Give your Back a Break. Morning Stretches For A Good Day

give your back a break

Give Your Back A Break. Morning Stretches For A Good Day

Why do I wake up with a backache every morning?

Have you noticed waking up in the morning that your low back has just gotten so stiff overnight? It was fine before you went to bed, and when you wake up it’s just unhappy and angry at you. Well, today I’m going to show you a few exercises you can do in bed to help stretch out that low back tension first thing in the morning. I’m Dr. Kara Penson and I’m a chiropractor here at HealthWorks: a family wellness center in Plano, Texas.

Whenever you go to bed at night your muscles should relax, you stay in one position for the most part while you sleep, you get a decrease in blood flow to those muscles, as well as a decrease in mobility because you’re saying asleep all night. With that comes decreased mobility, so when you wake up in the morning the blood flow’s not there to help you want to get up and move and be active. Your muscles feel a little stiff. Doing these stretches first thing in the morning even while you’re still in bed, will help increase that mobility and increase that blood flow to those muscles to help relieve any aches and pains you might feel throughout the day.

How can I loosen my back in the morning?

We’re going to get started right here and we’re going to look at three exercises you can do in bed or stretches you can do in bed, to help increase that blood flow and get you going for the rest of your day. One of the first stretches we can do early in the morning while you’re still in bed is a low backstretch. This stretch will help activate your low back muscles as well as your glute muscles and even your hamstring muscles. The first thing that you want to do is make sure you’re laying flat in your bed, your knees can bend to about a 45-degree angle. You’re just going to pull one knee up to your chest, feeling that stretch in your low back, as well as your glute muscles. You can even lower your leg to get a little bit of a deeper stretch if you would like. We’re going to do the same thing with the other leg, and just pull it back, feeling that stretch. Then for the last part of the exercise, you’re going to take both knees up to your chest and you’re going to hold them. Then you’re just going to rock back and forth slightly, feeling that stretch in your low back as well as your glute muscles. That’s stretch number one.

The next stretch we are going to do while you’re still in bed is just a simple hamstring and low backstretch. It’s the basic one, everyone knows how to do. All you have to do is lean forward and touch your toes. You can either hold this or do it multiple times, and just get a nice stretch along with your hamstrings as well as your low back. The last stretch we’re going to do is called Child’s Pose. For this one, you need to be on your knees with your feet tucked underneath your rear-end. You’re going to be facing forward, and all you’re going to do is bow down to the bed. Then you’re going to bring your arms out in front of you, feeling that stretch all down your spine. This is a very good full spine stretch and you can do it for just a couple of breaths and hold it.  (Watch Dr. Kara demonstrate the stretches here.)

There you go, the perfect morning routine to warm up your back!  That’ll help relax all those muscles in your back.

HealthWorks: A Family Wellness Center is a chiropractic and wellness center located in Plano, Texas. Our chiropractors, Dr. Christy Flick, Dr. Jennifer Taylor,  and Dr. Kara Penson have been helping patients function better since starting a private practice in 2005. For information about this article or other chiropractic questions, please contact our office at 972-612-1800, visit our website at https://www.healthworkstx.com/, or stop by our office at 2317 Coit Rd., Ste B, Plano, TX 75075