Simple Stretches to Get Your Body Moving After Waking Up
Simple Stretches to Get Your Body Moving After Waking Up
Overview
If you wake up feeling stiff and sore, these exercises are for you! Try this neck and low back routine while having the luxury of staying in bed. Jump out of bed feeling less pain and ready for your day!
Level
Beginner
Targets
Lower back, hips and pelvis
Things to Know
- Start the day in bed with gentle neck stretches by moving your head from chin to chest and looking back.
- Explore neck mobility with gentle movements like looking over your shoulder and dropping your ear to your shoulder.
- For a stiff lower back, bring your knees to your chest and do gentle circles to loosen up the area.
- Further improve low back mobility by doing windshield wiper stretches, rotating your spine.
- These stretches can help you warm up your back and neck before starting your day or any activities.
- They are great to do before going for a walk or engaging in daily tasks to prevent stiffness.
- Even pets might benefit from these bed stretches to start their day feeling more mobile.
- Don’t rush these exercises; take your time to perform them gently and effectively.
Step by Step Instructions
Neck mobility (3 mini exercises)
- Chin tuck → look back
- Tip your chin to your chest slowly.
- Then look all the way back toward the ceiling or headboard.
- Repeat slowly 10–30 times (or 30–60 seconds) until you feel the joints warm up.
- Rotation — look over the shoulder
- Keeping your head on the pillow, turn your face to look over your left shoulder.
- Return to centre, then turn to the right.
- Repeat slowly 10–30 times.
- Lateral flexion — ear to shoulder
- Drop your left ear toward your left shoulder (no force).
- Return to centre, then drop your right ear toward your right shoulder.
- Repeat slowly 10–30 times.
Cues: keep your head on the pillow if that’s comfortable, move slowly, and stop if anything sharp or new numbness appears.
Low back mobility & release
- Knees-to-chest (single or double)
- Lie on your back with knees bent and feet on the bed.
- Hug one knee into your chest (or both knees together) so your low back flattens into the mattress.
- Hold briefly, relax, then pull again. Repeat for 30 seconds up to a few minutes.
- If you can’t reach, loop a towel behind your thighs and use it to pull your knees in.
- Knee circles (with knees to chest)
- With knees hugged in, make small circles with your knees — clockwise for several reps, then counterclockwise.
- Keep the motion gentle and controlled; aim for 10–20 small circles in each direction.
Benefits: these moves mobilize your low back, hips and pelvis and help reduce morning stiffness.
Windshield wipers (spinal rotation)
- Lie on your back with feet flat on the bed and arms out to the sides.
- Keep your knees together and slowly drop them to the left while your head and eyes look to the right.
- Return to centre, then drop knees to the right while looking to the left.
- Repeat 8–12 times each side or for 30–60 seconds.
Modification: if your hips won’t reach, bend the knees slightly less or place a small pillow under the hips.
General tips & safety
- Move slowly and keep everything pain-free. Mild stretching or gentle pulling is normal; sharp pain, new tingling, or numbness is not.
- Breathe normally and relax your shoulders.
- Frequency: try these every morning (and/or at night) for a few minutes to reduce stiffness.
- Stop immediately and consult a health professional if any movement increases pain, causes radiating symptoms, or produces numbness/tingling.
[Video Transcript]
Oh, well, that was a good sleep. But if you wake up feeling stiff, start the day in bed by moving your body around.
First, start with your neck. All you need to do is tip your chin to your chest and look all the way back at the ceiling or your headboard, as far as you can go. Just get that motion. Unfortunately, we have a cheesy chiropractic saying where “motion is lotion” or “motion is medicine.” It’s true—you just want to get all the joints, bones, ligaments, and muscles moving.
Next up, just look over your shoulder. Remember, you don’t have to take your head off the pillow. Go nice and slow—you just woke up, so you don’t need to be fast here. Maybe do 20 or 30 of these just to get everything moving. By the 30th one you might feel more mobility as the blood and joints start moving better.
Then, drop your ear to your shoulder. Just drop your ear to your shoulder and get moving that way. So those are three neck mobility exercises you can do right on your pillow when you wake up in the morning if your neck feels stiff.
Okay, what about your low back? If your low back is feeling stiff, just bring your knees to your chest. You might need to do one at a time to start out with, or bring both knees in and just give them a good pull. Relax, and then pull again. Relax, and then pull. I also like to do circles—actually, this feels really good. I love this stretch; I could do it all day long. Nice, easy circles—and don’t forget to go both ways. This will get your low back, hips, and pelvis moving just to loosen everything up. Do it as long as you need to—it might take 30 seconds, or it might take two to five minutes.
Then I like to put my feet on the bed, arms out wide, and just drop my knees one way while my head goes the other way. It’s a nice stretch that gets some rotation and movement through the spine. Nice, easy stretch. These are called windshield wipers, and they’re a good way to warm up the back and neck before getting up for your day—whether it’s work, a day off, or whatever it is you’re doing.
Maybe you have a little hobo like I do, and you’re going to spend the day going for a nice walk, hopefully in the sunshine. I hope these help you. Hobo, are you ready for your day? I think Hobo wants to sleep in a little longer. Lucky for him, he sleeps like 20 hours a day!
I hope these help you, and let me know how they go.
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