Top 3 Stretches for PC Gamers (MnK)

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I wanted to share some of my favorite PC MnK specific gaming stretches with you. Whether you’ve got a tiny budget setup like I do or if you’re decked with ergonomic everything, it always helps to get a little movement in where you can so you can lock in for longer sessions.

These are ones I do right here sitting at my desk, just in between queues, or watching Twitch, or while waiting for my teammates to res me yet again. 

Now, before I get started, these are all from my own experience through years of doing different sports and training. So if you’re dealing with any sort of injuries or want medical advice, please please please go see a doctor.

TENNIS ELBOW - ASSISTED CUP HOLDER BEND

With that out of the way, this first one is for my mouse arm. Even with an ergonomic mouse, the repeated clicking and fine movement control pretty much constantly twitches the muscles in your forearm, and from what I understand, causes a similar tendon strain as what’s also known as “tennis elbow”. For me, there can be tightness or sometimes even pain around here (points to outside of arm near elbow). So what I like to do is hold my arm out like this towards the center line of my body - almost straight but being mindful not to hyperextend my elbow, and relax my shoulder. From there, I rotate my arm in a way where I can almost be holding a cup, and then place my other hand over the first two knuckles - it helps to use my thumb too and do a very light grip, and then nice and easy pull down and towards me. Hold and take 3 deep breaths. And relax, and I’ll rotate my wrists once or twice, and do the other arm for symmetry. I’ll usually do that anywhere from one to three times depending on my queue times.

NECK STRETCH SET

This next one is sort of a shortened set for my neck. If you wear a big headset like I do, it’s probably best to take it off so you don’t unconsciously compensate your movement around it. So I first adjust my posture in preparation - sit up nice and tall, chest up, belly in, butt out, and tuck my tailbone. Now I relax my shoulders and tilt my head up gently, and down while maintaining my posture, and up again this time letting gravity do the work and down again letting gravity do the work, and up a third time this time intentionally thinking of trying to reach the wall behind me with the top of my head and down again now trying to reach the wall in front of me with the top of my head. And back to rest.

Check my posture again nice and tall, chest up, belly in, butt out, tailbone tucked, shoulders relaxed, and then gently left stopping naturally making sure my head isn’t tilted back or to the side, and gently look the other way stopping naturally, and look left again turning as far as it’ll go comfortably, and look the other way turning as far as it’ll go comfortably, now look left again this time pushing SLIGHTLY past what’s comfortable, hold for a second, and look the other way, pushing SLIGHTLY past what’s comfortable, hold for a second. And back to rest.

Check my posture again, chest, belly, butt, tailbone, shoulders, and I gently roll my head to the left ear to shoulder stopping naturally making sure it’s not tilted forward or backwards or my head isn’t turned, and gently roll my head to the other side stopping naturally. Now back to the left this time to as far as it’ll go comfortably, and other side as far as it’ll go comfortably. And left a third time still as far as it’ll go comfortably, but this time with the opposite arm I drop my shoulder imagining I’m reaching deep into my pant pocket and hold for a second, then same thing on the other side, as far as it’ll go comfortably, then drop the opposite shoulder reaching for that last crusty cheeto in the pant pocket. And back to rest.

SEATED BACK TWIST

And this last one, I get nice and snug in my chair, against checking posture, keeping my legs pretty much parallel to one another but relaxed. Feet on the floor if you can reach it. I turn my body to the left, grab the seat back with my right hand and place my left hand above my right hand for extra support (if you have a gaming chair with a tall back, just rest your left hand on your right shoulder) and turn my torso then my head to look at the back of the room, deep breath in, and breathe out twist a little further, next breath in relax the twist a little bit, and breathe out and twist a little further, and a third breath in relaxing the twist a little bit, aaand out and twist a little more. And back to neutral. Check posture, and now the other side - I turn my body to the right and grab the seat back with my left hand placing my right hand above the left hand for support (if you have a tall chair back, rest the right hand on the left shoulder), and turn my torso and then head to look at the back of the room. Deep breath in, and breathe out twist a little further, next breath in relax the twist a little bit, and breathe out and twist a little further, and a third breath in relaxing the twist a little bit, aaand out and twist a little more. And back to neutral.

So those are my top 3 stretches I do as a primarily MnK player. I know sometimes we are locked in and hours go by, but if you start incorporating some simple stretches into your gaming - short and simple ones that you can do while sitting in queues, hopefully it’ll become muscle memory like anything else and you’ll stretch more often without even thinking much about it. 

Let me know in the comments if you tried these out and how they felt. I do a ton of different stretches to help recover from long hours of gaming and computer work, and am always looking to make adjustments and min/max their effects so would really appreciate any feedback.