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I am a former athlete with a lot of residual aches and pains. I finally figured out how to travel so I arrive feeling good. Do you have any tricks?
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I used to be an athlete, and then when I retired, I took up running. Now, my joints, especially my hip
joints and one shoulder, remind me daily that I was hard on my body.
The result is that I am a one-hour traveler. If a trip is longer than an hour—by
car, train, plane, or boat—I arrive with tight hips that send shooting pains
down one leg and a shoulder that became so tight that my doctor says my clavicle
moves slightly out of place causing my elbow to ache. By the time I get home
from this trip, it takes days to recover. And then, a few years ago, I
finally figured out how to travel so that I arrive feeling good!
I am not a medical doctor, and I am not claiming these tips will work for anyone else. I know a lot of people who have chronic conditions that cause pain, but I do not have any underlying conditions. These tips are just how I handle my cranky hips and tricky shoulder. I hope you will share your tips, too, because traveling with pain sucks and everyone has a different experience with it.
First, I Created a Travel Protocol.
A "protocol" sounds serious, doesn't it? Like it's something important, prescribed an expert? But, honestly, before figuring out what worked for me, I often spent several days “getting over” a travel day, and when going from one house to the other or during heavy travel seasons, I often left for the next travel day before I fully recovered from the prior one.
Sometimes I had to drag myself into a massage therapist's office or a chiropractor's office (or both) after a trip just to be "fixed." If I had a good trip in terms of pain, I couldn't remember what I did to manage it better.
The final straw was a trip to Disney. I asked my doc for some meds to help me through the trip so I didn't disappoint my kids. This is not any way for me to live my life when, essentially, I have nothing wrong with me but terrible aches and pains when I travel or sit at my desk for too many hours in a row.
I needed to find a way to be present and productive regardless of travel and without asking for meds to help me through. And, I needed to write it down (or remember it) and follow the plan every time. I decided to call it a "protocol," so that it held importance in my own mind as something I needed to prioritize because, let's face it, if mom isn't happy, no one is.
Now, whenever I travel in a car/plane/train ride that lasts two or more hours in a single day (so an hour there and an hour back during a single day) counts as a travel day for me. And anytime I have a travel day, I use my Travel Protocol.
By the way, Commuting Can Count as Travel...I just discovered this. My two kids take classes that are 30 minutes from our house. One day a week, I drive my son there and back in the morning and my daughter there and back in the evening. That results in 2 hours of driving. It has taken me 6 weeks of ending the day with a crunchy hip to realize that just commuting to these classes is two hours of travel time that should be triggering me to follow my travel protocol. I now treat this day as a one-day trip.
THE PROTOCOL
My travel protocol includes starting a trip feeling good, drinking water with electrolytes on a strict schedule, using a TENS unit, and having a bag of meds on hand during every trip. Here's how it works.
Feel Good
So that sounds stupid, like we can choose how we feel, but what I mean is to try to feel as good as I possibly can control. If I am already achy because sometimes that's just the way it is, I try to do whatever I can to minimize the aches from turning into pain.For example, if I am having more than day-to-day live-with-it pain, I try to see my chiropractor or our family doc for a quick adjustment to start out with everything in alignment.
My clavicle (or a rib, depending on which doc I ask) tends to move just enough so that my shoulder becomes gridlocked causing my inner elbow to hurt. Yep, I know my clavicle has shifted when my elbow hurts. That's my life: the thing that hurts is often not the cause. If you are a retired athlete, does this happen to you? When all is in alignment, my elbow is fine.
Drink Water with Electrolytes
Honestly, as long as I am as aligned as possible and feel as good as I can, water with electrolytes is the secret to low-pain travel for
me.
A few years ago, I read somewhere that pain can worsen with dehydration and that flying can be dehydrating. All my running friends added electrolytes to their water so that it acts as a hydration multiplier. And even though I didn't think I was dehydrated at all, I wondered if upping my electrolytes before traveling would make a difference in my travel pain. It sounded so over-the-top, but I decided to try it for an upcoming trip.
Starting the day before the trip, I drank waters with electrolytes, Gatorades, flavored water with electrolytes--essentially a smorgasbord of beverages with electrolytes.
When I stood up on the plane to use the restroom, I prepared myself for the scrunched-up ball of hip pain that I always got from sitting too long without standing. But, I felt nothing. Nothing! No shooting pain! No cramp! No pinched feeling! I continued to drink beverages with electrolytes for my entire trip, and I arrived home still feeling good.
I can’t describe how
amazing it felt to not need days to recover.
I figured out very quickly, though, that I did not like drinking so much because I couldn't stop to pee, if driving, or get up that many times if flying.
Over time, I figured out that I did not need to drink electrolytes during an entire trip as long as I added electrolytes at specific times during every
trip, as I describe below.
Now, I go through about four 1-liter bottles of electrolyte water
for a day trip and 8-10 1-liter bottles for a multi-day trip. When I
am living in two places, I depend on and go through a lot of water with electrolytes!
I like the brands essentia Water or SmartWater (I really like these with the sports cap, even though they are not quite 1 liter). I'll go for Gatorade if I can't find water with electrolytes. I never drink the sugar-free versions of Gatorade or the waters that are flavored and have some sort of sweetener or sugar-substitute in them. I stick with regular Gatorade or plain waters with electrolytes. Sounds picky, I know, but it's another reason I call this a protocol. It reminds me that I cannot substitute a different beverage no matter how much I would like to have a giant margarita instead.
Here is how I use it for a Day Trip (or a day of 2-hours or more of commuting time):
Bottle 1: Evening before travel.
Bottle 2: Mid-day of travel.
Bottle 3: That evening after returning home.
Bottle 4: Next morning.
Here is how I use it for a Multi-Day Trip:
Bottle 1: Evening before travel.
Bottle 2: Day of travel. Save the bottle.
If I am flying, I buy a bottle or two of electrolyte water after I clear security.
Upon arrival, I buy three 1-liter bottles. If I am going from the airport to the hotel, I might buy a few bottles at airport prices—that’s how much I rely on SmartWater during a trip. If I arrive after the airport stores close, I continue to use Bottle Two to measure out a liter of water so I at least know I am getting enough additional water and then try to add on a Gatorade or SmartWater as soon as I can.
Obviously, when traveling from one home to the other, I keep 6-12 bottles on hand, hidden from my daughter who thinks they are much cooler than drinking iced tap water in the Hydroflask she insisted she “needed” for gymnastics.
A runner friend uses Nuun Sport Electrolyte Tablets and I recently read about Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplyer, which are powders that can be added to water, but I haven't tried these. Have you? I could see adding these to my med bag that I describe below.
Bottle 3: Evening after travel day.
Bottle 4: Morning after travel day.
Bottle 5: Evening before return trip.
Bottle 6: During travel.
Bottle 7: Evening after travel day.
Bottle 8: Morning after travel day.
When I travel coast-to-coast or internationally, I double my
day-of-travel electrolyte water because the flight tends to be longer.
I use a TENS Unit
I travel with two TENS units. Total overkill, I know. I have a regular one, like this one, and a Quell.
I love the Quell but it has gotten a lot of flak lately (and has had a lawsuit for making false medical claims), but I still like it because it is stealth. I can wear it and no one knows I have it on. It's wireless so I don't get tangled in the wires and accidently unplug it. And, bonus: I control it with an app on my phone, so I don't have to pull out the TENS controller.
The Quell can only be worn on the upper calf, so its use is limited, but I suppose the best part about the Quell is that it's a good distraction; it gives my mind something to focus on rather than the aches that begin about an hour into the flight.
The Quell is expensive, so research it well before you buy.
When I fly with a TENS unit, I put them in my carry on bag and sometimes TSA usually takes a closer look. After I go through security, I go into the restroom and connect one of the units if I think I want it on the plane, and I usually do for a long flight. If I'm using my Quell, it is easy to wear so that no one sees it and I don't yank on the wires accidently. If I'm using the regular TENS unit for my shoulder or hip or lower back, I attach the pads and then tuck the wires so that they don't hang out. I put the tips that go into the controller in my front pants pocket or clip them to my waistband. Once I am on the plane and seated, I will attach the controller. I do this because I tend to get tangled in the cords, yank them out accidently, etc. I'm not very good with the regular TENS.
Companies seem to be discontinuing TENS units, so if you are considering buying one, ask your medical people about using one. You want to make sure you can get replacement pads and parts for them. If you know why these are being discontinued, please leave a comment below.
Travel Bag of Meds
I am trying to get away from using meds for pain control, but I still carry a small bag of meds with me that includes:
Lidocaine patches
Motrin Liquid Gels
Extra-Strength Tylenol
Excedrin
Lip Balm
Band-Aids
Lidocaine patches
I use lidocaine patches if a hip starts to hurt during flight or if I will be sitting in meetings for several hours at a time. Lidocaine patches numb an area, and so they really help with hip pain, lower back pain, shoulder pain, etc.
Tip: No matter where you plan to use the patch, buy the patches for back pain because they are the largest. You can then cut them down. I cut them diagonally to go on my hip. Icy Hot makes the largest one that I can find.
Motrin Liquid Gels (ibuprofen)
If I am the least bit
stiff, I take Motrin IB Liquid Gels at the beginning of the trip. My understanding with ibuprofen is that at one dosage level, it helps with pain and a higher dosage level, it help inflammation. Ask your doc about this.
Excedrin (acetaminophen, aspirin, caffeine):
If my
hips REALLY hurt, I take an Excedrin along with Motrin. Something about
the combo of ingredients helps a lot, and the caffeine hit helps a little, too.
NOTE about Motrin and Excedrin: I am a brand loyalist, and go for
the brand-name products because Excedrin (a combo of acetaminophen, aspirin,
and caffeine) claims to work in 15 minutes, and I am convinced that Motrin Liquid
Gels (ibuprofen) work faster than any other ibuprofen out there.
I am sure this belief is psychosomatic
or just psycho.
Lip Balm
While lip balm has nothing to do with pain, I carry regular and my favorite tinted lip
balm because even when I am in pain upon arrival, a little tinted lip balm helps me feel more normal. Lip balm is also my little daughter's "lipstick," so it keeps us both happy.
Band-Aids:
These have nothing to do with my cranky
hips but someone always needs one, plus I carry the ones with fun colors and designs and these are fun to offer a stranger who needs a band-aid.
Walk/Swim/Stretch
After a travel day, walking/swimming/stretching is the most
helpful at keeping pain at bay, but I do not always have the time or opportunity
to do these things, especially if I am staying in cramped quarters or if the
trip schedule is extremely tight.
TL;DR
This post is too long to say that I rely on water with
electrolytes, a TENS unit, lidocaine patches, and a bag of meds, but it has taken
me a long while to figure out how to still feel normal-ish after a long travel
day. Pain is distracting, and I want to be fully present for the people I see at
home and on the road.
What are your tips?
#painfreeliving | #travelpain | #splitliving
#livingin2places
