Workstation Wands: Medium Length for Office

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Workstation Wands: Medium Length for Office"

Hugh Maxwell
5 years ago
Views:

1 Workstation Wands: Medium Length for Office Health Wands were one of the most important tools from the Restorative Arts area of classical PE during While wand use never totally went away, they faded from popular use but are becoming popular again with other classical methods as we rediscover the wisdom of our movement lineage. Wands were used for generations because they have numerous benefits, are simple in design, cost effective, and have wide application from rehab settings to athletic populations and beyond. We use a modified length of wand for tighter access office spaces so people can stretch out right at their desks. A piece of ¾ X 4 PVC pipe (Schedule 40 thickness) works great and only costs about $2.00. Here are five very simple drills used historically that are great for office stretches in the modern world. Philosophy: A summary of classical PE and movement methods has yielded these important points to optimize safety and efficient improvement. ü First Do NO Harm! ü Always finish better than when you started. ü Learn to move better before you move more at volume and intensity. ü Pay attention to the smaller form details or nuances for optimal benefits. Workstation Wand Routine: To begin, perform 3-5 reps of each exercise or adjust volume and level according to philosophy above and ability. More than 5 reps are fine too as long as they feel good to your body. Wands as Leverage Tools: Wands are leverage tools that help us gently open up joints and ranges of motion. Even a shorter wand at 4 is a long lever with a lot of leverage. Respect the physics of the wand! Move slowly and safely; you ll get better results especially as a beginner. The wands also help us feel our bodies and certain body positions they basically help us find our way through movement and learn along the way. Learn from leverage. Pay attention. While simple in design, wand lessons are plentiful and productive. Enjoy the process of learning to MOVE WELL. J Levels: There are three basic levels which apply to some (not all) of these beginning workstation wand drills. Passive should be performed first to make sure that user can get full range of motion without pain. Passive means you gently hold each end of wand without any pulling or force applied. If NO pain is present with good movement quality, add Active technique by pulling gently on each end of the wand. Activating the wand causes the rear shoulders and upper back to engage bringing shoulders back together (retraction) and helps to improve an upright postural line (restores neutral and Avengers of Health! 1 TM

2 reverses slouching). It is important as you go from Passive to Active that it is not done all at once feather the transition so it smoothly goes from being passive without any pulling into active as you add increasing amounts of slight force until finishing at the end Range Of Motion (ROM). Some of the drills can use a Pulse method where at the end range of motion with active wand, a gentle pulse or soft bounce is used to move in and out of end range. Pulsing is a little more dynamic but still follows the philosophy of no harm and restoring the body. Triangle Base Position: Place feet shoulder width apart with feet pointing forward. Actively engage feet and bring this bodily awareness up the postural line to crown of head as you lengthen whole body. Form a triangle with arms and wand by holding wand in front of body with hands down by outer thighs. As you learn the triangle, look down and make sure wrists and elbows are straight. You should see three straight lines forming the triangle. As you move out of the base position with wand, maintain the straight wrists and elbows as wand comes up over head use eyes for visual check because it s hard to feel when first starting. When you can see your lines are clean, bring head back up and return to fully upright and elongated posture. Video Links: Wands are three dimensional in use. They are hard to describe in text. To see the wands in motion with these exercises, please visit our YouTube Health Wands Playlist: Workstation Wand Routine (Space Conservative) After years of classical wand studies which included historical references from German and Swedish gymnastics, Czech Sokols, ancient Chinese methods, American applications with physical education and physical therapy along with corporate pilot projects, these five fundamental wand exercises seem to be the best place to begin. When performed to classical standards, they will provide you with life-long restorative benefits from the modern world of constant technology and a general lack of motion today. All of these can be performed in less than five minutes a sound investment for body and brain benefits! 1. Overhead Raise (Passive>Active>Pulse) From base triangle position, slowly raise Passive wand up while keeping both wrists and both elbows straight. Final wand position should be directly over the center of the body if it was cut into a front and back section (frontal plane). If you can reach final position directly overhead without pain, the next progression is to add the Active pulling on each end of wand. Final progression is to Pulse the wand while keeping it active. When pulsing the wand, it can move a little past the front-to-back midline as long as no pain is present. The idea with Pulsing is to gently nudge at your end ROM so that you facilitate ROM progress but safely due to the gentle bounce technique and First Do No Harm philosophy. 2

3 2. Behind Neck Pull Down (Passive>Active) Once the Overhead Raise exercise can be obtained without pain, allowing the wand to drop behind the neck is the natural progression. When performed passively, this is more of a drop than an actual pull down. Two critical points keep both wrists straight, and do not move your head out of the way of the wand. Let the wand move behind the head through your shoulder mobility. If you can lower the wand all the way to upper shoulders and back of neck without compensation, add the Active component by pulling each end of the wand away from each other. If you cannot do the above without compensating by bending wrist or moving head, stop at the last position point before you start to compensate even if wand is up higher near head. Don t do more by doing less quality! The wands won t work as well if you disregard the nuances regarding finer form points. 3. Wrist Flexion/Extension (Passive) Return to the original triangle position with palms facing back then bring hands closer together so they are placed near outside of thighs. Hold the wand with Passive grip; there will be no active pulling the wand apart on this move. Start with both wrists straight then flex or bend wrists as far as possible without actual pain (might be uncomfortable at first though). The wand will roll towards your thighs in this part. You will feel deep stretching in the backs of both wrists which is fine if it hurts or feels like actual joint pain reduce ROM until you can move at the deeper levels without pain. Don t rush this first flexion move; make sure you go deep then slowly roll the wand away from thighs as you extend the wrists. When you finish this part, the palms will now be facing down at the ground if your wrists are mobile enough to extend that far. Go slowly back and forth between the two positions allowing enough time at each maximum ROM point to get the full stretching benefits. To add more benefits, use four different positions starting with the one above where palms are in front of mid thighs and palms face to the rear then do same movements with palms facing forward. The last two are done with wand behind legs. Hold wand behind upper legs and do repetitions with palms facing back and forward as well. Each different position will yield different stretch benefits. 4. Y & T Sidebends (Passive>Active) From Overhead Raise position, bend sideways right and left in Y or upright triangle position. Be careful not to collapse forward as you bend sideways. Both shoulders stay back then bend straight over to one side then the other. Go slowly as you near the end of your range of motion allowing spine to open then return upright and go opposite direction. 3

4 From Behind Neck Pull Down position, bend sideways right and left in T position. As with Y, no collapsing of postural line and go slowly for maximum benefits. 5. Snake (Passive) This move comes from ancient Chinese Wand history; the actual name of this move is Twisting of the Snake. All of the Chinese health wand drills were led by breath, and none used any force or tension, so there will be no Active phase for this move. Hold wand directly in front of shoulders with elbows and wrists straight but without tension. Slowly raise up one end of wand as the raised end draws back behind head. Make sure to keep the head and torso upright so wand moves around head instead of head moving out of the way of the wand. As the raised wand end comes behind the head, let the lower end gently touch down on the opposite tip of the shoulder you basically will snake the wand around behind your head. Continue to lower the wand down behind head and neck until you have skin contact across rear shoulders then roll the wand off the tip of the other shoulder while lifting the other end of the wand up high and over the head. Return to the front outreach position at shoulder height then return in opposite direction. To add more quality, follow the Chinese breath design by inhaling through nose as you begin the movement. As the wand centers behind the back, slowly exhale through the mouth until it returns to the front outreach starting position. 6. Monlux Rockers This move was taught to me by retired physical therapist Jake Monlux who has mentored us on historical methods. For decades, it was one of his favorite PT exercises for shoulder health and provides an amazing stretch hard to get without a wand. This move will not have any active pulling apart of the wand ends. With this exercise, the active part will be pushing or rocking the wand diagonally front-to-back. Start by holding the wand vertically (straight up and down) in front of one shoulder; elbow should be straight. Your hand should be placed about 1/3 up from bottom of wand. Bring upper end of wand back over shoulder; it s a movement as if you were trying to scratch your own upper back. As the wand drops behind the shoulder, angle wand diagonally across back pointing down. Take your free hand and find the open lower end of wand. When you have both ends, center the wand so there is equal space between your hands and each end of the wand. Find the sweet spot going across your back that does not press the wand into the boney edges of your shoulder blades you are looking for the soft parts not the sharp bone edges. Adjust your hands and wrists to make them comfortable by opening palms flat and keeping wrists straight. By softly pushing the wand into your back, the wand will stay on your back without 4

5 falling down. It is very important to keep hands and wrist relaxed and tension out of the shoulders, so use this technique for optimal results. GENTLY take the bottom hand and press lower end of wand forward as you relax and release the opposite shoulder to retract backwards go easy here because there is a lot of leverage on the shoulder retracting back. You will feel your retracting shoulder blade tip as the bottom portion nudges into your ribs. Slowly come out of this first part by pressing the upper hand forward as you relax and release the opposite shoulder and allow the lower straight arm to extend backwards. The idea is to let the back arm raise up towards horizontal while continuing to stand upright with your body. The motion back is forth should be a gentle rocking movement. The movements on both sides should be coming from your shoulders not the spine bending forward or arching backward it s the shoulders moving. Own the movement from your shoulders! Pay attention to the nuance points here, and you ll improve with more safety and efficiency. Wand Progressions Beyond Basics: These are just five opening wand drills with a slightly shorter wand that work better for tight access use like in an office cubicle workstation there are many more. Full-length wands are about 5 long and can provide a few movements not possible with the shorter version, but this series of exercises focuses on office or tight-access use. Once you know the Rules of Engagement like first doing no harm, always finishing better than when you began, etc., you can play with the wand and come up with your own movements that feel good to your body. Also explore some of the other vintage wand drills we teach and post at The Lean Berets or look for other sources as well. Just remember the classical philosophy of use, and you should always benefit from wand exercises and be able to use them throughout your whole life a simple tool, and no batteries required. J *By Ron Jones, MS, Credentialed PE & Health Science Teacher, Kinesiologist, & Corporate Wellcoach. 5

Do the same as above, but turn your head TOWARDS the side that you re holding on to the chair.

Do the same as above, but turn your head TOWARDS the side that you re holding on to the chair. Stretch 4-6 times per day and hold each stretch for a minimum of 30 seconds. Perform the stretch gently without bouncing. Discuss any problems with your Chiropractor. Sit upright with your head and shoulder