Key Highlights
- Being proactive remains the single best way to keep back pain from putting a damper on your travel plans.
- When it comes to pain relief for lower back pain, movement is medicine.
- Simple adjustments to your sitting posture and hydration habits, along with heat and cold therapy, can go a long way toward keeping you comfortable throughout your trip.
Pain relief for lower back pain is not something most people think about until they are wedged into an airplane seat for a transatlantic flight or gripping the steering wheel for hours on end.
Prolonged sitting puts immense pressure on the lumbar region of your spine (lower back), causing pain and stiffness that can derail your travel plans and stifle your enjoyment of the trip.
Fortunately, there is a lot you can do to keep lower back pain from dictating how you feel or move during your trip. Whether you are globetrotting or driving interstate, here are some pain relief strategies for lower back pain to help you stay comfortable and enjoy every moment without it getting in the way.
1. Be Proactive
Pain relief for lower back pain is essentially just damage control. The best approach to the problem is to prevent it from occurring in the first place.
Consider adding these essentials to your pre-travel checklist to help stave off lower back pain attacks:
- Plan Your Carry-Ons Strategically: Keep heavier items close to your body and pack essentials in easy-to-lift bags to avoid awkward bending or twisting.
- Choose Your Seat Wisely: An aisle seat gives you easier access to stand, stretch, and move around, reducing stiffness and strain on your lower back.
- Bring Along A Lumbar Pillow: This fills the gap between your lower back and the seat, keeping your spine in proper alignment.
2. Find Ways to Move
Movement is a strongly supported, research-backed strategy for pain relief for lower back pain. Johns Hopkins Medicine notes that movement in the form of light stretching and walking improves circulation and posture, helping tamp down back pain or prevent its onset.
During long-haul flights, get up and go for a quick walk down the aisle every 30–60 minutes to prevent muscle stiffness. During car trips, plan brief stops every hour to stretch and reset your posture.
Here are simple standing stretches worth trying during stops:
- Hamstring Stretch – Keeps the back of your legs loose, reducing pressure on your spine.
- Side Bend – Relieves tension along your lower back muscles.
- Hip Flexor Stretch – Counters the shortening of your hip flexor muscles caused by prolonged sitting, which can tilt your pelvis forward and place added strain on your lower back.
3. Mind Your Posture
Whether you are cruising 35,000 miles in the sky or logging miles behind the wheel, maintaining proper sitting posture is an essential strategy for pain relief for lower back pain. Slouching and craning your neck forward both contribute to lower back pain by increasing pressure on your lumbar discs and disrupting your spine’s natural alignment, respectively.
Keep your feet flat on the floor, your hips back in your seat, and your shoulders relaxed. If you need to use your laptop during your flight, raise the screen so you are not hunched over. A slight seat recline, about 100 to 110 degrees, can also reduce stress on your lower spine.
4. Stay Hydrated
This might seem irrelevant and an unlikely strategy for pain relief for lower back pain, but what you drink—and how much—can influence how your back feels hours into your trip.
According to the National Spine Health Foundation, staying hydrated helps maintain disc health and keeps your back muscles limber, helping prevent spasms.
Since easy access to fluids is not always guaranteed when you are traveling, consider bringing a refillable water bottle wherever you go. Also, limit your caffeine or alcohol intake, as they can dehydrate you.
5. Bring Heat Wraps or Cold Packs
If you have recurrent lower back pain or have a history of flare-ups, having portable heat wraps or cold packs handy can be beneficial. Heat therapy provides effective pain relief for lower back pain by relaxing tight muscles and reducing spasms from prolonged sitting, while cold therapy reduces inflammation and eases discomfort by numbing the area.
If you are traveling by air or by train, using disposable adhesive heat wraps is a smart move, as they stay warm for hours and can be worn discreetly under clothing. If you are driving, it is a good idea to keep a travel-friendly gel pack in a cooler, so you can use it during rest stops for quick pain relief for lower back pain.
Lower Back Pain Doctor in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia
If you came back from your trip with lingering or worsening back pain despite the strategies mentioned above, visit us here at Watauga Orthopaedics. We are proud to have highly credentialed spine surgeons on our team—Dr. Richard Duncan, Dr. Scott MacDonald, and Dr. Michael Czulinski—who are known for providing exceptional patient care and the best pain relief for lower back pain.
We will work closely with you to pinpoint and address its underlying cause, helping you break free from it, regain mobility, and get back to living the life you love quickly, safely, and efficiently. Whether you need a spinal fusion or a lumbar microdiscectomy, you can rest assured that you are in capable hands.
For more information or to schedule a consultation with one of our spine experts, contact us today at (423) 282-9011 or use our appointment request form.
