Starting your morning with stretches can reduce the risk of injury in the long run.

Aspirus-St. Luke’s Emergency Medicine Physician Dr. Dylan Wyatt and Physical Therapist Kale Olson walked Lift Host Baihly Warfield through five stretches, three of which you can do before you get out of bed.

1. Supine active ankle pumps: Lie on your back with legs extended. Press your feet away from your body, hold for 3-5 seconds, then bend them back in the opposite direction and hold. Do 10 reps.
2. Hooklying single knee to chest: Lie on your back with legs bent. Pull one knee toward your chest and hold for 3-5 seconds. Keep your back relaxed. Do 10 reps.
3. Supine hip rotations: Lie on your back with legs bent and wider than hip distance apart, feet flat. Let your knees fall toward one side, hold for 3-5 seconds, then fall toward the other side. Do 10 reps.
4. Standing hip flexor stretch: Stand in a staggered stance, squeeze your buttocks muscles and tuck your tailbone. Shift weight forward until you feel a gentle stretch in the front of your hip. Hold for 5 seconds. Option to lift your same-side arm and tilt your trunk to increase stretch.
5. Plank with thoracic rotation: Stand with hands resting on counter, bed, etc. Step backward into plank position. Reach one arm underneath and across your body (“Thread the Needle”), then rotate your trunk to reach your arm toward the ceiling (“Open Book”). Do 10 reps.

“If you’ve been in a position lying down sleeping 6, 7, 8 hours, you’ve got to prep your body for just getting up out of bed,” Olson said.

“If you make it part of your routine, you’ll find in the long run you’ll probably have more energy. You’ll be more comfortable when you are being active,” Dr. Wyatt said. “And you’ll have less times when we all talk about getting older and, ‘Oh, everything hurts randomly. I felt a pop, I felt a pull.’ That’ll happen less often if we’re more active with stretching.”

Olson encourages that daily repetition will eventually build a habit.