How to Travel with Back Pain While Having Fun | 5 Essential Tips
Traveling with back pain can be challenging, especially if you’re not prepared. Whether you’re taking a long flight or train ride, it’s essential to know how to manage your discomfort while traveling. The following tips can help alleviate your pain and make your journey more comfortable:
When it comes to travel, preparation is key. By following these tips and investing in essential travel products, you can help relieve your back pain on your next journey.
Related Blog: Thermal Hot Springs: A Natural Remedy for Pain
Acceptance and Planning Ahead
Accepting that you will be experiencing back pain throughout your trip can be tough, but planning ahead with this in mind can make the overall experience much more enjoyable.
Start by researching and booking the right hotel room, one that has decent beds and pillows, as well as enough space to stretch and move around freely.
Read Also: ADHD Travel Packing Tricks
HOT WATER IS YOUR FRIEND
Look for hotels that have hot tubs or even better, in room jacuzzis. Many hotels offer massages and other therapies that can help alleviate pain and stiffness.
In addition, you may also consider booking massages or visiting a spa for pain relief during your travels. Cities around the world offer a variety of spas and wellness centers that offer a range of services from hot stone treatments to acupuncture. If you require more professional medical or physical therapy while traveling, consider looking at professional recommendations or local medical centers with reviews accessible online.
More Tips on Traveling with Backpain
• Pack Right: Here is our simple back pain shopping list for travel.
• Take Breaks – Listen to your body and slow down and even rest if your chronic pain starts acting up.
• Balance is key – Consider planning activities that center around relaxation or therapeutic exercise such as yoga or swimming, to help balance out physical activity and downtime.
• By planning ahead with your body’s limitations in mind, you can create a more enjoyable and rewarding travel experience.
Traveling by Airplane
Flying with back pain can be a difficult and uncomfortable experience. The tight seating, limited legroom, and cramped cabins can put added pressure on the spine and aggravate existing injuries or conditions. Dry air in airplane cabins can also worsen symptoms of pain. Long-haul flights can be particularly challenging as the hours spent in the seated position can lead to stiffness and discomfort.
Click here for Our Guide on How to Choose the Best Airplane Seat when Traveling with Back Pain
To make matters worse, changing cabin pressures during takeoff and landing can cause further damage to fragile spinal discs. It is important for those with back pain to invest in comfortable accessories like headrests, lumbar pillows, or spinal cushions to help support their spine during long flights.
STAY HYDRATED
Additionally, passengers should keep hydrated and try stretching every hour or so to keep from getting stiff from sitting for too long. While traveling on an airplane with back pain may feel daunting, investing in comfort products and making time for regular movement can help lessen the discomfort.
When flying, consider the following tips:
• Pay for a comfortable seat: Select a seat that gives you extra legroom, is near the aisle, and can give you back support.
• Take Drugs: Yep. Skip the dehydrating booze and opt for Relaxation Gummies with GABA or Ashwanganda to calm the nerves.
• Bring a travel pillow: A neck pillow or a U-shaped pillow can help you maintain the natural curve of your spine while sitting.
• Get up and move around: Take a walk around the cabin at least once every hour to stretch your muscles and increase blood flow.
• Stay hydrated: Always. Drink plenty of water to keep your muscles and joints lubricated.
Traveling on a Bus
Bus travel is one of the hardest forms of travel on the spine. If you must travel by bus, consider the following tips:
• Choose a comfortable seat: Pay extra for higher end tour buses when possible. Its worth it. Look for a seat that has extra legroom and can recline.
• Use a support cushion or back brace: This can help support your back during the ride.
• Take breaks: Get out of your seat at rest stops and walk around or stretch your legs.
• Pack a lumbar pillow: Some buses or coaches do not have comfortable seats or do not recline at all. Bringing your own pillow will help your back support and also provide comfort.
Try Traveling by Train
Train travel is far more advanced in countries other than the US, but even in the US, train travel offers some of the most pleasurable travel for those of us that live with chronic pain.
Furthermore, train travel is one of the best options for spinal health. Unlike road travel, trains do not have to deal with the constant quick bumps, turns, and stops that can aggravate existing spinal conditions. This reduction in jarring motion makes it easier to sit for extended periods of time without undue pressure on parts of the spine.
TRAIN TRAVEL IS LONG BUT YOUR SPINE WILL THANK YOU
Train seats are often designed to provide more support for the neck and back than seats in automobiles and airplanes. This is especially true for longer trips, where overnight accommodations on-board may allow for more comfortable and supportive bedding. Additionally, trains are typically equipped with ample space for movement, which promotes circulation and helps prevent stiffness or cramping.
While air travel compresses the spine due to lower air pressure and the seated position, train travel allows you to move around more and even stand if needed.
Also, because trains often go through scenic routes, you can see more of the country and appreciate its natural beauty while taking care of your spine health. If you’re looking for a travel option that won’t aggravate your spinal condition, trains may be the perfect choice.
When traveling by train, consider the following tips:
• Book a sleeper: Although it sounds luxurious, sleeper cars can be very affordable way to give your spine several options for stretching and resting.
• Use the aisles: Trains are less busy with foot traffic than planes, so getting out in the aisle and stretching can be done in relative peace.
• Walk around regularly: Take a walk around the carriage to stretch your legs and promote blood flow. Most trains have a viewing car and food car to give your wandering a lovely destination.
5 Essential Products
At Voyage Through We are on a mission to find the best topical pain creams, gels what have you – you name it, we will test it.
Pain creams can be extremely useful on trips, especially on physical adventures such as hiking or waling around Tokyo.
There are many good options but for travel, our choice is the Sombra Roll On. Sombra is one of the strongest pain relieving gels on the market and with the roll on option, you can apply easily with no fuss and no potential messes like having a bottle of pain cream explode in your suit case.
We cannot stress how important it is for your spine to have ample neck support.
Not only will a good neck pillow help you find comfortable positions to rest. A good neck pillow will release pressure all the way down your spine. It will also lessen impact on bumps, landings, and other turbulent spinal experiences.
We love the Cabeau Evolution S3, its a straight ahead, supportive memory foam pillow that folds up fro easy storage, but there are many our there to try.
Choosing the right footwear could be the most important choice you make for your back. So important, we cover it and the many options out there here.
However, when you have chronic back pain, your feet need attention at all waking moments. So it is crucial to have a great cushion slide, slipper, thong, or house shoe to help your feet recover after a long day of travel.
Hoka makes the best shoes for foot pain on the market and for a recovery slide, its hard to beat their ORA model but they also have a variety of sandals, slides and crossovers.
Lucky for us, massage guns are cheap and easy these days. Sure, there are a ton of choices to wade through, but we DO NOT LEAVE HOME WITHOUT ONE.
We love the power and long battery life of the Arboleaf. Its an affordable device that is easy to pack but not so small it isn’t extremely powerful.
Bringing wearable compression with you on a trip is a great way to help alleviate back pain and improve circulation during travel. Compression socks are tight-fitting stockings that provide gentle pressure to support the leg muscles and veins, which can help keep blood from pooling in the legs. They reduce swelling and help prevent deep vein thrombosis, a condition caused by sitting for long periods of time.
Additionally, compression shirts and underwear can help maintain circulation so your back is getting the blood it needs to recover.
Trust us- they could make all the difference when it comes to back pain and improving circulation during travel!
Bulky, uncomfortable and ugly- its a hard thing to pack your back brace. But it has to be done.
We know its far from stylish!
You’ll regret not having your preferred back brace on you if something more severe happens.
