NEW ORLEANS — Caring about your health doesn’t stop when you go to work.
“The majority of us spend more time at work than at home, right? Mostly over 9 hours a day we are at work,” says Kevin Duffy of PT Solutions and Tulane Hospital Therapy Services. Duffy says sitting at a desk hunched over a computer can cause headaches, neck pain, back pain, and problems sleeping.
The pain is bad enough. But, it can also cause workers to call in sick, which is bad for employees and employers.
Duffy showed News with a Twist Teaching Doctor Rachel Reitan a few ways to stay active at work to relieve the pressure on your head and neck.
“Get up. Stretch it out,” he told Dr. Rachel as he stood up behind his desk at the PT Solutions location in Metairie. “Move that neck. Move those shoulders. Move those hips.”
Duffy showed Dr. Rachel three easy exercises that you can do at your desk:
- From a seated position at your desk chair, stand up and then sit down ten times.
- Seated in your chair, lift your legs up and down in a marching motion.
- Stand up at your desk and lift yourself up on your toes. Duffy says you don’t even have to put the phone do to do this exercise.
Duffy says you can also exercise away from the desk.
“Getting up three times a day. Taking a short walk,” he recommends. “Even coming into work: park at the back of the parking lot. Park on the top floor of the garage so you have to walk just a little bit further.”
Keeping active at work is also good for your heart. And there is another opportunity this week to get heart healthy and help a good cause. The American Heart Association’s New Orleans Heart Walk is this Saturday (Nov. 11). The one-mile walk starts at 10 a.m. at Champions Square near the Superdome. Check-in is at 9 a.m.