Seated Figure 4 Stretch: Cross right ankle over the left knee and let the right knee drop to the side. Lean forward with the body until you feel a gentle stretch to the back of the right hip and hold. Repeat on the left side
6. Seated Child’s Pose: Sit with hands on your desk/table, walk hands forwards, reaching out as far as you can, letting your head relax down. Hold that stretch, then walk the hands to the right to stretch the left side and vice versa.
7. Lean Back March: Sit on the front edge of your chair. Keep the core tight as you lean back slightly with a straight back. Hold that position as you slowly alternate raising and lowering your legs in a marching fashion
8. Sit to Stand: Without using your hands, stand up and sit down with control. Make sure to press up through both legs. To make it more difficult, do not let yourself sit all the way down, stand back up as soon as you touch the seat.
9. Heel raises: Use your desk for balance if needed. Rise up onto your toes and slowly lower back down. Make it more difficult by performing on one foot
10. One Foot Balance: Stand on one foot and hold. Make sure to keep hips level

Hopefully, this gives you some ideas of movements that can be done while you sit at your computer. You do not need to perform all of them every 30min. Choose 1-3 movements to perform every 30-60min you spend at your computer as a way to stay active while having to be sedentary.
If you have any questions about the exercises above or would like further information, please feel free to contact our clinic to speak with a physiotherapist.
This information is intended for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical diagnosis and treatment.
 
1 Diaz, KM et al. Patterns of Sedentary Behaviour and Mortality- U.S. Middle Aged and Older Adults: A National Cohort Study. Ann Intern Med. 2017; 167(7): 465-475

​One challenge of what we are going through is that we don’t have much control. However, I encourage you to ask yourself what you can do to help.

• Is there a neighbour who could use some help with groceries?
• Is there an essential worker in your life who could use some appreciation?
• Is there a way you’d like to support other people and charities in need who face additional challenges in this time?
• Is there something you can do to keep others safe by cutting down on any unnecessary trips yourself?
• Is there love and creativity that you need to express to others through some positive and encouraging sidewalk chalk messages? 

​This is a hard time for us all. While we are all going through this together, we are each having our own unique experiences and struggles. If after first doing everything we can to ensure that we and our families are safe and protected, perhaps we can view this as an opportunity to step back, reflect, and intentionally connect with the people and values that are most important to us. Maybe that means reaching out to others, or perhaps that even means taking time for yourself. Whatever you need, have the confidence to do exactly that.And if you ever need some help of your own, please reach out. We all could use it, and we all have someone, even a stranger, who would be happy to give it. Remember that it is physical distancing that is necessary, not social distancing.
I hope these strategies serve you well. Have fun trying them out and finding what works for you and please share your own brilliant ideas with us and others.

May we all stay connected and stronger together.


Max

Over the past few weeks, we have been answering the question on how to offer physiotherapy and help people get through their injuries and pain without being in the same room as them. We have quickly had to face the challenge of answering the questions of how this would look, and how we can show the value of telerehabilitation (online physiotherapy) to a world that had never heard of it just weeks earlier. After a few sessions this no longer felt like a challenge. We realized that our form of physiotherapy treatment was almost seamlessly able to go online.

Since opening the doors to our clinic in 2013, our focus has been to provide physiotherapy that was individualized which could only be done in our one-on-one visits. Along with this, we make it our goal to empower our patients with the best evidence-based treatments in order to help them get better and stay better. Evidence actually does support educating patients and providing them with the correct exercises and self management more than simply performing passive modalities. Surprisingly, to many patients this treatment approach looked different than many other commonly observed clinical practices.

The great news has been that our method of treating has seamlessly gone online. We have been able to meet our clients and empower them screen to screen with the same benefits as in person. The struggle of coaching through exercises, is making us more fit as we work through all the motions and movements with our patients from the comfort of our own homes.  This transition to online treatments hasn’t been without new challenges, such as figuring out initial setup passwords, but this is similar to any new connection. We have just given additional buffer time between visits like we would do when trying to video conference with our family for the first time.

Overall, we have seen the first 5 weeks for online treatment become a virtual success. It is something we will continue to provide until we are able to resume in-person treatments.  It is our desire to continue offering this form of treatment afterwards, as arguably with proper communication, education, and patient empowering optimal rehabilitation can be accomplished online, at any time.