Morning Stiffness Exercises: A 6 Minute Bed-Side Routine

Morning stiffness is common, and six minutes of slow, gentle movement beside the bed is a sensible way to loosen up, as long as you let your physician look at stiffness that is new, keeps returning or does not ease once you are moving. This page is general training information about general stiffness, not a diagnosis of any condition. The routine below wakes the spine, hips, shoulders and ankles in order. A coach can tailor it, and a free consultation is where that starts.

Questions to ask your physician first

Raise these if your stiffness is persistent or worrying:

• What could be causing my stiffness, and does it need testing?
• Should any particular movement stay off my list until you have seen me?
• Is there a difference between stiffness that eases and stiffness that does not?
• Which symptoms, such as swelling, warmth or fever, mean I should call right away?
• Is it fine to follow a gentle movement routine in the meantime?

The 6 minute routine

Do each move slowly, breathe normally and stay inside a comfortable range. Time yourself the first few mornings.

Minute	Move	How
1	Ankle pumps and circles	Sit on the edge of the bed, point and flex the feet 10 times, then circle each way
2	Seated cat-cow	Hands on knees, round the back, then lift the chest, 8 slow reps
3	Seated trunk rotation	Hands crossed on the chest, turn gently each way 6 times
4	Sit to stand	Stand up slowly from the bed without pushing hard with the hands, 6 reps
5	Shoulder rolls and reach	Roll the shoulders back 8 times, then reach both arms overhead and lower
6	Standing hip circles	Hand on a wall or dresser, circle each leg gently, 6 per side

Why this order

Starting at the feet gets blood moving to the base of your body first. The spine and trunk come next because they link everything else. Then you add standing, so the body practices the very thing it needs to do all day. Ending with the shoulders and hips leaves you ready to walk. If you want more on the upper back, the thoracic spine exercises go deeper, and ankles get their own treatment in the ankle mobility answer.

Make it stick

• Put it at the edge of the bed. A routine that begins in the same place every morning is hard to forget.
• Keep it short. Six minutes done daily beats twenty done twice.
• Track how you feel. Rate your stiffness from 1 to 10 for a few weeks. Patterns show up quickly in a log.
• Walk afterwards. A short walk outdoors extends the effect and starts the day on your feet.

For how this kind of short work fits a weekly stretching plan, see how often you should stretch.

What a coach adds, and what a coach does not

A coach can adjust the routine around your body, watch how you get up from a low surface, and link it to the strength work that keeps joints moving all day. A coach does not diagnose the cause of stiffness or treat a condition; that belongs with your clinical team. At FlexWerk in Carmel City Center, that first conversation happens in a private room at the free consultation, with an InBody scan included.

Your next step

Try the routine for two weeks, note changes in your stiffness log and share it with your physician if anything worries you. Then ask a coach to build it into your training week.