Morning, I'm Broken!
We all know we feel better physically, emotionally and psychologically if we’ve taken the time to exercise in the morning but how do we reduce the general ache and stiffness that many of us feel before we even get out of bed?
The main thing people consult an osteopath for is pain. Pain in their low back, between their shoulder blades and in their neck.
But a frequent complaint in practice is people reporting a general feeling of stiffness or ache in all sorts of places when they try to leave their beds of a morning. So while the good news is you aren’t woken with pain in the night, the moans and groans start when you haul yourself out of bed. And it can be enough to wake your partner, or the dog.
Is there any research on this?
There was nothing focused in the literature about whether stiffness improves with exercise, and certainly nothing as specific as morning stiffness. Although this may be because no one asked the question in an original study (i.e. it wasn’t set as a specific outcome for the population being studied).
An educated guess…
Waking with stiffness would be due mostly to your body trying to adapt to new behaviours or resting postures you’d get out of given the chance if you were awake.
Examples of the types of things that might cause stiffness in your neck:
Stomach sleeping
Bingeing on Netflix in bed with a laptop
Long long hours at a computer
Long drives on straight roads
Examples of the types of things that might cause stiffness in your low back:
See above
Examples of the types of things that might cause stiffness in your feet and achilles:
Standing for long periods (cooking, ironing, gallery walking)
New exercises or an increase to new exercises (skipping, golfing, new shoes)
Or just good old DOMS the day or two after a workout at the gym
What exactly will you be mobilising?
There is no exactly about it….you’ll be mobilising nerves, muscles, tubes, connective tissue, all manner of fluids including sparking up your brain juices.
A word of caution in the mornings.
Your nervous system is a bit protective of itself when we first wake up, as anyone who has ever done yoga before 6am will attest. That burning tightness behind your knees is not your hamstrings it’s actually your sciatic nerve letting you know it does not appreciate being pulled quite so aggressively before the sun has even risen.
Give it a fortnight.
It might take a while to tell if your body is going to love a new regime but in the meantime you can reward your mornings with these mobilisations:
ACHILLES and FEET stiff when you stand on them in the mornings?
Prancing with straight legs
Heel to toe
Holding onto the door frame squat
If your low back stiff in the mornings?
Try this series of movements:
LB twist
Knees to chest
Cat/Camel
Child Pose with Lateral Flexion
UPPER BACK and NECK stiffness in the mornings?
Sidelying bow and arrow
Neck slider/shoulder shrugs
All our mobilisations will be available on our BLOG this month.
So make yourself a morning routine that suits you.
Share these tips and tricks to put some spring in someone else’s step this August.
Get Your Body Moving - 30 mobilisations for everybody
Let’s be honest people. We can’t always be as active as we want.
We find it inconvenient and at times impossible to answer the call for natural movement*. It’s hard to run across the grassy plains when we’ve only got a concrete path or it takes a two-hour train ride to get to a wilderness trek up the side of a mountain. And we have to be dedicated in searching out opportunities to squat, throw something, wrestle, dance, run, leap, climb or hang upside down off a branch.
We need to do these things, but when we can’t, you can offer something else to your beautiful body. Something to nourish, so it can flourish! And so comes the concept of 30 ideas to mobilise your body.
WHAT THE HECK ARE MOBILISATIONS?
Mobilisations are like dynamic stretching. They sit somewhere in between rehab and lifting weights. It’s difficult to get any specific research to support this kind of movement but we can draw some conclusions based on evidence supporting early movement after surgery for hip and knee replacement (1) daily movement for acute low back pain rather than bed rest (2) safe movement following a car accident instead of a neck brace (3) and a long history of committed movement in multiple cultures (tai chi, qi gong, ceremonial dancing, prayer and worship).
We might even want to throw it out there that mobilisations might be useful for:
- pain relief
- early healing
- micro breaks
- preventing pain
- preventing injury (I said maybe!!)
the dip in the couch
We can get attached to not moving. You know the feeling when you’ve succumbed to the dip in the couch or you’ve shaped your body to the back of your ‘ergonomic’ chair. Our bodies sometimes try to get us to move out of desperation before the thinking part of our brain even gets a say. We crack our neck, stretch our back over the back of the chair or twist forcefully to one side. Take charge of your runaway body and acknowledge that alarm bell for what it is.
Convert that animal instinct into something to nourish your cells in all your tissues, including your brain. Pump and stretch those clumping cells and provide them with the nutrition they need via blood supply using the mechanics of your own body. Help juice up your joints, tendons, skin, brain cells, muscles, nerves, ligaments, organs and move those tubes that string them all together.
we've put together 30 great ideas to inspire the modern human to combat physical stagnation.
The rules to follow:
- easy and painless
- lots of repetitions (i can do it i can do it i can do a little bit more) 25-75 repetitions (1-3) sets/day
- joyful, fun, no protocol, no commitment beyond maybe a few days
- if you’ve tried to make it easier and it still feels bad (or pointless) then STOP
INSTA VIDEO SERIES
SEATED ROTATIONS
hip and back tightness/pain, neck stiffness, excessive sitting
STIR THE POT
neck stiffness/pain, upper back pain, shoulder pain
FOREARM MOBILISATIONS
arm and shoulder tightness and pain, desk worker
SIDE RAINBOW
side stiffness, hip and back tightness, shoulder pain
HIP RELEASE - KATY BOWMAN STYLE
hip and buttock tightness/pain
STANDING ROTATIONS
stiffness everywhere, excessive sitting
SEATED GLUTE STRETCH
hip pain , low back pain , improve hip mobility
CHEST OPENING AND CLOSING
upper back, chest and shoulder tension
ALPHABET EXERCISE - ARM SWINGS
thoracic and shoulder tension, low back too
BEAR HUGS
more dynamic than chest openings, more arm wrap around, good for shoulder and upper back tension
ASSISTED SQUATS
low back, hips, knees and ankles
ANKLE TWIRLS
stiff ankles, fluid congestion, motion is lotion
CAT AND CAMEL
good for spinal mobility, ask practitioner if this is right for you
THREAD THE NEEDLE
thoracic and shoulder mobility, low back stiffness
THREAD THE NEEDLE (V.2)
thoracic and shoulder tightness, standing at the desk version
CATH A BUTTERFLY
shoulder, hand, forearm and elbow
HIP DROPS
low back hips and pelvis
LOWER LIMB AND GLUTES
glutes, hips, hamstrings and calf
WAG THE DOG
lower back, hips and pelvis
LEG SWINGS
hip stiffness, low back, balance, positional awareness
DO THE SWIM
shoulders, upper back and neck
LEG SWING V.2
hips and low back
THE LAWNMOWER
Upper back, lower back and shoulders
NECK MOBILISATION
write out no. 1-10 with your nose, for general neck stiffness
SHOULDER SWINGS
good for stiff shoulders - who would have thought!?
BOW AND ARROW STANDING
shoulders, upper back and chest
FOOT AND ANKLE MOBILISATION
foot and ankle mobility
CHEST OPENINGS
chest, shoulders and upper back
THE SHOVEL
general back and shoulder - better without a real shovel!
DISCO TIME
looking good ladies - dance your way to better movement!
THAT'S 30! PHEW!
References
(1) Guerra, Mark L., Parminder J. Singh, and Nicholas F. Taylor. "Early mobilization of patients who have had a hip or knee joint replacement reduces length of stay in hospital: a systematic review." Clinical rehabilitation 29.9 (2015): 844-854.
(2) Hagen, Kåre B., et al. "The Cochrane review of bed rest for acute low back pain and sciatica." Spine 25.22 (2000): 2932-2939.
(3) Teasell, Robert W., et al. "A research synthesis of therapeutic interventions for whiplash-associated disorder (WAD): Part 2–interventions for acute WAD." Pain Research and Management 15.5 (2010): 295-304.
(4) Chan, Roxane Raffin, and Janet L. Larson. "Meditation interventions for chronic disease populations: a systematic review." Journal of Holistic Nursing 33.4 (2015): 351-365.
thank you for your inspiration:
How to do Joint mobility drills - Todd Hargrove
Mobilize! Dynamic joint mobility drills are an alternative to stretching - Paul Ingraham
Therapeutic Stretching - Eyal Lederman
Nutritious Movement - Katy Bowman
Daniel Wolpert - TED talk
There are devoted proponents for natural movement who have wonderful websites. Check them out:
Mark Sisson, Katy Bowman, Phillip Beach