Do These Morning Bed Stretches for People with Parkinson’s Part 3

Hopefully you’ve watched parts one and two of my bed stretches series. If you missed them, the links are at the bottom of this article!

Getting your body warmed up and primed for movement makes it easier to get around the rest of the day. Even more importantly, it could prevent an accidental fall when you stand up or start to walk.

We get really stiffened up throughout the night, and many people with Parkinson’s have a bit of time before their first dose of medication takes effect. Of course, it’s easier to move during your medication’s “on” period, but you can use this waiting time to do some easy stretches.

Let’s work on this together. I’m only giving you a couple of exercises at a time. After you get used to doing them slowly, you’ll be more likely to remember how to do them. Let’s chunk it out!

We left off with the upper body, shoulders, upper back, and opening the chest. Now we will move down to the lower back and hips.

Here are the step-by-step instructions:

• Lying on your back with your head facing straight ahead, take some deep breaths in and out, all the way down to the base of your lungs. Concentrate on the rhythm of your breath. Take 10-20 breaths.
• Begin with the head, neck, and upper body stretches from parts one and two of this series (see videos below).
• To start the hip stretches, bring only one knee up by bending at the knee. Then bring the other leg up to join it. Then straighten your knee back out and straighten the other leg out. Do this several times until your legs and hips respond better and feel less stiff.

• Next, bring just one knee at a time to your chest and hug it for a count of five. It’s important to move your legs one at a time to prevent your hip flexors from “gripping” and tugging on your lower back. Alternate hugging one knee at a time. Repeat several times.

• Next exercise: with both knees bent and feet on the mattress, walk your feet and knees apart until they are wider than hip distance. You may have to inch your feet apart to get them moving—that’s OK!

• Bring your feet back to a narrow position. Repeat this several times, making sure your knees track over your feet.

• Do several repetitions of all these exercises, adding them to parts one and two.

Check out the other videos from my Morning Bed Stretches for People with Parkinson’s series below. Stay tuned for part four next week!

• Part One: Head and Eyes
• Part Two: Arms and Upper Back

💜 Coach Kimberly