How to Prevent Stiff Muscles and Body Aches when Travelling

Elizabeth Garvey
July 23rd, 2022

Sitting down for long periods of time can increase your risk of blood clots, cause muscle tension and back pain; not what you need if you’re off on a big adventure. Here are 7 great tips to keep you comfortable in transit:

Start with great posture! Keep your feet flat on the floor and your knees level with your hips – it’s not always easily done, especially if you are either end of the height spectrum – but you can use pillows or blankets to help you achieve this.
The easiest thing you can do is to get up and move around. On a plane or train this can be quite straight forward – go for a walk down the aisle. On a long car journey, you should plan regular stops to stretch your legs.
If you can’t get up and walk around regularly, do toe circles to keep your feet and legs active by lifting your foot off the ground and slowly rotating it clockwise, then counter-clockwise in ten full rotations.
Support your lumbar! Use pillows, blankets or even a rolled-up jumper to prevent slouching and keep your spine straight!
Stretch your neck! We often adopt strange positions to get some shut-eye when upright and a stiff neck really can put a damper on things! You can do this by tipping your head to one side and applying light pressure from the top of the head to bring your ear closer to your shoulder (make sure to keep your chin forward and your shoulders level).
Roll those shoulders – Circle your shoulders going forward, up toward your ears, and then back and down. Repeat and then reverse directions.
Stretch your hips – While seated, place your right ankle on your left knee. Bend over and press down on your right knee to feel the stretch in your right hip. Release and repeat on the other side.

Prefer to see a demonstration? Our amazing sports therapist Cydney talks you through the exercises in the video below ??? Want to see Cydney in person? Click here to get booked in!