We have found one simple two minute exercise to enhance mobility in the morning.
Recognise this? We go see a pysio and come back with a whole set of exercises, that seem to be more involved and time-consuming every time. It can be very demotivating when you simply don’t have enough time to understand the details of each exercise. Let alone to go through all of these every single day.

The other problem is that many of the exercises asked us to bend over at the waist. The intention -strengthen your abs and other core muscles- made sense. However, the effect was that our lower backs got even more painful.

To be clear: There are many good exercises out there. We’ve discovered that -for us at least- there is one very simple two minute exercise to enhance mobility in the morning.

Lying knee rolls (also known as Lumbar rotations)

The great thing about this exercises is that you can do it lying down, with full support of your back.

Instructions:

  1. Lay flat on your back (preferably on carpet or hard bed),
  2. Pull up your legs at the knees
  3. Move your knees from side to side as far as they can go.
  4. Repeat 40x (20x each side) – Move slowly and don’t push beyond the pain point.
Knee Rolls - a two minute exercise to enhance mobility

Exercise and image by Pure Physio

Results

This exercise works wonders to enhance our mobility before we get out of bed. In two minutes we are done and feel more mobile, better equipped to start the day. However, it doesn’t strengthen the muscles, so it is important to find other ways to do that (see the strategy).

Continue Reading

Interested to read more about the other parts of the complete strategy to lower backpain relief? Read about self medication and nerve blocks to kill lower backpain, and how to stand up correctly from a seating position.