Jill Miller
Jill Miller, fitness therapy expert based in Los Angeles and author of The Roll Model and creator of the exercise program Yoga Tune Up.
If getting up after hours of sitting is a slow, painful unfolding process, it’s likely that you’re holding stress in your hips and buttocks. You can release that tension with this easy move from fitness-therapy expert Jill Miller…
How to tell if that’s the problem: Your hips are stiff and ache or your lower back hurts when you stand up after sitting for a long time…or you have pain along the sciatic nerve, which extends from the lower back down the back of each leg.
What you should do: Lie on your back on the floor with your legs extended and the soles of your feet against a wall. Slide a yoga block or a three- or four-inch-thick book under your hips. Keeping your left leg straight and your left foot against the wall, draw your right knee toward your chest, getting as close as you can. Hold this position for one minute while “breathing deeply from your abdomen so that your belly and ribs swell,” Miller advises. Then switch legs. This move targets the psoas muscle, which runs from your hips into the tops of your thighs and helps support your lumbar spine (lower back). Do it during an afternoon break from your desk and at the end of the day.
