Pre-Flight Stretches For Mitigating Airline Achiness
Today’s Topic Highlights:
Long plane flights induce terrible muscle stiffness. Fortunately, all you have to do to avoid this is stretch a few specific areas of the body before taking off.
The areas of the body most affected by long plane flights are the low back, hip flexors, thigh muscles, and backs of the knees.
Although stretching is beneficial both before and after flying, it is more realistic for most people to do it pre-flight. You can always double up on these stretches by doing them again later once settled at your home, hotel, or condo.
The 4 stretches in today’s article are: (1) seated trunk rotations; (2) toe touch reaches; (3) half kneeling hip flexor stretch; and (4) standing quadriceps stretch.
Share this article with everyone you know - we all fly at some point!
Long plane flights induce terrible muscle stiffness. Anyone who has travelled by air for flights longer than a puddle job (basically all of us) knows this all too well. The good news is that this default traveling downside can be avoided. All you have to do is stretch a few specific muscles before taking off.
Keep in mind that any sustained period of time spent sitting in one position will lead to tight musculature, especially in the hips. Even relatively quick trips between the northeast and Florida during snow bird season often leave flyers feeling like Tin Man.
Although sitting has a detrimental effect on the entire body, certain muscles do take the brunt of the load. Those areas most affected by air travel are:
Low back (the thoracolumbar fascia)
Hip flexors (the psoas and TFL muscles)
Thigh muscles (quadriceps, and adductors
Behind the knees (hamstring/calf junction)
Although stretching is beneficial both before and after flying, it is more realistic for most people to do it pre-flight. The relaxed, seated environment at the gate is more conducive for stretching than the stampede of foot traffic scurrying out of the plane. You can always double up on these stretches by doing them again later once settled at your home, hotel, or condo.
The following four stretches can easily be performed in any airport. I specifically picked these four stretches because they can all be done while waiting at the gate. Zero exercise equipment is required. The total amount of time it takes to go through all of them is about 10 minutes. If you find yourself in a pinch, then just stretch the areas that tend to be the tightest on you after a long plane flight.