If you have experienced back pain while traveling, you know it's not enjoyable.
How to Sit on an Airplane with Back Pain
Airplane travel is uncomfortable, especially with chronic back pain.
The seats are designed to make you slouch, which stresses the spine.
In order to reduce the strain on your spine, sit on your hip bones instead of your tailbone.
Feel for these pointy hip bones by sitting on your hands.
In order to sit on these bones, you must roll the hips forward.
To help you roll your hips forward, sit on something at the back of your seat like a wedge, pillow, or sweatshirt.
Elevating the back of your seat makes it easier to sit on your hip bones and avoid slouching.
Once the hips are positioned well, sit tall as if there was a string at the back of your head pulling you up to the sky.
To maintain good posture, don't use muscular force, instead think of balancing your bones.
Stretchsitting
Stretchsitting is a strategy to help you sit taller by using the seat behind you for support.
This helps to further reduce the amount of effort required to maintain good posture.
If you travel frequently, I recommend purchasing a stretchsit cushion that you can attach to any seat so it is easier to lengthen your spine. Here I'm using the stretchsit cushion on an airplane:
The stretchsit cushion teaches you to sit well, while a lumbar support causes excess arching and slouching.
By following these tips, sitting on an airplane will be much more comfortable.
How to Stretch on an Airplane with Back Pain
Although the low back is where you feel the stiffness/discomfort, we don't want to stretch the low back. Instead, we want our stretching to focus on the relatively tighter areas above and below the low back.
If you must stretch the lower back, avoid twisting and yanking, and instead perform a distraction stretch by pressing down with your hands on your seat or your thighs to lengthen your spine.
This can help to provide spine decompression that aids circulation to the area, but use this stretch sparingly to avoid further stressing your spine.
The following stretches focus on areas above and below the low back. These stretches are chosen to provide you immediate relief while utilizing the little space available to you to stretch on an airplane.
Reach
Reach your arms overhead with one arm or both arms while seated or standing to stretch the muscles of your upper body.
Try reaching with a single arm to feel how it opens your ribs and sides.
Make sure you don't overarch your back while reaching overhead.
30 seconds of reaching will loosen the upper body muscles.
Balance
Stand on one leg to engage all the muscles of the hip. You can perform lateral leg raises to challenge your balance and strengthen your glute muscles.
The hip flexor march can help aid blood flow to the hips.
Get up and move whenever possible to aid circulation to your body.
Split Squat
Stand with one leg in front of the other to feel a stretch in the back of your front leg and the front of your back leg.
To feel a greater stretch in the front of the back leg, keep the hips facing forward and the back foot on the toes while leaning backwards and to the side away from the back leg.
Make the stretch easier by elevating your front leg on a chair or a step and use your hands for support.
Pancake
Stand with your feet hip width or wider and bend forward while making your butt face towards the sky. Make sure you're moving primarily at the hips, not at the spine.
You can place your hands on a surface for added support.
Bonus Stretches for Airplane Back Pain
If you have a little bit more space available to you, you can complete the hip airplane exercise to open up the inner and outer thighs.
Spend 3 seconds at the bottom and the top to get the most out of the stretch.
The couch stretch is the ultimate hip opener you can perform when you're waiting for your airplane to board. Simply get down into a half-kneeling position and elevate your back foot onto a wall or chair to feel a great stretch in the hip flexor muscles.
Conclusion
Sitting on an airplane is not an easy task, but by sitting well and taking regular breaks to stretch the areas above and below the low back, you can reduce the discomfort you feel.
What has worked well for you? What has helped you to stay pain-free while traveling? Let me know!
If you have any questions, leave a comment below or send me a message.
Hope this helps! - Tom
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