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Six seated moves for your neck, shoulders and lower back at the desk

Published October 20, 2026 · 1 min read

These are the six moves in the Deskthaw beta, two for each area that tends to get stiff at a desk. Each one is done sitting down and takes a minute or less. The steps follow the health page linked under each move, five from NHS trusts and one from Mayo Clinic.

Neck

Chin tucks

Drawing of chin tucks, seated
  1. Sit upright.
  2. Gently draw your head back over your shoulders and grow a little taller.
  3. Stay there for a slow count of five, then slowly let go.

About 50 seconds. Source: NHS.

Slow turns

Drawing of slow turns, seated
  1. Sit upright with your shoulders down. Look straight ahead.
  2. Slowly turn your head towards your left shoulder, as far as is comfortable.
  3. Stay there for five seconds, then come back to the middle.
  4. Then the same to the right. Three turns each side.

About 60 seconds. Source: NHS.

Shoulders and upper back

Shoulder blade squeezes

Drawing of shoulder blade squeezes, seated
  1. Sit tall on your chair, arms relaxed.
  2. Draw your shoulder blades together.
  3. Stay there for five seconds, then relax. Three to five times.

About 40 seconds. Source: Mayo Clinic.

Backward shoulder rolls

Drawing of backward shoulder rolls, seated
  1. Sit tall in your chair.
  2. Shrug both shoulders up towards your ears, then move them back, drawing your shoulder blades together.
  3. Let them down again. Make each one as big as is comfortable, five times.

About 45 seconds. Source: NHS.

Lower back

Seated pelvic tilts

Drawing of seated pelvic tilts, seated
  1. Sit towards the front edge of a firm seat.
  2. Slowly roll your pelvis backwards, tucking your tailbone under.
  3. Slowly come back to the start, then roll your pelvis forward.

About 60 seconds. Source: NHS.

Seated rotations

Drawing of seated rotations, seated
  1. Sit upright with your feet on the floor and your arms crossed over your chest.
  2. Slowly turn your body to the side, keeping your bottom on the seat. Let your head follow.
  3. Come back to where you started.

About 60 seconds. Source: NHS.

Doing them without thinking about it

Deskthaw is a free menu bar app for the Mac, in public beta. You pick the areas, and every 30 minutes at the desk (you can change that) it shows one of these moves in a small panel with the drawing and a timer. It waits while your camera or mic is on, a meeting app is in front or something is fullscreen, and time on a call counts as desk time, so a move is ready about 30 seconds after you hang up. It asks for no camera, microphone, screen or accessibility permission. deskthaw.com