Watch Your Back - 3 Ways to Keep Physical Stress Out of Your Holiday Travel Plans

If you're hitting the road this week, traveling to your holiday destinations, watch your back! Hours upon hours in the car or on planes can do a number on your spine and contribute to mounting physical stress. We put together a few tips to keep your ergonomics in check during your holiday travel.

1. Mirror Check

When you jump in the front seat, before putting the car in gear, take a minute to adjust your mirrors. Sit up straight and tall and adjust your mirrors to match your perfect posture. As your trip progresses, your mirrors will remind you sit up straight for the duration and save your sacrum and pelvis a lot of stress in the process.



2. Take a Break

Once you've been on the road for an hour, get off the road!  Pull over somewhere safe and take a lap.  Stand up straight and fully extend your arms. Palms to the sky, stick your thumbs back behind you and really open up your chest. Look up, and breathe deep. Hold it for as long as you can. Then roll your shoulders back slowly in a circular motion for a full sixty seconds. Repeat every hour or so that you're on the road to combat any forward head posture and rounding out of your shoulders that can build up on long drives. If you're really feeling ambitious, throw in a few deep, slow squats, keeping your chest proud. This will utilize your large muscle groups and weight-baring joints, which can start to feel neglected on long journeys.



3. Keep Things Moving

Taking a tip from the American Physical Therapy Association, we have found doing a few in-seat exercises while flying can be really beneficial. After all, if that pesky seatbelt light is on, you may not have the luxury of getting up and moving around in more interesting ways. Every hour or so do about 5 minutes of heel raises, toe lifts, ankle circles, overhead reaches, and back twists. And you can also throw in a few "curl downs" where you reach for the floor and pull your chin and stomach in. Hold for 5-10 seconds and then repeat a few times.

If you're not traveling this year, share these tips with your friends and family that are! We wish you Happy and Healthy Holidays from everyone at Innate Response.

Labels: back, christmas, driving, ergonomics, flying, holiday, pain, travel