15-Minute Morning Bed Stretch For Low Back Pain

Mornings can be a challenging time for low backs. This 15-minute guided morning stretch can be done before getting out of bed or on a comfortable mat. A thorough stretch of the hips and low back will help alleviate morning low back stiffness in the joints and muscles while a beginning pranayama centers and energizes you.
You will be more mobile, more awake, and ready to start your day.

Transcript

Many people with low back pain,

Especially if there's an arthritic component,

Find the morning to be a difficult time.

A morning stretch straight in bed can really help loosen up the muscles and loosen up the joints to get you ready for the day.

Go easy with this practice and work with what your body is giving you today.

If you have a chronic condition,

There are good days and bad days.

So use this routine not only to give yourself a jump start in the day,

But to practice becoming more in tune with your body and discovering how to interpret its language.

Let's begin.

Start by laying on your back in a comfortable position.

Support your back and neck if you need to so there is no undue tension anywhere in your body.

Let's just take a few deep breaths and just get centered.

Let's take a nice deep breath in and acknowledge the connection between you and the space around you.

Let's start by bringing your right knee all the way up to your right chest.

Go slow.

Be gentle with this movement.

You should feel a nice stretch in the back of your hip and into the back of your thigh.

Go as far as you can and just hold it here for a minute.

Your hands should be on your knees and gently just rock the hip joint back and forth.

Moving the knee side to side,

Around in a circle,

And just feel that hip moving in the joint.

Just take note if there is any special discomfort anywhere.

You really want to avoid any sort of pinching in the front.

So just go within what feels comfortable,

But get a little bit of mobility through the joint.

Straighten that right leg out and as you do,

Just push the heel towards the foot of your bed and you'll feel a nice traction in through that hip and into the right low back.

Let's do the left side.

So gently just bring your knee to your chest and we're going to do the same thing.

Hold the knee and just rotate that hip in all directions.

Front,

Back,

Side to side,

And just feel how that moves.

Just loosen up that hip joint.

Straighten that leg and as you do,

Same thing.

We're just going to push that heel towards the foot of the bed and get a nice traction into the hip and into the low back.

So on the right side,

We're going to bend the knee again.

This time we're going to bring it to the left side of our chest,

Kind of aiming for that left shoulder.

Pull it in towards you as best you can and you're going to feel that stretch along the outside and the back of your right hip.

Hold this for a nice stretch and just let that go.

Straighten that leg and we're going to come straight up with that knee right towards our right shoulder.

So straight up,

You're going to feel that stretch a little bit through the back of the hip more instead of the side.

Just hold it here.

Just keep that knee bent softly.

Straighten that knee and we're going to do one more aiming to that left shoulder.

So pull that knee to your right shoulder as best you can.

Feel that nice stretch through the back of the hip.

So let's grab the left knee.

So both legs are straight,

Grab the left knee.

Bring that all the way to your chest.

Straighten to the left shoulder.

Let's just hold it here for a minute.

Nice stretch back of the hip,

Maybe into the hamstring a little bit.

Maybe into the low back.

I'm just going to straighten that left leg.

We're just going to pull that knee in towards us again,

Going to the right shoulder.

You should feel the stretch in the back of the hip and a little to the side.

Depending on where you have some stiffness and some discomfort,

You can actually feel the stretch all the way into the left side of that low back.

Straighten that leg.

Keep a hold of the knee.

Bring it all the way to your left shoulder.

Straight up.

Try to pull that a little bit more.

Good stretch through the back of the hip.

Straighten that left leg.

One more time,

We're just going to bring it all the way over to the right side of the shoulder.

Stretch in that left rotator.

And then let it be.

Straighten both legs.

So now you're going to put,

We're going to do hip rotator stretch a little bit deeper here.

So with your right foot,

You're going to bend your knee,

Put the outside of your right ankle onto the left knee.

So it's just above the left knee on that thigh.

So you should have almost a sine of 4 with the right knee bent and the outside of that right ankle and foot above the left knee.

So you're going to reach through.

The left hand is going to go right behind the back of the thigh,

Right into the hamstring,

Above the knee.

And the right hand is going to slip right through that little hole that you've made between your knees now.

And you're going to grab your hands on the back of your hamstring,

The back of your thigh.

And gently you're going to pull that left leg towards you.

And with your right knee,

Try to fall as best it can towards the foot of your bed.

And you're going to feel that deep stretch in the back of the right hip.

So you can increase the stretch and change it a few different ways.

So you can pull in a little bit more with the left thigh with your hands.

And you're going to feel a little bit of a deeper stretch.

You should be able to.

Another way to play around with this stretch is you can put your right elbow on your right knee.

You can actually push that knee out a little bit while you're pulling up on the left leg.

You're going to feel that stretch even more through the back of that hip.

So just go ahead,

Be an active participant here.

Play around with that.

Just feel what's tight on you today.

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Take a nice deep breath in through the nose.

And all the way out.

And now you're ready to start your day.

Have a wonderful day.

Reviews

Perfect release for the pain I was feeling in my right hip. Thank you! 🙏

Lovely 🙂 Nice, gentle, well paced guidance.

Wonderfully led gentle morning stretch without ever leaving my bed. My back feels looser, more relaxed, and ready to start the day with ease in my body.

Lovely wake-up or midday stretch to loosen up, guided by a calm & encouraging voice. I felt greater blood flow to my low back & hips, plus along the backs of my legs. Now my neck, trapezius muscles & levator scapulae would like the same thoughtful treatment.

Really needed that. Thank you 🙏 for thinking of others. God bless you.

Naming and validating how hard mornings can be with chronic conditions was such an empowering start to the practice. Thank you!

Good stretches. I liked the pace. Nice and easy. Very effective!

Wow that was great thank you Doc
Love how your voice is so encouraging and you give clear directions
I try to do this everyday

Thank you!

Immediately adding this to my morning playlist! The stretches felt fantastic.

Beautiful... back is tight from being in a hotel bed, ready for the day ahead now 🙏

Hello beautiful 🌸🪷🌸🪷🌸Thank you so much for the wonderfully morning stretching ☀️☀️☀️it gives me a lot of sunny moments and smiles 🗺️have a blessed day 🕉️Namaste

This really is a wonderful way to start my morning. Your instructions are so clear and easy to follow I feel it’s a gentle motivator upon awakening that helps me immensely. Thank you so much!

Brilliant. Great way to started the day

Perfect! Back hurt when I awoke. This practice stretched me out. Ready to face the day! Thank you!
Hadn’t done this in a long time, but i’m goung to try to do this everyday. Wonderful stretch! All loosened up! Thank you again!

Nice way to move the body in the morning 🙏🏻💜