Do you have chronic pain? Do you sit at a computer for eight hours a day, five days a week? Maybe both? If so, Dana Karen (DK) Ciccone (she/her), a Pilates for pain specialist and owner/founder of Movement Remedies, has some moves that might help. (P.S. Look out for a video demo of this coming to our IG soon!)

DK has experienced debilitating low back pain since age 13 and spent “almost three decades trying to unravel and rebuild [her] relationship with recurring pain and what that means.” Eventually, she left the corporate world to teach Pilates. “It was always my goal to specialize in clients with pain and complex physical conditions because it was a lumbar disc herniation that led me to Pilates to begin with,” she says, “My relationship with Pilates was always about pain relief, it was never about a ‘snatched waist’ or whatever. I became a Pilates convert because it was the one form of movement I could do where I actually felt relief during and after—where I could find a sense of ease and peace in my body that had been missing for so long.”

Okay, we definitely want some of that. What can we do to relieve pain?
Probably the most important thing when it comes to being at a desk is to constantly shift your position. If you have the ability to go back and forth from standing to sitting, that is fabulous (And no, just standing all day isn’t great either. The variety is what matters). It can also be helpful to put one foot on a yoga block (standing or sitting) and actively press the foot into the block for 60 seconds, alternating feet. This gets all the muscles in the leg awake to support the spine and also gets blood flowing. You will probably find that pushing down gets you into a supported, upright posture.

Onto the moves—don’t try to force any of these. Let them flow with your breath so you stay in the moment and strain-free. These are all movements that explore full range of motion, so if you have any kind of hypermobility condition, please stay about 10% inside of whatever feels like end range for your joints.
 

Traveling Swan: This emphasizes balance and fluidity in the forward-backward movement of the spine, which is the direction in which we have the greatest range of motion. If you are at a desk all day, the hip-opening aspect of this will probably be extra sticky at first so be gentle in the first few repetitions.

Start in an all-fours position with the hands slightly in front of the shoulders and knees slightly behind the hips. Pushing the hands into the floor like you are doing a push-up, tuck your tail under you and round the spine to the ceiling. If it feels good, shift your hips back toward your heels, like an almost-child’s pose. Continuing to press your pubic bone forward, reverse direction, shifting the weight into the hands and opening the chest to the wall in front of you. Depending on your arm-torso proportions you may find it feels better to walk your hands more forward to support the spine. Keep your eyes on the horizon. Some people will find it easy to rest the pelvis down on the ground in a more traditional swan position, but it is totally appropriate to stay suspended in space if this feels better. Move back and forth continuously between the rounded back position and the swan, like waves rolling in and out on the seashore. You don’t want to sink into or get stuck in either of these positions. Keep it fluid. There should be some muscle effort here. As you progress you will probably find you can get a bit deeper into the flexion and extension of the spine on either end. Repeat as many times as your heart desires.

Mermaid Stretch: This is a favorite for releasing low back stiffness and resetting the hips after sitting for a long time. It also improves internal and external rotation of the hip, which is important for joint health and gait.

Sit down with the knees bent and laying against the floor such that the foot of the leg in front points at the knee of the leg in back. Some people call this a 90-90 position or a Z-sit. Sit up tall and take a deep breath, trying to let your sitting bones settle toward the ground, releasing tension in the pelvis. Whichever knee is facing forward, take the same arm and glide it away from you on the floor, going all the way to the elbow if that feels good. Arc the opposite arm overhead for a deep side body stretch. Resist the urge to tense the opposite hip and use the breath to release into the most lengthened position you can muster. Reverse the arms into a counter stretch over the bent knees. Repeat three to four times on each side.

Telescope arms: I love that this move combines spinal rotation and a great chest stretch, since folks who work over a computer often find gravity takes over and their arms slump forward into a rounded position.

Lie on your side with knees bent at 90 degrees with arms outstretched at shoulder level with palms clasped. Head is resting. With an inhale, peel back the top arm like you are pulling on a long glove and then use the exhale to keep pulling that arm across your chest until it settles into a T-shape on the other side. The goal is to get both shoulders on the ground at this point, but that is difficult for most. Take a moment to deeply inhale and exhale in this position and then return the way you came. Repeat three to four times on each side. If you find that the top knee starts to pop up, try squeezing a pillow or block between the knees or pressing the top leg down with the arm that stays behind.

Wow, that felt good. Anything else you want to share?
I have yet to see a client whose pain was improved by weight loss. And yet, I repeatedly hear of clinicians recommending that patients with recurring joint pain try losing weight to feel better. It simultaneously breaks my heart and fills me with rage to hear this. That advice is lazy, it’s outdated,and it’s some racist, patriarchal bullsh*t. Please know that unless you have any major condition that explicitly limits physical activity, there is no reason not to find some life-affirming, meaningful movement you can practice daily—in the body you have today. Now that we are in this “injectable-weight-loss-drug-pandemonium” it is near impossible to tune out the noise, but I promise that your amazing body deserves to move and feel good doing it.