Legs · Standing
Standing thigh (quad) stretch
Holding one foot behind you with a hand on the desk for balance, to stretch the front of the thigh.
- Hold 15 to 30 s each side
- Held stretch
How to do it
- Stand facing along your desk with your left hand on it for balance.
- Bend your right knee and bring the heel toward your buttock.
- Hold the right foot or ankle with your right hand. Keep the knees side by side and stand upright.
- Hold, lower the foot slowly and repeat with the left leg.
How long
Hold for 15 to 30 seconds (Mayo Clinic) or 20 seconds repeated three times (CSP), each side.
What you should feel
A stretch along the front of the thigh of the bent leg.
Stop if…
- Pain, numbness, tingling or pins and needles, or dizziness: stop and do not push through it.
- Pain in the knee being bent.
- Your balance feels unsafe.
Variations
- Cannot reach the foot. Hold your trouser leg or loop a strap or towel around the ankle, as Mayo Clinic suggests.
- Gentler. Bring the heel only part of the way up.
Common mistakes
- Letting the bent knee swing forward or out.
- Arching the lower back.
- Pulling the heel hard into the buttock.
Use it in a routine
The stretch routine builder can play this with other legs stretches, with a countdown for each side and a chime at every change. The stretch break timer adds stretches like it to a break after each work interval.
It is part of this ready-made routine: Standing break, 5 minutes.
Sources
Written from published guidance by health services, physiotherapy and ergonomics bodies. Last reviewed .
- Desk-based exercises, Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (UK)
- Standing stretches for the workplace (video), Mayo Clinic
- Desk-based jobs: desk based exercise, Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Stretching at the workstation (PDF), New Mexico State University Environmental Health and Safety (general stretching guidance)