If you work at a desk, you are one of millions of people that find themselves with neck and shoulder tightness which gets worse as the day goes on.
Especially if you don’t stop frequently to get up and move around.
Left unattended this results in shortening of muscles and reduction of flexibility in your upper body.
You need to take a bit of time through your day to be sure to take your muscles through a complete range of motion to restore flexibility and lengthen those muscles.
First, try to get up often – every 20 minutes or so – and move around a bit. Even just a few seconds will help to keep your more alert and encourage better posture.
In addition, there are some stretches you can do to relieve the tightness and if you will do them every 2 hours, you will be amazed at how much better you feel.
Hold each position for 10-15 seconds, then rest a few seconds. Do each for 5-10 repetitions. You may notice that each subsequent stretch will allow you to go a little deeper. Remember that you should feel the stretch, but it shouldn’t hurt – if it hurts you have gone too far, and you should back off a bit.
1. Wall Shoulder Stretch. This is one of my favorites, given to me by a physical therapist when I was recovering from a whiplash injury. My neck and shoulders were VERY tight, and this one helped quite a lot. Find a place where there is a corner with walls that come up higher than your head when standing.
Raise your arms out to the side at shoulder level. Bend your elbows so that your forearms are pointing toward the ceiling, at a 90 degree angle. Step forward so that one foot is pointing toward the corner, only a few inches from the wall, and your other foot is a step away. Your arms should be resting on the wall as you lean forward, with your nose toward the corner. Lean in far enough to get a good stretch without overstretching.
Try slowly moving your chin toward your chest to get a stretch in the back of your neck. (Changing the position of your arms on the wall – up or down – can stretch a different part of your chest).
2. Chest Stretch. Sit in a chair with your hands on your hips. Try to pull your shoulder blades together while you feel a stretch in your chest.
A variation on this is standing up with your arms stretched out at just below shoulder level, palms upward. Squeeze your shoulder blades together while your arms move backward. Don’t hunch your shoulders, think of keeping them pressed down while your arms move back.
3. Shoulder stretch. Bring arm across body with elbow slightly bent. While depressing shoulder down, bring arm back by pushing with other arm at the elbow. Alternate arms right and left.
4. Neck rotations. Gently rotate head as far as you can comfortably in one direction and hold it. Repeat in the other direction
5. Neck side stretch. Slightly tuck your chin, then gently move your ear toward your shoulder. To intensify this stretch hold your opposite arm slightly away from your body with shoulder depressed and slowly rotate your palm until your thumb is pointing behind you. This will give you a stretch in your shoulders too.
6. Overhead reach while standing. Stand with feet shoulder width apart. Raise arms above your head. Take a deep breath, breathing through your nose. While holding your breath, reach your arms toward the ceiling as high as you can, then release breath while slowly allowing arms to come back to your side
7. Neck Stretch. Sit in a chair with arms at your sides, looking straight ahead. Without moving your chin up or down, retract your head inward with your chin remaining in the same plane.
8. Strengthen Neck and upper back. While standing, clasp hands behind your head. Bring your elbows back while squeezing your shoulder 
blades together.
Oh – one more thing to remember – you can do these stretches even when you aren’t working! Try them on the weekends too, you will end up with even more range of motion!
