Back injury

Don’t let back pain ruin your holiday

Apex Clinic owner and spinal physiotherapy specialist, Rebecca Nelson, shares some tips on looking after your back on holiday and preventing pain from spoiling your fun in the sun.

At Apex Clinic, we hear every year how back pain has ruined our patients’ holidays. What should be a relaxing time soaking up the sun is spoiled by niggles and pain from travelling, sleeping in a different bed and lying on sun beds or on a mat on the beach trying to get that all over body glow.

Let the plane take the strain

When flying, recline your seat back as far as possible for as long as possible. This will reduce the load through your lower back discs and make your back less vulnerable to injury.

Don’t overdo it on arrival

Your lower back is more susceptible to disc injury for 24 hours after flying, so during this time go easy on your back.Resist the urge to go running or to load your back with heavy weights at the gym.Try to avoid vigorous uphill walks during this time.

Sun loungers can hurt your back

Sun loungers can be disastrous for people with lower back pain. When sunbathing on your back, you should raise the back support up slightly – from the horizontal to 35 degrees. You should also try rolling up two beach towels to place under both knees, so that your knees are slightly bent. This will reduce the load on your back. If sunbathing on your front, it is recommended that you fold two beach towels, so that there are approximately eight layers of towel beneath your tummy. This will stop the lower back joints jamming together, which can be both painful and awkward, especially if you are attempting to get up gracefully. Break up prolonged sunbathing with brisk walking or swimming, as lying in one position for too long may cause a flare up of lower back conditions.

Breaststroke may bother your back

For many people, swimming breaststroke can aggravate back pain. If this is the case, gentle jogging in the water with your feet touching the bottom is a good form of exercise and great for cooling off. Treading water is also very low risk for the back and you can gently move round the pool in this position.

Beware of excessive uphill walking or running

With all the changes for your lower back on holiday, such as carrying heavy luggage or having a different mattress, we recommend you minimise walking or running uphill as this places a high load on the lower back discs and can cause a sudden, acute episode of pain.

Don’t settle for a sub-standard mattress

If your mattress on holiday is too soft and you have back pain getting up in the morning, you should ask for a replacement. Failing this, you could put your bed covers on the floor and sleep there. This will significantly reduce the risk of your back having a severe, agonising episode of pain in the morning.

Apex Headache Clinic is the first drug-free headache and migraine clinic in Northern Ireland and is successfully treating patients from all over Ireland.