Leg Exercises At Workplace
When you sit in a particular place for a long time, your joints get stiffened and the circulation of the blood becomes slow as a result of which a lot of blood starts accumulating in the lower legs and your feet.
If you exercise, the feet and ankles help the muscles and assist the veins to pump back blood up the legs against the force of gravity, to the heart besides increasing movement of the joints.
You can practice this exercise anywhere, anytime even when you are working.
The Toes:
Toes are very important for our balancing and for our carriage. They provide support to us when we stand or walk around, throughout day and night. Yet we neglect them and give importance to other parts of the body.
Whenever you practice toe exercise you will feel better all over and hence is of much importance.
Toe bending:
It is better to take off your shoes and socks because your naked feet will stretch better as they will be glad to be exposed to the air.
- Sit in the correct basic position and let your feet be placed flat on the floor, hip width apart.
- Your right foot has to be lifted and should be straightened in the front.
- Breathe normally and let all your concentration lie in your toes.
- Slowly and gently push your heel away from you and bring back your toes towards your body. See that all along the back of your leg you feel a mild stretch.
- Now slowly curl your toes forward. Don’t do it over tightly because you may get a cramp. Movement should be at both sets of toe joints and none at the ankle.
- Straighten your toes and bend them back towards you. Around the same time spread your toes and pull your big toe as far away from your little toe as possible. Try to make space between all your toes.
- Repeat this five times and then you repeat it with your left toes.
The above exercise and the exercise that will follow later for the ankles can also be done: -
- If you are in bed or for a wake up stretch, you can lie down and do it.
- While waiting for bus or train, by standing up.
- Sitting on the floor with your legs outstretched in front (maybe while watching T.V. at home).
- With the heels on the floor.
The Ankles
Ankle bending:
- Straighten your right leg in front and let the left foot be flat on the floor when you sit in the basic sitting position.
- Breathe normally and focus your attention towards your ankle.
- Stretch your toes as far as you can in forward direction so that they point away from you.
- Bring back your toes towards your body, pushing your heel away from you. The stretch should be felt from your heel to the buttock, all along the back of your leg.
- Slowly repeat this five times and then practice it on your left side.
- When you do this exercise there should be no movement in the knee or hip, but all in the ankle. Remember to keep your leg straight throughout this exercise.
Ankle circling:
- Sit in the earlier position. Place your left foot flatly on the floor and straighten your right leg in the front.
- Now push your heel away so that all along the back of your leg you feel the pull.
- You can circle your right foot as big as you can, so that your ankle joint works through its full range of movement, first in clockwise and then anticlockwise direction. Repeat this five times in each direction.
- Draw the circles bigger every time.
- Repeat this on left side.
- Let your spine be lengthened and your shoulders be lowered down. The movement should be only at the ankle and not at the hip or knee.
- After certain period of practice if any changes take place, be aware of that and difference between your left and right ankle. Most importantly be aware of the quality of the movement, whether it is smooth or jerky.
The Knees
Knee bending:
- Sit correctly, to the back of your chair. Let your feet be parallel and be flat on the floor and hip width apart.
- Breathe in normal manner and concentrate on your knees.
- Straighten your leg after raising it. And push your heel away from you gently and then bend it fully.
- This exercise should be repeated five times.
- Then repeat on the left.
Knee circling:
- After sitting in basic position. Place your feet parallel and flat on the floor, hip width apart.
- Breathe normally and let your concentration lie in your knees.
- Lift your right leg and circle it first in clockwise and then anticlockwise direction. The movement will be in the knee and your foot hangs loosely.
- In each direction you need to repeat this five times.
- Then repeat it on the left.
The Hips
The hip forms the second most mobile joint of the body after the shoulder. But due to our habit of sitting in a chair for a long time, its movement is restricted. So it needs movement to be mobile.
So exercise a lot, particularly walking and swimming are both fantastic. When you are walking, to work effectively on the joints you can increase your normal gait by one inch. The best thing you can do for your hip joints is to be active.
Get up and move around as much as you can in the office. To exercise your hip joints there is a limit in what you can do by sitting in your chair.
- Be seated in basic manner. Place your right ankle just above the knee on your left thigh. Let your right leg relax. Drop your knee towards the floor and let the weight of your leg and gravity, gently open out your hip joint.
- This is a passive stretch, not an active one. So you are required to sit like this as long as you can, doing nothing while you carry on with your work. After about five minutes change legs carefully.
- If your chair is correct and if you are wearing right clothes and if you are loose in the hips, you will realize that you can sit comfortably cross legged in your chair.
- Sit with folded legs and bring the soles of your feet together on your chair. Your heels can be stretched as close as possible to your buttocks.
- If you are not comfortable in workplace, then you can try this at home. Both these exercises are good for opening the hips out.
