We’re ecstatic to have Alicia Ludwig join the team here at Spiral Spine! Alicia has been a long-time client and felt led to become an instructor after seeing such fabulous results in her own scoli body. She was born with congenital scoli and has lived through three lumbar scoli surgeries. Alicia found Spiral Spine to help her avoid a fourth surgery. Read more about Alicia’s story here.
As a former airline pilot, I love to travel; however, the pains stemming from my scoli and scoli surgeries caused me to stop flying. Taking Pilates classes at Spiral Spine changed my life by allowing me to travel pain-free! Erin and the staff empowered me by giving me the tools to care for my body’s needs. After experiencing such astonishing results, I decided to become a Pilates instructor and pass on the love to others.
With the heavy travel season of Spring Break coming up, I wanted to share my three favorite exercises I do when I travel and recommend for my clients to do when they travel to prevent pain.
Traction
I always start my travel body care by finding a way to traction, which allows more length through the back. You can gently hang in a doorway or the weight rack in a hotel gym. If you can’t find a place to hang from, traction from a sink! To traction from a sink, stand a couple of feet away from the sink and grab onto the front of it. Test that the sink is sturdy by pushing on it a little before you ask it to hold you up. Once you’re sure the sink is stable, bend forward at your hips and let the weight of your upper body hang as dead weight with your knees bent.
You can simply hang, or you can mobilize a little! My favorite way to mobilize is to bend one knee at a time and switch between the two sides a handful of times; this doesn’t tug on my fusion. Another option I enjoy is to turn my legs about 45 degrees to one side and hang there; if you do this variation, don’t forget to switch to the other side. Depending on your level of mobility, you can play with swaying your pelvis side-to-side or allowing your spine to flex and extend (like cat/cow).
Side Shifts
The first time I activated my multifidi on my concave side, I felt myself come back alive. It felt amazing! Making my sleepy concave muscles wake up gave my spine and spondylolisthesis the stability it needed to help alleviate my pain. That’s why a side shift is my second travel exercise.
If you’ve got access to Pilates equipment while you travel, I recommend doing side shifts on the Chair (see the above, right image). It’s my body’s favorite way to activate my concave multifidi! I also enjoy the Arc and the Ladder Barrel whenever I’m in the studio.
I usually don’t have Pilates equipment available when I travel, so I’ve learned to do the same exercise from the mat (see above left image). To set up for this exercise, lie on your side with the concave side of your major curve up. Lie on the floor with hand towels rolled up or pillows stacked up underneath your convex side to act as your padding. Bend your bottom leg to give yourself stability, and reach your top leg as far from your hip as you can and think about it going back just a tad to create length in your psoas. Make sure you don’t let your pelvis move away from being stacked up! I prefer to slightly lift my top leg in order to wake up my sleepy lumbar multifidi muscles before I ask them to shift my spine. Use a big exhale to drag your spine upwards at the apex of your major curve, and inhale to return to the beginning of the motion without sinking into your scoli. The motion is small, but should activate the correct muscles well.
Myofascial Ball Rolling
Finally, I always roll on a variety of balls to help release those muscles that tightened up during travel. There are so many different types of balls and movements you can do with them. My favorites are the Pro Soft Release ball (or as we call it, the “Neptune” ball), green Franklin ball, and Pinky ball. You can find links to purchase my favorite myofascial release balls here . You can take these everywhere, and the beauty is that you can do them while watching TV, working on the computer, or hanging out with your family. They are all a great addition to your suitcase for alleviating travel discomfort or pain.
My absolute favorite is a psoas release using the Neptune ball. Place the Neptune ball just inside your ASIS (the part of the hip bone you can feel on the front of your hip) and lie on it. Then, move and roll around to different areas that may be uncomfortable and breathe into the release. I like to roll from belly button level down into the top of my thigh. You can also lift the leg, like I am in the image above, to intensify the release.
I hope that these exercises will help you in your daily life and also when you travel. If you have any questions or want to figure out what your top 3 travel exercises are, go ahead and book an in-studio or virtual lesson with me. Safe travels, scoli friends!
Alicia Ludwig is a comprehensively certified Pilates instructor by Balanced Body and a personal trainer through the American Council on Exercise. She has a deep passion for working with those with scoliosis, as she has scoli and has lived through three scoli surgeries, two of which failed. She desires to help others find pain free living without medical intervention. Read more about Alicia’s story here.
One Response
What if you have a S curvature ? And 2 concave areas . Go with the more prominent one?