Well I’ve had my job for exactly 1 year today. I can’t believe SO MUCH has happened since then – wouldn’t change a moment of it. EXCEPT maybe for all the slouching and even more horrific posture habits I’ve developed. It’s true, sitting at a desk all day and then coming home to crouch over knitting/sewing/crochet/GMAT studying has finally resulted in me feeling HORRIBLE about my posture. In the last month I just felt like I needed to stretch my back constantly and I was increasingly worried I was heading for some sort of back/neck injury. I’m really into preventative action so after talking to a few friends I decided I would go to the chiropractor. My only other experience with a chiro was dealing with some insanely painful/emergency stiff necks when I was a young kid so I didn’t really have a basis for what to expect. I decided to ask some of the more particular athletes at my office for Dr. recommendations and boy did I luck out!

I found a chiro who is a tri-athlete and genuinely cares about his patients. His name is Dr. Roy Settergren and he is located at Midwest Sport & Spine if any of you Chicago readers are curious. He listened to my ‘ailments’ and wasn’t aggressive in his practice. Basically, he had me lie down on the table and started working out the insanely tight muscles in my front shoulders. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to sit up straight, but my shoulders could not be moved from a concave position. Seriously, it was so bad when I would lie down flat on my back I could not make my shoulders touch the ground/surface. Then he worked out my ‘glued’ shoulder blades and boy when those started cracking/popping it was wonderful. Nothing ever hurt and he really didn’t do any ‘adjusting’ aside from working out my tight muscles. When I sat up afterwards it was like I had had my chest opened up so greatly. I seriously feel like I’m a new person! But, I know that I have to keep it up. Obviously, I would love to go in as often as I can, but that’s not realistic. I have to practice making my posture better in all my daily activities. So every 45 minutes I stop and stretch at my desk or while I’m studying/crafting. I’m also being mindful of my shoulders rounding forward. I certainly don’t want to have a humpback or look like Quasimodo at any point in my life.

Anyways if you’ve been looking for some helpful stretches at home/work:

Here is some from Dr. Settergren.

Here are some for workplace stretching at your desk

Here’s some more low key ones – so people don’t think you’re insane/one of them yoga freaks (jk I love yoga freaks)

I might have the hobbies and interests of an 80 year old, but I don’t need the spine curvature of one.

XXX
GFK