Sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day can leave you with sore, stiff, achy muscles. But with a little self-care and self-massage, you can help work out tension and pain in just a few minutes.
There are several benefits of self-massage including:
- You can perform it at home and in the office.
- It’s less expensive than a professional massage.
- Release tension
- Stimulate the lymphatic system
- Relieve muscle spasms and pain
- Increase mental alertness
- Calm the nervous system
- Improve blood
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Head
- Place your thumbs on your cheekbones, close to your ears.
- With your fingertips, apply gentle pressure to your temples.
- Make circles with your fingers, moving along your forehead until both hands meet.
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Jaw
- With your fingertips, press up under your cheekbones, starting from the inside and moving out toward your temples.
- Open & close your mouth as you apply pressure.
- Once you reach your ears, press your thumb under your jawbone and pull your fingertips down the side of your face.
- Repeat the pulling motion along your jaw, moving toward your chin.
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Neck
- Place two fingertips on the back of each side of your neck, between your hairline and shoulder blades.
- Apply steady pressure and hold.
- Release and then roll your shoulders forward and backward slowly.
- Repeat the release-and-hold pattern three times.
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Shoulders
- Place your fingers between the side of your neck and your shoulder.
- Squeeze the muscle you are holding (called the trapezius) and then press your fingers one at a time over the muscle, starting with your pointer finger.
- Repeat on the other side.
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Hands and Wrists
- Place a tennis ball on your desk and then place your wrist on top.
- Spread your fingers and gently roll the ball up and down your wrist.
- Then gently roll the ball along the fleshy part of your palm, from the left to right.
- Repeat on the other side.
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Forearms
- Hold out your arm with your palm up and use your other hand to cup and gently squeeze your forearm, just below the elbow.
- Flip the extended arm until your palm faces the ground
- Continue rotating the extended arm while gently squeezing the forearm down to the wrist.
- Repeat on the other side.
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Knees
- While seated, straighten and relax your leg.
- Gently press the side of your knee with your fingertips or a knuckle and work your way around your knee.
- Bend and straighten your leg a few times.
- Repeat on the other side.
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Feet
- Take off your shoes.
- Press your foot down on a tennis ball and roll it back and forth.
- Apply firm pressure and hold or roll the ball in small circles when you find points of tension.
- Repeat on the other side.
Check out the following infographic with images of Self-Massage postures to Relieve Stress, posted by Ouill.com
