Holiday Travel Tip: Road Tripping Without Back Pain
Today I want to share a healthy tip to use while you are traveling for the holidays.
When traveling for the holidays, you first want to find good support for your lower back. We often recommend a McKenzie lumbar roll that you can find on amazon. If you don’t want to buy this roll you can use a rolled-up sweatshirt or towel as well.
This helps create good posture in your back which will take tension off of the disc so after long hours of traveling there is less stress and pressure in your back.
Holiday Travel Tip: Pay Attention to Sleeping Posture
This week’s travel tip that I want to share with you is about sleeping. When we travel, we sleep on different beds, maybe a mattress or a couch, and we sleep with different pillows. And many times patients that come in who have a stiff or painful neck or back say it’s due to sleeping in a different bed or on a different pillow.
Here are my best tips for that situation. We can’t pack our mattress with us, but we can pack a pillow. The best pillows for you depends on how you sleep. If you sleep on your back, it’s better to have a thinner pillow so that it supports your head, but one that’s not too thick making your head look up or look down towards your toes. You want to make sure that your head is level with your spine.
If you sleep on your side, you probably want a thicker pillow to support your head, because there’s a large space between your head and shoulder. If your pillow is too thick, it can cause your head to tilt up, and if it’s too thin, your head will tilt down. Staying in this posture all night can cause you to wake up feeling stiff or in pain.
Your best option is to find a pillow that you like and then take that with you when you travel. A pillow is a lot smaller to pack than a mattress and can make a big difference for your sleep while you travel. Take it with you and it’s going to help prevent any neck issues that come up from sleeping on a different bed.
That’s our helpful tip for traveling. Take your own pillow and depending if you sleep on your side or back, take the best pillow for you.
Holiday Travel Tip: Stick to Your Routine!
The final tip for traveling I want to share with you is how your normal routines start to become out of whack.
One routine that tends to fall out of place is our exercise routine. The best advice to keep this routine somewhat normal is to incorporate minimum movement. A basic morning routine of stretching and some type of activity that you do on a daily basis will keep movement in your day.
A basic routine you can do just requires the floor and 5-10 minutes of your time. It’s a combination of stretching and some activation. The combination of these two is what will help keep your body moving and keep things healthy as you are traveling.
Simple Everyday Routine:
- Hip Mobility
- Deadbug
- Neck Mobility
- Glute Activation
- Cat-Cow
- Child’s Pose
- Thoracic Spine Rotation
- Prone Press-ups
- Ankle/Hip Mobility Rock
- Hip Flexor Stretch
- Air Squats