4 Traveling Tips To Avoid Back Pain
leon • May 5, 2020
As many of us know, back pain is something that millions suffer with in the U.S. alone. Traveling with back pain can make sitting in a car for travel truly unbearable for some. But don’t lose all hope, your back pain should not prevent you from seeing the world and enjoying the journey. The following tips will help you support your spine and reduce your pain when you travel.
4 Traveling Tips To Avoid Back Pain:
- Take Breaks Often. Driving can be challenging, stressful, and tiring work. Take frequent breaks in order to avoid driver fatigue, minimize postural discomfort, and allow you to stand up and move around. Suggested breaks are at least a 15-minute break for every 2 hours of driving. If you’re prone to back pain triggers from car travel, you may want to take breaks more frequently, such as every 30 to 60 minutes.
- Adjust Your Seat. Make sure that you are as comfortable as possible from the very beginning. Empty your back pockets so that you are not sitting out of alignment. Adjust your seat so that you are close enough to the steering wheel without hunching your shoulders forward to reach the wheel. Adjust the seat height until your hips are at least as high as your knees. Make sure you can still see the road and the instruments. Be sure you are not sitting so high so that you have to bend your head down or to the side in order to see. Try to keep your chin pulled in so that your head sits straight on top of your spine. For more support at the inward curve of your lower back, use a small pillow or roll up a scarf and place it between your lower back and the seat.
- Do Daily Exercises Especially When Traveling. One of the most crucial things that people with low back pain can do is to stay as physically active as possible in daily life and exercise regularly. This is even more true when traveling, this is not the time to choose not to do your routine back exercises. When traveling, muscles become tight and stiff. It’s important to do the daily exercises your Chiropractor or Physical Therapist recommends even while traveling. Bring a tennis ball or foam roller along for the ride as well to work out those sore muscles while taking breaks on the road.
- Try To Relax. While driving, our bodies can easily tense up in response to other drivers, pedestrians, and our current emotions. Try resting your head back on the headrest and relax, your neck and shoulders won’t be as tense and subjected to upper back and neck pain. While it may feel unusual at first, eventually, this will begin to feel good. Meditating for a few moments while you are taking your breaks and stretching can also relax and release tight muscles by sending breath into them and consciously relaxing as you exhale.
The Takeaway
Back pain while driving is a common complaint regardless of if you regularly suffer from back pain or not. Many travelers use poor posture when slouched behind the wheel or while in the passenger’s seat, leading to back pain flare-ups. Use the tips above to avoid having your next road trip turn into a pain in the back.
Contact us today! We look forward to working with you so that you can live a life of complete health and vitality.
The post 4 Traveling Tips To Avoid Back Pain appeared first on Leon Chiropractic.
About 31 million Americans experience lower back pain at some point. The Global Burden of Disease study described back pain as the leading cause of disability worldwide. And it's the second most common cause of disability in the U.S.
Various natural remedies can relieve back pain that can reduce medication intake or add benefit to your current medical treatment. Check out these natural pain relief strategies and determine which ones work best for you: Read on to learn more about effective pain relief approaches for chronic backache using natural methods.
Although working from home has its benefits, there are a few things to keep in mind, such as ensuring you maintain a good posture to prevent recurring stress injuries and technical stress on the neck - physical strain on the neck after looking down for more extended periods.
How to deal with back pain Back pain is a leading cause of worldwide disability that prevents people from doing their work or other routine activities. It is the most common reason people frequently visit a doctor or miss their job.
How to deal with Herniated Disc A herniated disc is a condition that can occur anywhere along the spine, but most often in the lower back. It is sometimes called a protruding, bulging, or ruptured disc. It is one of the most common causes of lower back pain and leg or sciatica pain.
Back pain is one of the biggest ailments, for many women during pregnancy! About half to three-quarters of all pregnant women suffer from lower back pain. Although it is easy to recognize the cause of back pain in late pregnancy – blame the belly.
Heavy lifting, repetitive movements, and staying put all day may strain your back. Get the facts about spine-related pain at work and its preventions. The backache, whether it is dull and bearable, or stabbing and sharp, can make it difficult to concentrate on work.
Let's face it, life can be stressful from day to day with busy home, work, and social schedules, and stress certainly plays a role in making any headache worse. Tension headaches are the most common type of headache that people experience.
Restful sleep is more important, now than ever, but getting a good night's sleep can be difficult when you’re stressed out. The last several months have been very stressful times for everyone. Even worse, too little sleep at night can make you feel even more stressed, leading to an exhausting and continuous cycle of counting sheep.
If you are one of the many that suffer from low back pain every morning, your sleeping posture could be to blame. Sleeping in poor positions can put unnecessary pressure on your spine, causing the natural curve to flatten as a result.
We look forward to working with you so that you can live a life of complete health and vitality.