Traveling for business or pleasure is a normal part of life. Travel is a commonly overlooked cause of lower back pain. Air travel in particular can be hazardous to your spinal health due to prolonged slouching in a confined space for several hours followed by dragging your suitcase through airport terminals. Here are some tips to help you stay healthy while on the go:

Hands Over Head
Raise your hands over your head and press your palms together with light pressure for 5-seconds. You can do this movement standing or sitting. The reason this works? Whenever you out your hands over your head it forces your spine into extension (backwards bending). The abdominals function as anti-extension muscles. Your brain 'fires' the abdominal muscles to prevent too much extension.

Mini-Reverse Lunge
Your buttocks muscles go to sleep when sitting all the time. They develop what's known as 'glute amnesia.' Simply stated, you overuse your back because it's trying to do its job plus your buttocks responsibilities. Stand with both legs together. Take a slight step backwards while squeezing the buttocks on the backwards leg. Hold position for a count of 6 and repeat 5 times per side.

Breathing
Breathing sets the benchmark for core stability and neck strength. Put one hands on your chest and one on your abdomen. Take a deep breath in through your nose and make the bottom hands move before the top hand. Breathe this way for 3 minutes.

Stop and Move
Take time to move your body in unusual ways to stimulate energy. The next time you make a road stop try these moves and see how you feel. Hop up and down for 30 seconds on the balls of your feet. Breathing and heart rate increases delivering much needed oxygen to tight and restricted muscle tissue starving for nutrients.

Read More »