A life without travelling is a life unfulfilled, but back pain can be a big deterrent to that. There is no doubt that travelling can potentially worsen any kind of spinal pain, but only if you don’t know how to counter those possibilities. Just in case you are thinking twice about your next summer trip because you are afraid that your back will act up, here are three tips to reduce those chances effectively while on the go.
Manage Your Luggage Intelligently
Lifting and carrying heavy luggage is the number one reason as to why back pain worsens while travelling, so it is important that you manage it intelligently with the help of the following tips.
- Lift slowly and in parts
- Do not twist your back or neck while lifting
- Pack light
- Prefer the backpack over the one-shoulder sling
- Ship your luggage ahead of you, when the option is available
- Get other people to help you carry your luggage (flight attendants, travelling partners, family, friends)
Find Comfortable Seating
A letter from your doctor can help you land an aisle seat on the flight and it’s a lifesaver for people with back pain. You can move better and even walk around every once in a while, to keep your back from cramping up. In any case, use the seat recliner to stretch your back as best as you can.
Make that Hotel Bed Work for You
Hotel beds often give a cloud-like feeling and while that’s great for a few minutes, it’s definitely not the ideal kind of bed for someone with back pain to sleep an entire night on. To counter this problem, contact the manager and tell him/her about your back issues. A good hotel will likely have the option to place a firm board under the mattress, which will significantly improve the firmness of the mattress, therefore, providing you with better lumber support as you sleep. Other options at your disposal include carrying or buying a full-body pillow, putting a pillow under the pelvis, using a neck pillow, and putting a pillow between your legs if you are a side sleeper.
While these three tips should make your travels less painful, a point to remember is that they can only help you manage your pre-existing symptoms better on the road, but you will need to treat the actual, underlying cause of your back issues first to see any significant improvement. Complex Spine is the premier clinic for spinal surgery in London should you need it, but surgery is not the only option patients have in most cases. The multidisciplinary approach of the consultants at Complex Spine makes sure that the patient is first diagnosed properly to identify the reason/reasons responsible for the back pain. After the diagnosis, all possible avenues of treatment are discussed with the patient before commencing with the treatment, be it of surgical or non-surgical nature.
By addressing the root disease or condition that is causing the pain, you will be able to lead a much less inhibited lifestyle and you will probably never have to think twice about something as elementary as travelling on account of back pain again.
