8 Morning Movements to Ease Stiff Joints


Gentle exercises can loosen joints up in the morning.Credit: Milan_Jovic / Getty Images
Gentle exercises can loosen joints up in the morning.
Credit: Milan_Jovic / Getty Images
  • Waking up feeling stiff can happen at any age.
  • People with arthritis or more sedentary lifestyles are more prone to morning joint stiffness.
  • Simple morning movements—such as leg presses and wrist flexor stretches—can help loosen the body.

Getting a good night’s sleep is necessary for overall health—but for some people, those hours spent snoozing come with an unwelcome side effect: waking up with creaky joints. The good news is that something as simple as gentle movement can make a big difference. Here's why you might wake up feeling tight—and eight morning moves to help loosen your body for the day ahead.

Why Your Joints Might Feel Tight in the Morning

Your joints—made up of cartilage, ligaments, and tendons—are designed for movement, explained Peter Ronai, a registered clinical exercise physiologist and clinical professor at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut. Regular motion keeps them functioning, while long periods of stillness can have the opposite effect—stiffness. 

Some people are more prone to waking up tight than others. Sitting for extended periods, staying in the same position during sleep, or otherwise not moving much can reduce levels of synovial fluid, the gel-like substance that lubricates joints. Conditions like arthritis or past injuries can also cause inflammation in the joints, contributing to stiffness and pain. 

Feeling stiff in the morning is often more common with age, due to factors like thinning cartilage, reduced muscle mass, and lower overall activity levels. But it’s not limited to older adults—it can happen at any age, Ronai said.

If you're routinely waking up stiff, it's best to consult a medical professional to help identify the root cause and develop a personalized plan, said Theresa Marko, PT, DPT, MS, a spokesperson for the American Physical Therapist Association and a board-certified clinical specialist in orthopaedic physical therapy. That said, gentle stretching and other movement in the morning can help alleviate discomfort.

Morning Stretches For Stiff Joints

If you’re prone to creaky joints in the morning, moving first thing is the easiest way to loosen things up. Here are eight expert-approved moves to repeat several times as you start your day.

1. Heel Slide

Knee slides introduce gentle movement before you even stand up. To do it:

  1. Lie on your back in bed or on the floor.
  2. Bend your knees so your feet are flat.
  3. Slowly extend your legs, then return to the bent-knee position.

2. Flex and Point

The point-and-flex exercise helps get joint fluid flowing in your ankles. To do it:

  1. Lie on your back in bed or on the floor.
  2. Gently point your toes, then flex your foot back to a 90-degree angle.

3. Bridge

Bridges target your hips. To do it:

  1. Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
  2. Place your arms at your sides, palms down.
  3. Gently lift your hips until your torso and upper legs form a straight line.
  4. Lower back down.

4. Side Reache

Side reaches are helpful for loosening up your arms. To do it:

  1. Stand or sit.
  2. Raise your right arm overhead and slowly reach to the left side.
  3. Hold for a few seconds, making sure to breathe.
  4. Repeat with the other arm.

5. Cat Cow

Cat cows are great for a stiff back. To do it:

  1. Start on the floor in tabletop position, with your wrists directly under your shoulders and your knees under your hips.
  2. While inhaling slowly, drop your stomach and lift your chest and tailbone so you're looking up (the cow position).
  3. While exhaling, tuck your chin and round your spine, so you're looking down (the cat position).

6. Levator Scapulae Stretch

This stretch targets the levator scapulae, a muscle on the side of the neck. To do it:

  1. Sit tall with your shoulders relaxed and down.
  2. Slowly turn your head 30 to 45 degrees to the right.
  3. Gently move your chin downward toward your chest.
  4. Repeat on the other side.

7. Wrist Flexor

Wrist flexor stretches help relieve stiffness in your wrists. To do it:

  1. Extend one arm in front of you with your palm facing down.
  2. Gently bend your wrist back so your fingers point upward.
  3. Hold the stretch for 15–30 seconds.
  4. Switch to the other arm and repeat.

8. Wrist Extensor

The wrist extensor stretch increases range of motion in your wrist. To do it:

  1. Extend one arm in front of you with your palm facing up.
  2. Gently bend your wrist back so your fingers point toward the ground.
  3. Hold the stretch for 15–30 seconds.
  4. Switch to the other arm and repeat.



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Most Frequently Asked  Agile PLM  Interview Questions

Give a brief idea about the testing principles of Agile testing?

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2. Developing a work environment where the business people and developers work together as a team. 

3. The primary focus should be on the essence rather than lengthy documentation. 

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List out a few agile frameworks?

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  3. Kanban

Give a brief idea about sprint retrospective meetings and release candidate?

Ans: Sprint retrospective meeting: Sprint retrospective meeting is referred to the last part of the sprint. The sprint retrospective meeting is usually done after the review meeting of the sprint. All the teams, along with the scrum master, will join the discussion. The meeting duration would go around 2 to 3 hours.

Release candidate: When developing the applications or the software, there must be no errors or problems behind the work done. Hence, the release candidate is a code or version or a build that is released to ensure that there are no errors in the development stage.

Give a brief idea about the main roles in Scrum?

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Describe about zero sprints in Agile?

Ans: A zero sprint in Agile is referred to as the pre-step to be performed before the first sprint. You will need to set up the set of activities that have to be performed before the start of the initial sprint which can be treated as Zero sprint. The activities include backlog preparation, set up the environment to develop, etc.

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Do you think it is possible to apply agile methodology to any other testing apart from development testing and software testing?

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Give a brief idea about the most important agile matrices?

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Velocity: Velocity is the attribute measured by adding all the estimates of the stories that are approved. This is one of the important attributes that give you a clear idea about the progress, capacity and keeps track of the different aspects.

Work strategy allocation: This attribute gives you a clear idea on the aspect or where exactly you are investing your time and also about the priority of your work.

Defect removal awareness: This attribute allows active members to produce quality products.

Cumulative flow diagram: It allows you to check the uniform workflow, which is represented in the form of a diagram. In the graphical representation, the X-axis represents time, and the Y-axis represents the number of efforts.

Sprint burndown metric: The sprint burndown metric helps in keeping track of the work done with the sprint.

Business value delivered: This is an attribute that is related to the work efficiency of the team involved in the work assigned. It helps in measuring the efficiency and work done with 100 percent as a total mark associated with every project.

Time coverage: The time coverage is referred to as the amount of time given to the code during the testing phase. The time coverage attribute is measured based on the number of lines of code in a ratio format, by the number of relative lines of code.

Defect resolution rate: Defect resolution time is the term that is related to the process in which the team members detect the errors, bugs and fix them.

Describe the build breaker and Kanban?

Ans: Build breaker: There will be some scenarios where the developer will commit a bug accidentally in the software. This accidental bug might cause a problem and interrupt the execution or compilation or with a warning. In such scenarios, it is identified that the build is broken. The main task of the tester is to clear the bug immediately.

Kanban: Kanban is a tool that is designed and developed to help the team in reviewing the work-related aspects, especially the progress of the workflow. The Kanban board is used to describe the status of the current development story.

List out the disadvantages of agile models?

Ans: There are some disadvantages to agile models. They are listed below:

1.The agile models are not easy to predict. If a large project is assigned, then it is not flexible in calculating or getting an understanding of the efforts to be made to work on the project within the given deadline.

2.The product developed will not be a good satisfactory product to the customers, if the client requirements are not understood, analysed and met.

3. Using the agile models, the higher authorities will be able to make precise decisions, which would not be understood by the fresher with a little knowledge.

. Give an idea about test-driven development in Agile?

Ans: Test-Driven environment or often called TDD is a method in which the developer writes an automated test case describing the new addon or function and creates small codes to pass the test.

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. List out the challenges involved in developing Agile Software?

Ans: There are many challenges involved in developing agile software. The most important ones are listed below:

  1. Shows impact on the management rather than the developers.
  2. Each feature has to be completed before moving to the next one.
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  4. Much planning is needed while developing agile software.
  5. It requires more testing and involvement of the customers.

. When should you not use Agile?

Ans: You must think of the below aspects before deciding to choose Agile:

  1. Customer availability
  2. Requirements flexibility
  3. Team skills and abilities
  4. Functionality split ability
  5. Time constraint

. What is the product burndown chart, sprint burndown chart, release burndown chart, defect burndown chart?

Ans: Product burndown chart: The product burndown chart is referred to as the descriptive that is represented in the form of a graph showing the implemented product backlog.

Sprint burndown chart: The sprint burndown chart represents the number of implemented sprints and non implemented sprints in the scrum cycle.

Release burndown chart: The release burndown chart is used to depict the pending release.

Defect burndown chart: The defect burndown charr is used to represent the number of defects identified and removed.

Related Article: Agile VS Scrum

. List out the agile quality strategies and project management tools used in Agile?

Ans: The following are the strategies and project management tools used in Agile.

Quality strategies:

  1. Iterations
  2. Dynamic code analysis
  3. Re-factoring
  4. Small feedback cycles                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

project management tools:

1. Agilo

2. Icescrum

3. Version one

4. Agilefant

5. X-Planner

6. Rally software

. What is pair programming and list out its benefits?

Ans: The pair programming is a process in which two programmers work together as a team. One programmer is involved in writing the code and the other programmer reviews the code.

The benefits of pair programming are listed below:

  1. Code quality: The second programmer is involved in reviewing the code, which will help in minimizing the coding errors.
  2. Smooth transfer of knowledge: The experienced individual can teach the other partner about the techniques and codes.

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Agile PLM is a platform that is used by most of the organizations providing multiple opportunities to the business organizations. It has become popular because of the benefits and frameworks that are helping business organizations achieve their success in a short period. I hope the above information is helpful to you. The above interview questions will help you to crack the interview easily. It is recommended to dep-dive more on the topic so that you will be able to answer any question raised by the interviewer. I wish you all the best for the interview and your excellent career ahead.

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As a Senior Writer for HKR Trainings, Sai Manikanth has a great understanding of today’s data-driven environment, which includes key aspects such as Business Intelligence and data management. He manages the task of creating great content in the areas of Digital Marketing, Content Management, Project Management & Methodologies, Product Lifecycle Management Tools. Connect with him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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