Deskercises for shoulder

As human beings, our body is designed to move, assume different positions, and perform physical activities of various kinds throughout the day. All of these are severely restrained for the urban adult, more so for the desk worker. Over a period of time, they suffer from diseases of bone joint muscle (loss of calcium in the bones, stiffness of the joints, and weakness of the muscles are the most common ones) as well as diseases of other systems and organs like increase in blood sugar blood pressure, cholesterol, etc that have a significant health risk.

The ideal solution to this problem would be to get up at frequent intervals to perform physical activity and come back to the desk. Unfortunately, this is a luxury not everyone can afford for various reasons. Discus size can be a viable alternative.

 Isometric exercises

Isometric exercises involve contracting muscles to hold specific static poses. Isometric exercises do not involve movement. But let that not fool you into thinking isometric exercises are less effective. The recently popular plank exercise or the dreaded chair pose that my teacher used to punish me with are two examples of vigorous isometric exercises.

In this blog post I have described 5 isometric exercises for the shoulders. They can be done sitting right at the desk without utilizing any equipment.

All these exercises are meant to be performed by healthy individuals without any shoulder related problems. If you have any shoulder issues, please get it checked before you start these exercises. For all the exercises given below, use half of your maximum strength, hold for 10 to 15 seconds, and avoid breath-holding. There is no specific order of the number of repetitions. You may choose to do all of these exercises at one go break them down into multiple small bouts.

1. Outward pull

This exercise works on the outer side of the shoulder.

Interlock your hands as shown in the picture. Pull them out words with half of your strength and hold.

2. Inward push

This exercise activates the chest muscles.

Hold the hands into a namaste position. Now push them towards each other. Make sure your hands are not touching your chest. Should be able to feel the contraction of the chest muscle.

3. Biceps-Triceps contraction

Place the fist over one another. Push them with each other. The top hand triceps and the bottom and biceps will contract. Exchange the hand positions for the Other sides.

4. Shoulder rotator strengthening

While one hand tries to rotate the shoulder inwards or outwards the other hand prevents the motion-producing muscle contraction.

Try these exercises today and let us know how you feel! Keep following this space for more health-related discussions.

Kindly take our survey for current trends in physical activity here!

About the author

Dr Subhanjan Das (PT)

BPT, MPT (MSk & Sports), CMP(NZ), Diploma in football medicine (FIFA)

Consultant Physiotherapist of Apollo & Reliva Clinic, HSR Layout, Bangalore

Contact: +91 8967549104

Dr Subhanjan Das (PT) has over 14 years of clinical and 12 years of academic experience.  A friendly professional with lots of patience and skilful hands, Dr Subhanjan has worked with thousands of his patients for instant relief of pain and rapid return to activities.  He has treated elite athletes for recovery, injury prevention and performance enhancement.

Dr Das is specialized in Orthopaedic and sports physiotherapy and has keeps himself updated with the latest advancements in the field of physiotherapy. He has undergone training on advanced orthopaedic techniques such as Dry Needling, Mulligan Concept, McKenzie method, Pilates, Cupping therapy, McConnel and kinesio  taping from the best faculties around the world.

Dr Das has taught in 5 universities across India and has trained physiotherapists in 50+ workshops within and outside India.