HEALTH
Few things are as exciting as planning a trip or vacation with family or friends. Significant time, effort and money are involved in this process and an unforeseen or nagging injury can make traveling difficult and sometimes stressful. Here are a few things to consider to help make your traveling painless.
Lumbar Support:
Whether you’re taking a road trip in the car, or flying across the world, prolonged sitting can bother even the healthiest low back. During any prolonged sitting it is important to be observant about the position of your lumbar spine. A healthy sitting position requires appropriate support to maintain a slight arch in your low back, called lordosis. Too much, or too little of this position increases pressure on your vertebrae and lumbar discs making for miserable travel. Come prepared with an extra sweatshirt or towel to roll up, and slide behind your low back. In general, I recommend people avoid prefabricated lumbar supports. Unless the support is adjustable, it’s rare to find one that ‘fits you,’ and is usually more comfortable to fashion an appropriately rolled towel.
Foot wear:
Appropriate foot wear can have a significant effect on your tolerance to prolonged walking or standing. While this is well known, many people don’t appropriately heed this warning. A “comfy” pair of flip-flops or nice heels don’t make for great walking shoes, and can quickly lead to unhappy joints. The design of your shoes to support your forefoot, arch, or heel plays a large role in the alignment of your knees, hips and spine. Proper arch support can control the rotation of your tibia (shin bone), alignment of your patella (knee cap), and rotation of your femur (leg bone). While strength and endurance are the most important mechanism to control alignment, your shoe choice can drastically improve your comfort.
Hydration:
Considering the human body is about 65% water, a traveler’s level of hydration cannot be ignored. Travel often happens in warm summer months or similar climates leaving risk for dehydration and heat exhaustion. Prolonged walking and sightseeing should always be accompanied by frequent water breaks. The change from grinding away at a desk, to sightseeing the world should be accompanied by an increase in daily water intake.
Address your ailments head on:
In most aspects of health care, preventative medicine is the key to success. In regards to orthopedic issues during travel, this involves a range of techniques.
Be physically prepared for the trip. Anticipate the amount of walking, hiking, standing or swimming that will be required of you to enjoy your experience. Train for it, practice it, and be prepared.
Get Treatment. In the event that you have a pre-existing injury as your vacation approaches, plan a course of therapy ahead of time. Don’t wait until the last minute ‘hoping it will get better,’ then expect a miracle with 1-2 therapy visits. However, if the trip is here and you still have symptoms, don’t allow them to worsen. Use anti-inflammatories if your doctor recommends them, and be prepared to use ice or heat at the end of a busy day to prevent next day soreness. You may even use taping or a brace to get you through a long day on your feet.
Don’t let aches and pains ruin your well-deserved vacation. Be prepared for the future, and if your symptoms persists, make an appointment right away. Safe travels!
