Hey… I am back and I just want to talk to you about a question or problems that I’ve heard a lot of people talk about since the holidays. People are traveling and they’re carrying heavy luggage and going through airports or long car trips. As a result, they’re getting a lot of neck pain and back pain.
Travelling is flaring up old injuries so I just wanted to talk to you first about airplane sitting… one thing, you should go look at is Stephen’s blog on the pool noodle behind your back and you can do that in the car. He was talking about the car but it’s great for an airplane too. Of course on an airplane you’re not going to have a pool noodle, so I will take my jacket and roll it up into a long roll and put that behind my spine and do the same things he talks about in that blog… That’s a great way to do that if you don’t have a pool noodle.
Another thing that I want to talk about is Cheryl’s blog on sitting in the bleachers and she does some different routines with sitting in the bleachers that you can also translate to being in an airplane or being in a car with the same movements. Also I have done as far as the car goes some blogs on scapular movement that you can do… scapular circles and then using their steering wheel as an exercise tool for some isometrics (https://therapyandpilates.com/sitting-tips-to-improve-your-posture-and-lengthen-your-spine/) (https://therapyandpilates.com/a-simple-tip-to-relax-your-neck-while-driving/) … those are great but I wanted to start with these…
I’m going to push this down so you can see my feet… alright when you’re on an airplane go ahead and take your shoes off and practice putting your big toe up and the four toes down or the big toe down and the four toes up. You can practice trying to make an arch you can see my arch come up as I try to pull up on my arch both the medial arch here and then this transverse arch. You can get a small golf ball and roll out your foot while you’re on an airplane.
Now moving up to your legs… if you’re sitting in an airplane seat you can do a double knee stretch and basically take one leg and straighten it out, pull the other leg up towards your chest and give yourself some resistance on the inside of that knee and the outside… Now switch… resist here and here and keep this straight leg active. You’re really pushing through the straight leg. It’s not going to be perfect in an airplane but it’ll be better than sitting still…
The next thing I want to show you that you could do in an airplane seat, hold on a second let me adjust, alright is like you’re doing a roll down in a Pilates class. Roll your pelvis and back into your seat and then roll down one piece of your spine at a time to your to your neck and then roll back up and sit up straight…
You can do that also for your spine just twist in your seat both directions and when you twist you can twist one direction, take a breath in and let that spine lengthen a bit…
Last thing I will give you for today is push down with your hand and lean one ear to your shoulder… switch and push down with this hand and lean the other ear towards your shoulder…
Hopefully you’ll get off the plane feeling a lot looser… good luck with these tips.
Call 512-215-4227 or text us at 512-902-8794 to learn more…
Do you travel frequently and have neck or back pain after? Do you get restless sitting in the airplane seat for long periods? Try these tips and make the time to get healthy! We can help… Click HERE to apply for your Free Discovery Session with one of our expert Physical Therapists »
Have a great day and remember, you do not have to be on an airplane to try these tips…
[button_1 text=”Click%20Here%20to%20Apply%20For%20A%20FREE%20Discovery%20Session%20With%20One%20Of%20Our%20Expert%20Physical%20Therapists%26nbsp%3B%C2%BB” text_size=”26″ text_color=”#ffffff” text_font=”Open Sans;google” text_letter_spacing=”0″ subtext_panel=”N” text_shadow_panel=”Y” text_shadow_vertical=”1″ text_shadow_horizontal=”1″ text_shadow_color=”#333333″ text_shadow_blur=”2″ styling_width=”20″ styling_height=”15″ styling_border_color=”#000000″ styling_border_size=”0″ styling_border_radius=”6″ styling_border_opacity=”100″ styling_gradient_start_color=”#9ecb23″ drop_shadow_panel=”N” inset_shadow_panel=”N” align=”left” href=”/free-discovery-session/”/]