man doing squats on balance board

Balance Board Exercises For Your Standing Desk

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There are lots of ways to stay fit with your standing desk but now the balance board opens up an even greater range of possibility. try these 5 balance board exercises:

1. Just Stand There – Just standing still on your balance board will actually help strengthen your core muscles. With all that wobbling your muscles – will be forced to engage to keep your body balanced and stable.

2. Stand On One Foot – Position yourself at the center of your balance board and balance on one foot, and without holding onto your height adjustable desk for support. Remember to keep your abs and back tight and maintain correct posture and switch to the opposite leg after 30 seconds.

3. Rock ‘n Roll – Once you’re holding on to a steady balance slowly lean back and forth and left to right making each side of your balance board touch the ground while you maintain balance. Make sure your back and stomach muscles are engaged and move at a slow and steady pace. Repeat this rocking and rolling motion for 60-second intervals.

4.Twists- Start centered and balanced on your balance board and slowly rotate your waist to one side and then the other. Be sure to tighten your abs back and hips and keep your lower body facing forward while the upper half twists. Repeat 10 times.

5. Squats – Start with your feet hip-width apart at either end of your balance board with your legs straight. Once balanced without holding onto your stand up desk, slowly bend your knees to a sitting position. Keep your head and shoulders in a vertical line. Don’t lean forward or let your knees fall in front of your toes but engage your core muscles to sink deeper into the squat. Slowly repeat 7 times.

With these quick and easy balance board exercises not only will you get tone and achieve a strong core, it also helps prevent and reduce back pain and will even improve your overall posture. 

Resources

Tennis Fitness for the Love of It: A Mindful Approach to Fitness for Injury … By Suzanna McGee

M SConservative Management of Sports Injuries- By Thomas E. Hyde, Marianne S. Gengenbach

Balance Training: Stability Workouts for Core Strength and a Sculpted Body: By Karon Karter

Balance board- From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Ever notice how your productivity tends to suffer as the day goes on?
Moving your body is perhaps one of the best ways to recharge yourself. This is particularly true if your work involves a lot of sitting and thinking at a desk. Care2 Blog Easy Body Movements to Improve Productivity gives 5 simple ways to move their bodies at work to get more done.

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BENEFITS OF A BALANCE BOARD AT WORK

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Whether you’re sitting or standing, your body just isn’t meant to be inactive for long stretches of time. You need to move.
Standing still is still not as bad for you as sitting. To get the most out of your standing desk, you need a way to keep yourself moving around.
This doesn’t mean you need to start aerobics in place in the office. Just get a balance board! There are many benefits of a balance board at work besides keeping you active. Check out these 6 benefits:




1. STABILIZE YOUR MUSCLES

Muscle stabilization is extremely important. When you use a balance board, your lumbopelvic region must work to keep you upright. This region is left to atrophy when you sit all day and, as a result, you can end up with a core that struggles to carry its own weight when you begin moving around again. 

2. MICRO-MOVEMENTS ARE BETTER THAN JUST STANDING

Standing for prolonged period of time, fidgeting soon sets in. You’ll start swaying back and forth, shifting your weight around, picking up your feet, things like that.

Using a balance board makes it fun to stay standing. The micro- movements required to stay vertical are also forms of exercise that don’t require you to stop what you are doing and continue working.

3. A BALANCE BOARD WILL KEEP YOU ALERT

Moving throughout the day will help you stay more alert.  Fatigue comes from staying still too long. Staying still for too long makes your blood circulation less efficient, which leads to that foggy feeling in your head. This is another big advantage a balance board has over using a standing desk all by itself.

4. YOU’LL HAVE A HEALTHY HEART

All those little exercises you’ll be doing with your board increase your blood circulation, which along with other benefits, also helps keep your heart beating and healthy.

This doesn’t mean you’ll be tiring yourself out, though. The easy little movements you do while working at your standing desk and standing on your board do just enough to keep you active, without tiring you out.

5. IMPROVES YOUR POSTURE

A standing desk is a great step to take to stop slouching, but if you really want to take your posture to the next level, you’ve got to get a balance board.

Because a balance board encourages small movements in order to maintain balance, you’ll notice that you no longer feel uncomfortable because of standing so still.

Instead, you’ll find that your posture improves because the muscles in your back are getting stronger. 

6. BE MORE PRODUCTIVE

A balance board will also help you be more productive at work.

The energy you’re keeping up by standing on the board doesn’t just make you feel better, it makes it easier to keep being productive.

You already know that standing desks are good for you, and now you can make them even better by adding a board.

In conclusion, if you want to feel better, be in better shape, be better at your job, and make your work time just a little more fun,  get a balance board. Using a balance boards at work can have overall health benefit.

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You can reduce back pain with foam roller by doing simple exercises to release trigger points. Foam rolling is a technique used for self- myofascial release, in other words a technical term for releasing tight muscles, with self-massage.

Foam rollers come in a variety of sizes and densities, so they may enable you to adjust pressure and related factors.

Although, you can reduce pain with a foam roller. However, rolling incorrectly can actually exacerbate injuries.

Below are some common mistakes to avoid:

Rolling Too Quickly

A common mistake with foam rolling is rolling too fast. It might feel great at first, but ultimately, it does little to eliminate adhesions. Instead, go slower on your rolls, so your muscles have time to adapt to the change in compression—then start to relax.

Rolling Directly (and Only) Onto Pain Sites

It may be tempting to roll directly onto a pain site, but the site of tension is usually the result of an imbalance elsewhere. That’s why it’s recommended to roll a few inches around the site of pain, then use large sweeps over the entire area.

Reduce Back Pain with Foam Roller

2 areas to focus foam roller on to reduce back pain

  • Lengthening your Neck and Upper Back
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  • Extending Your Lower Back
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You can reduce back pain with foam roller by doing simple exercises to release trigger points. Meanwhile, check out this video by Howcast on how to reduce back pain with a foam roller.

If you want to try more exercises, check out these 5 unusual foam roller exercises .

Remember that just like any other technique, foam rolling should be used as a tool to help you feel better.
If you have an existing back or spine condition, you should check with your doctor. In addition, you might want to consider working with a physical therapist or trainer who can show you the correct way to use the foam roller.



 Sources

https://blog.paleohacks.com/foam-roller-for-back-pain/

https://www.wikihow.fitness/Stretch-Your-Back-Using-a-Foam-Roller

Other back pain relief links

5 stretches to Do at Your Standing Desk

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Dry needling (DN) is a treatment option for relief of chronic low back pain. 
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Stressed or injured muscles, often form trigger points, that cause pain and tightness. 
The goal of dry needling is to create a muscle twitch response, which is a sub-cortical reflex. In other words, the nerve impulse travels to the spine and back out to the muscle rather than going up to the brain. At this time, the physiology of the muscle is changed.
 As a result, for someone who is suffering from chronic low back pain, Dry Needling, will target the MTrP , then tension of the low back is released. Subsequently allowing the muscle to stretch and contract more effectively. 

 Mayfield Brain and Spine demonstrates and explains how one may get Low Back Pain Relief with Dry Needling.

 Dry Needling is within the scope of practice for a Physical Therapist. However, several other health professions cite that dry needling is within their specific scope of practice as well. But, there is specific U.S. state rules, regulations and guidelines that do not permit the practice of dry needling. Find out here

In conclusion, many people are seeking new and safe alternatives to treat their low back pain. Dry needling may be part of the solution.
The therapy is a generally safe procedure for most people. However, you should first talk to your primary doctor about whether dry needling is an appropriate therapy for your low back pain.

Source: Evidence for Dry Needling in the Management of Myofascial Trigger Points Associated With Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation , Volume 99 , Issue 1 , 144