Your Travel Mobility Routine
If you're planning any type of travel in the near future and you're concerned about your back and neck health, it is going to be important to think about how you can introduce movement into your journey. Sometimes it's not possible for us to get up and move around, whether we're driving or flying. In that case, you can stay in your seat and do a mobility routine to keep you feeling good.
Have a look at this video and see below for detailed exercise directions.
Shoulders & Neck:
These moves help get the blood flowing into our shoulders and neck after long hours of traveling and being confined into a smaller space.
Start with your feet firmly on the floor
Roll the shoulders forward and backward
Look over your left shoulder
Look over your right shoulder
Reach your right ear towards your right shoulder, letting your head gently fall and move to the left shoulder (making a small circle with the neck)
Reach your left ear towards your left shoulder, letting your head gently fall and move to the right shoulder (making a small circle with the neck)
Squeeze your shoulder blades together and pull your elbow back behind you (try not to shrug while performing this stretch
Mid-back extension stretch:
Place the hands on your thighs
Inhale
Arch your back and look up towards the ceiling
Then relax
Exhale
Draw your belly button towards your spine
Twist stretch:
Squeeze and pull the left arm back towards your side
Right arm is placed on the left thigh
Look over the left shoulder
Come back to center
Squeeze and pull the right arm back towards your side
Left arm is placed on the right thigh
Look over the right shoulder
Leg stretch (if you have enough room)
Kick your leg out in front of you
Bring the toes towards you
Relax and bring the leg back to center
Ankle stretch:
Bring your foot up onto its toes
Slowly circle the ankle in one direction while keeping the toes on the ground
Then switch directions
Repeat on the other foot
Then bring the foot back to neutral
Come up on the toes again and hold
Then relax down back to neutral with the heels on the ground
Come back to neutral
With one foot pull the toes up off the ground, leaving the heel down
Step one foot out, then the other
Step one foot back towards you and return it to neutral
Repeat on the other side
These are just some tips and routines to help get some blood flowing and some movement to different parts of the body when we are traveling.
This routine is great to give your body a break from being in that one static posture for hours. But if you have the chance to get up and move around, take it because that is your best option to keep your body feeling good while traveling.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask Dr. Armstrong or Dr. Freedman. We're always happy to help.
