{"id":442477,"date":"2026-01-28T07:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T07:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/442477\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T07:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T07:52:09","slug":"an-osteopath-urges-everyone-to-do-this-one-daily-stretch-to-undo-the-damage-caused-by-prolonged-sitting-it-only-takes-three-minutes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/442477\/","title":{"rendered":"An osteopath urges everyone to do this one daily stretch to undo the damage caused by prolonged sitting\u2014it only takes three minutes"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is no single remedy that will reverse the damage done by prolonged sitting, says associate osteopath Andy McIntyre BOst MSc from The Livewell Clinic<\/a> in London.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut there are two areas that, for me, take the biggest brunt from sedentary postures,\u201d he tells Fit&Well.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The first one is the hips, which he says can be addressed by practicing gentle hinging movements like good mornings and deadlifts.<\/p>\n

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The other pain point tends to be the “mid thoracic” area. This refers to the middle section of the spine<\/a>, around the T1 to T12 of the vertebrae between the neck (cervical spine) and lower back (lumbar spine).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all hunch forward when sat at a desk,\u201d McIntyre explains. \u201cWe get kyphotic. Our shoulders drop forward. Our mid and upper back rounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

To compensate, these vertebrae can stiffen, which further restricts the range of motion for everyday tasks.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur bodies are very clever. To adapt to this [hunched position] joints stiffen up in our mid-back so we require less energy to hold ourselves there all the time,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Start your week with achievable workout ideas, health tips and wellbeing advice in your inbox.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we then come to use our shoulders, when we come to run, when we do anything else, that stiffness is still there.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result, the shoulders and other parts of the spine, like the neck, have to compensate and work harder to do basic things, like look over our shoulders.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust like how we decondition our hips by being at a desk, we are deconditioning our thoracic spine all the time when sat forward in this hunched position.\u201d<\/p>\n

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How to mobilize the thoracic spine <\/p>\n

To arrest and reverse this deconditioning, McIntyre says we should all be working on thoracic extension and rotation in order to \u201cundo the damage from being chained to a desk all the time\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the best ways of unlocking extension is through thoracic rotation,\u201d he says. \u201cIf our spine can rotate, then it will be able to do all the other planes of motion much more easily.\u201d<\/p>\n

For McIntyre, that means practicing an exercise called open the book first thing in the morning and last thing at night.<\/p>\n

If extra time allows, he also performs the thread the needle<\/a> exercise, which similarly targets the thoracic spine\u2014though he favors the open the book exercise if he had to choose.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best moves for thoracics are anything that involves rotation either flat to a mat or flat to a wall,\u201d says McIntyre, because it will \u201cforce us to bias our thoracic spine\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do those [two exercises] pretty much every day and though I\u2019m not at a desk as much as some people can be, even I notice the stiffness quite significantly.\u201d<\/p>\n

How to do the open the book stretch<\/p>\n

Open Book Stretch – Physical Therapy Exercises – YouTube
\n\"Open<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

Sets: 3 Time: 30-60sec each side<\/p>\n

Lie on your side with your hands, feet and knees together, knees bent and arms extending in front of you.Keeping your feet and knees together and in contact with the floor, slowly raise your top hand and rotate your torso so your hand moves up and over your body toward the floor on the other side.Rotate as far as you can comfortably while keeping your knees and feet grounded\u2014you might not be able to reach the floor on your other side at first.Slowly rotate your arm back to the start position.Breathe deeply, slow and steady throughout the stretch, allowing tension to release through your thoracic spine with each exhale.Notes on form<\/p>\n

The open the book stretch is fundamentally the reverse of the thread the needle exercise, says McIntyre.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of closing your chest underneath you, you’re opening your chest and rolling over to the opposite side,\u201c he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour knees are bent at 90\u02da, but you want to keep them as fixed as possible. You want the pelvis and knees to be fixed to the floor, so all the movement comes from the thoracic spine.”<\/p>\n

McIntyre says it helps to follow your hands with your gaze. \u201cLook over your shoulder to follow that arm. That helps encourage rotation through your entire thoracic spine.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the morning, McIntyre does three sets of one minute on each side, but if you\u2019re just starting out you can begin with just 30 seconds each side, so three minutes in total.<\/p>\n

About our expert\"headshotAbout our expertAndy McIntyre<\/p>\n

Social Links Navigation<\/p>\n

<\/a>Osteopath<\/p>\n

Andy McIntyre B.Ost (Bachelors of Osteopathy) is an osteopath registered with the General Osteopathic Council, who works at\u00a0The Livewell Clinic<\/a>\u00a0in Clapham Junction, London. Having originally worked as a software developer, he changed his career towards sports massage and osteopathy, training at the London School of Osteopathy, and has since explored further training in 3D movement analysis and postural assessment to better assist his clients. He works with the generally desk-bound public as well as more highly-trained athletes to help get them out of pain and into better movement patterns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is no single remedy that will reverse the damage done by prolonged sitting, says associate osteopath Andy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[64,63,538,137],"class_list":{"0":"post-442477","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fitness","11":"tag-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}