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June 17, 2026productivitywellnessdesk-lifeworking-from-home

The 90-Second Desk Reset That Saved My Jaw and Shoulders

Simple, no-equipment stretches to relieve jaw clenching and shoulder tension when you're stuck at a computer all day.

This is for all of you who sit all day and inevitably have shoulder pain.

Unfortunately I also have TMJ so I have shoulder pain AND jaw pain.

I don't clench my teeth but I think my jaw is by default in a contracted state. I have to consciously relax.

It doesn't help that I grind my teeth at night. I've been trying to figure out how to prevent myself from grinding when I'm asleep but it doesn't seem like there any way to control this.

Anyways, I wrote this for myself as well as for you if you're looking for some simple exercises to make it easy to follow.

For the jaw:

  1. Tongue up, jaw drop. Press your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth, right behind your front teeth. Then just let your jaw hang open and loose. Hold 10 seconds.

  2. Gentle push-open. Make a soft fist and rest it under your chin. Slowly try to open your mouth while gently pressing up with your fist. You'll feel your jaw working against it. Do this 5 times.

  3. Knuckle stretch. Stack two knuckles (pointer and middle finger) and try to fit them between your top and bottom teeth, vertically. Hold for 15-20 seconds. This stretches everything out.

  4. Warm hand circles. Cup your hand over your jaw (right where it hinges, near your ear) and do slow gentle circles for 30 seconds. If your hands are cold, rub them together first.

For the shoulders:

  1. Squeeze and hold. Pull your shoulder blades down and back, like you're trying to tuck them into your back pockets. Hold 5 seconds, release. Repeat 5 times.

  2. Wall press. Stand facing a wall, hands flat against it at shoulder height, and gently push like you're trying to push the wall away. You'll feel your upper back round slightly. Hold 10 seconds.

  3. Chin tuck. Pull your head straight back, like you're making a slight double chin, without tilting up or down. It feels silly. It works. Hold 5 seconds, repeat 5 times.

  4. Turn and hold. Slowly turn your head to look over one shoulder, then the other. Hold each side for 10 seconds. This one feels amazing after hours of staring at a screen.

The part that actually matters:

None of this works if you do it once and forget about it.

The whole point is catching the tension before it builds up into an actual headache or jaw ache.

I set a timer for every 90 minutes and run through the full list — jaw stuff, then shoulder stuff — and it takes maybe 90 seconds total.

It's not glamorous. It's not a "biohack." It's just remembering my face and shoulders exist while I'm staring at a screen for 8 hours.

Let me know if you have any strategies that's worked for you to keep the shoulder and jaw pain away.