(Brad groans)
- Ow!
You ever get up in the morning and you feel like this,
maybe 10, 15 years older than you really are?
If so, this video is for you.
- Are you okay?
- I'm getting better.
- We're gonna show you five stretches
that you can do in bed to help alleviate this pain
and start your day out on the right foot.
- Yeah, I bet you you don't feel this way yet.
- Not yet.
- Give yourself another 20 years.
(Brad chuckles)
(bright music)
All right, now this is mostly common
in the older population.
I'm saying 55 and above,
that's when I started to feel it.
The big thing about lying down,
sleeping all night typically eight hours,
the body is non-weightbearing.
There is little movement relatively speaking
and the muscles at tendon, the facet joints in the back,
all starting to tighten up from that.
And also a big thing you may not be aware of is the discs
in your back actually start to grow.
They call it imbibition.
It's where fluid is suck-
Well, we should say actually imbibes or sucks into the disc.
It's a natural part of keeping the discs healthy.
Do you wanna talk about it more, Mike?
- So when you first get up in the morning
and start moving these stiff joints, muscles,
and discs filled with fluid aren't necessarily ready
to start moving right away.
So it can put your body kind of in a shock.
That's what causes that pain you're experiencing.
It could be any of these issues,
maybe one and maybe all five.
So a good thing to do is to do a quick warmup routine
while you're still laying down to get those muscles moving
and it won't be as painful when you finally get up.
- That's right.
And it only takes a couple minutes.
Alright, so I want you to remember this phrase.
Motion is lotion.
So you probably don't know what I'm talking about.
There is a physical therapist,
he's a doctor in PT.
He's an expert in pain management
and that's the phrase that he uses with his patients.
In other words, if you get your body moving,
it's gonna soothe the pain,
like putting some lotion on your body that's gonna mitigate
and eliminate the pain.
So motion's critical.
The key is,
is what kind of motion
and that's what we're gonna show you here
with these exercises before getting out of bed.
All right, we're gonna show you five exercises in bed.
Do all five of them.
Try 'em.
All of them might be good for you,
but there may be one or two that create some aches and pains
particularly if you have history of low back pain,
a hip replacement, something of that nature.
They all should feel good,
otherwise skip that one that does not feel so good.
- So the first exercise is called hook-line rotation.
So you get to lay on your back like you're in bed still.
You're gonna bend both knees like this,
feet flat on the ground,
and you're gonna start rotating side to side.
One way might feel better than the other.
You may not be able to go all the way down to the bed.
You may just go partial range.
Whatever feels comfortable
for your back is the right option for you.
- That's right.
So again, these are gonna be in bed.
Mike mentioned ground.
It's gonna-
Your feet are gonna be in bed
and it works best if your feet are close together.
If your knees are gently touching,
your legs do not separate.
And this is really important what Mike is doing here.
He's actually letting this hip come over
and separate from the bed
that allows that low back to rotate.
Now you may find out that going this direction,
ow, hurts this way,
so don't go that way.
In the other direction, may feel better.
Go that way as far as you feel tolerate.
Do not go into pain.
And then after you do this,
a few repetitions,
you may find that the other side,
the painful side will ease up
and that's what we're looking for.
If on the other hand that painful direction starts
to get worse,
then avoid it and just go to the pain-free side.
It's a critical concept.
With time, things should loosen up
and you'll be doing full hook-line rotations
and very happily.
- The next exercise is called single knee to chest
or double knee to chest.
That is a progression.
So to begin, you're gonna be lying flat
on your back in bed, not the ground.
I got it right this time.
And you're gonna bring one knee up towards your chest.
You can put a little pressure with your arms
if that feels good for you.
If it only feels good to here, just hold it here.
That's perfectly fine.
Hold it for a couple seconds and then go back down.
Try to do 5 to 10 repetitions on each side.
Now some people may not be able to reach their legs,
so Brad has a towel here.
You can also use a belt, bed sheet, whatever you have handy.
You can just wrap it underneath your leg,
grab the towel with your hands and then pull up this way,
makes it a little easier.
Also, you can try it with a stretch strap,
if you have arthritis, is another good option.
So after that, if you want to try doing both legs,
you would switch simply to the other side
perform it as well, 5 to 10 repetitions,
holding for a few seconds on each stretch.
And then you can progress to both legs
if that is feeling comfortable and good for you.
So you're gonna bring both knees up
and hold it just like this a few seconds
and then relax.
Now if that becomes easy, you don't feel much of a stretch,
you can certainly hold it longer.
You can go 20, 30 seconds,
whatever feels comfortable for your back.
- That's right.
This is a great stretch
particularly for people if you have stenosis.
This is gonna separate those facet joints,
open up where the nerve exits out of the spine.
It should feel very comfortable.
We're gonna show you a little bit about the stretch strap
so that there's no confusion.
- Now if you have arthritic hands and you can't grip well,
a stretch strap would work out nicely.
Like I talked about earlier,
they have a bunch of different loops.
You can just feed your hand through the loop,
make sure it's underneath your leg,
and then you're just gonna pull up with your wrists and arms
to save the pressure on your hands
if you're having any pain there.
Again, hold it for a few seconds and repeat 5 to 10 times.
- Right, they work very well and they're not that expensive
so it may be an option for you.
Number three is for the shoulder and the upper back.
It's great for posture and breathing.
I'm gonna start out lying like this.
Hands will be down and simply reach up and over your head.
Now watch as Mike goes back,
he's gonna arch his back in here and then come forward.
You can do 5 to 10 of these.
Now there's gonna be some people
that are gonna say one or both of the shoulders is stiff.
What you'll do is use the strong arm
to help the the weak one.
So grab together there and go up
and allow the stiff shoulders stretch.
Do not push it.
Do not get painful range of motion.
Just go up to the point
where you feel the pain a little bit,
bump into it and then come back down.
And Mike is doing an excellent job of relaxing.
And when you come back up, breathe in.
And as you come back down, exhale.
How you breathe in relationship
to your body motion can really make a big difference
on how you relax and the effectiveness of the exercise.
- For recommended time, just do what feels good.
This stretch, I like to hold it longer.
Some people might just wanna hold it back here
for five seconds and then come back.
Just do what feels good for you.
- That's right.
Again, five to 10 repetitions in general will be good,
particularly to start with.
How you feeling, Mike?
- Good, I like the stretch. - Yeah?
Yep, it's a wonderful one.
Alright, number four.
This is for the upper back, the thoracic spine.
We wanna get some gentle rotation in that area
to get you moving.
Simply as Mike is lying on his back,
think about keeping the pelvis stationary,
the feet, like so, stationary.
He's gonna come up with his right hand
and kinda like reaching for his coffee mug in the morning
or cooler and go back down.
Now go the other direction.
He's reaching the other way.
Go through a couple of these, Mike.
- You just kinda reach.
You don't have to hold it
like I was doing for demonstration purposes
but the whole point is to lift your upper back off the mat
and get some rotation up there.
And I wish someone handed me my coffee in the morning
when I woke up like that.
- This is also great for the abdominal muscles.
That's gonna get those stronger, which is always a benefit.
So let's go on the number...
Where we on, four or five?
- Five. - Five.
All right, this last one really focuses on the shoulders
and the scapula of the shoulders to get things moving,
which is critical for posture, breathing,
and just pain reduction.
One side you can do first,
simply think about shoulder to the ear
without moving your head.
So we're not doing this.
We're doing this,
five times on the right,
five times on the left.
And then you can do the complete shrug and it's optional.
If you just want to go right to the complete double shrug,
go ahead.
It's up to you.
Go ahead and show them a lying down, Mike.
- So the important thing is to keep your head
in the same place and bring your shoulders up and down.
You're not bringing your neck down up like that.
So shrug up and then shrug down.
You can hold it, you can go in a circle way if you want
or just straight up and down, whatever feels good for you.
- That's right. And this is one of those things
that a lot of people are not aware
that their shoulders and shoulder blades actually move
across their ribcage.
And once you get that sensation,
it's gonna make a big difference
on the quality of motion and pain-free movement
in the shoulder complex.
It's really an important stretch that's forgotten.
Alright, now this last is not an exercise.
This last technique is for those of you
who have back pain, particularly a history of back pain,
how to get out of bed in the morning
to protect your back so you don't wrench it
or irritate it right away in the morning.
So, lying on your back,
the first thing you wanna do is bring your legs up
with that,
we call this the hook-line position.
Tighten up your core muscles, all your stomach muscles.
Go ahead, Mike.
(Mike grunts)
Can you feel them with your fingertips?
That's what I tell patients.
- Yes.
- Push it in there.
Push your fingertips in there.
Some people got a little more chubbiness here
and they need to get through that
and feel those muscles tighten.
At that point, you need to...
Now, how did you explain this, Mike?
Roll like a log?
- You roll on your side like a log.
It's almost like you're stuck in a turtle shell.
The whole body has to move together.
You don't want your feet to move separate.
Keep that back nice and tight.
- [Brad] Perfect. - So core is engaged
and then you're gonna rotate over to your side like this.
Then after you're in this position,
you're going to bring your feet down
while pushing up with your right arm and left elbow.
So I'm keeping my spine in one continuous line.
Don't go like this, I'm just demoing.
Then get in a good seated position.
Get your orientation, make sure you're not lightheaded.
Make sure your back's okay.
Scoot to the edge of the bed.
And then when you stand up, don't flex over like this.
Try to keep a nice straight back and push up.
Keeping your spine aligned the whole time,
not flexing too much will help protect it
and prevent aches and pains from happening.
- Yep, now this is one that can make a big difference
that people forget.
Bob always talks about the story with a gentleman.
He had a patient and he taught him this.
He had severe back pain
and this alone made tremendous difference
on reducing his pain instead of getting up in the morning,
irritating it, he got it properly
and allowed the back to heal on a day-to-day basis.
Very critical point.
That's a bonus.
We didn't say that.
We were gonna do that before, did we?
- It was a secret.
(Brad laughs)
- All right.
Good luck with those stretches
before you get out of bed and how you get out of bed.
Mike, what say you?
- Let us know in the comment section down below
what exercises you preferred
or what works for you in case we forgot.
- That's right.
Feel good.
- And cut!
It's a wrap!
(bright music)