Are You Tired of Waking Up With a Stiff Back?

By Leading USA Back Pain Expert, Dr. Tom Padilla

  • Male torso seen from behind.

Do you find that you have to continually do certain things to “loosen up” every day, and if you miss it, you “pay the price?”

Waking up with a stiff back is one of the #1 frustrations for people with any sort of back pain. The first time it happens, you might just ignore it. As it gets more consistent, you might think “I guess I’m getting older now…” But what if I told you that this is not necessarily age-related? 

Waking up with back stiffness actually affects people of all ages. In fact a significant number of people in their 20’s and 30’s deal with this as well as their 60+ year-old counterparts. The question then becomes, if it’s not an age thing, then what is it? 

If you’re active, and you’re aged 30+, and you have found that conventional advice, such as rest, or “taking it easy” isn’t working for you, you’ll want to pay attention to what I’m about to tell you…it could help you finally stop trying short term solutions, and get a solution that allows you to get out of bed with some pep in your step.  

We see this scenario all the time in our clinic. In fact, over 80% of the cases that come through our doors have a component of chronic back pain. Just recently a woman “Jessica” came to us with back pain that had been giving her problems since her second-born. At this point it had been 10 years. She had tried yoga, stretching, strength training, massage, chiropractic, and even physical therapy. Each of these things helped a little bit, but it always seemed to come back. Until she followed our advice.

The most important thing you need to know about is that this can be COMPLETELY REVERSED with the right conditions and movements.

Here are 5 Things Most People Try Unsuccessfully

  • Getting a New Mattress: We had someone in just the other day who had tried over 6 mattresses, none of them helped. 
  • Stretching: It seems to help for a little bit, but the issue keeps coming back, just as sure as the sun rises. 
  • Hot-packs or hot showers: These feel good in the moment and help get some blood-flow to the muscles, but again, the results last only with the day. 
  • Painkillers or Anti-Inflammatories: In case you’ve missed it, the pharmaceutical industry is getting slammed with lawsuits for pushing opioids they knew were addictive. Taking pills may provide temporary relief, but at the expense of your other organs. 
  • Doing Nothing: This is pretty common. People start and stop treatment plans because they get frustrated when nothing seems to work long-term, leading them to wonder if their back is just destined to be painful and stiff. 

What Most Doctors Forget To Tell You About A Stiff Back

The #1 thing that most doctors forget to tell their patients is that hydration may be playing a role in your back stiffness. You see, muscles need oxygen in order for them to relax. In order for oxygen to get carried to the tissues you need blood that flows easily. When you’re dehydrated, it makes it harder for your blood to flow easily to your muscles. What happens then?


If your muscles don’t get the oxygen, they get even more stiff, which reduces the blood-flow even further. It’s a vicious cycle. Now…I’m not suggesting that drinking a bunch of water will completely reverse your back stiffness, it’s simply one component, and if you haven’t been told that…what else could have been missed? 

What To Avoid That Might Be Making Your Stiff Back Worse

Here are 3 things that can make your back pain worse. 

Lollygagging: Yes, that’s right. I’m talking about the pace you walk when you’re killing time at a department store “browsing.” That pace where you sway back and forth a little bit, not really using your muscles, looking more penguin than human. Notice when you lollygag that your back becomes painful after a while, until you want to take a ‘break.’ 

Crossing Your Legs: This is a biggie. When you cross your legs, it can put pressure into your spine, causing it to rotate, or bend to the side, which puts more pressure on the joints that are already arthritic. 

Ignoring It: Believe it or not, if this strategy hasn’t worked for you up until now, you’re not likely to be getting close to a breakthrough, and there’s no prize for persistence in this category. 

What To Do Next About Your Stiff Back

The good news is this…I’ve built a clinic that makes a habit of knocking back pain and stiffness out of the park. Because many people have tried many different things when it comes to back stiffness, I’ve created Discovery Visits. It’s a no-obligation consultation with our Doctors to learn about our approach. If you apply and are accepted as a good fit for a Discovery Visit here’s what you’ll get: 

Discovering the exact cause of your back problem with our “Root Cause” diagnostic exam. We will help you identify what tissue is causing your pain, and more importantly why it keeps happening. 

Teaching you about your body and what approach would work best for you. Through getting to know your history, we can know precisely what approach would work for your back pain. 

Answering your questions about what you’ve tried and why it hasn’t worked. So that you can stop wasting time worrying about and trying things that don’t work, and focus on what will. 

We are selective about who we take into these discovery visits, and work mostly with people who are serious about wanting to clear up their back pain and improve their active lifestyle.

To Apply For a Discovery Visit click the button below. 

If you’re not quite ready for a Consultation and want to continue waiting or just figure out a couple of quick tips you can do at home, click the button below to go to our back pain page and download our free guide.