Healthy travelling habits

Welcome to the summary of our course on travel ergonomics! We mainly discussed two postural hazards: 

• prolonged sitting posture, often slouched due to bad seats,
• neck strain due to excessive use of laptops, tablets and smartphones (aggravated by uncomfortable seats). 

There are 4 travelling postures:

• lying down;
  
• standing to decompress your lower back (at least once per hour) or walk to prevent leg swelling;

• sitting with an upright backrest and your pelvis supported by the lumbar support: this is a working or reading posture. The line of sight is slightly descending. To avoid flexing the neck too much, use the tablet in front of you or raise your reading material with a cushion on your laps;

• sitting with a reclined backrest: again, your pelvis is supported by your lumbar support, and you use a pillow to support your head. The pressure in the lower back in slightly lower than when you sit with the backrest upright, but the line of sight is ascending: this is neither a working nor a reading posture but a relaxing posture (e.g., to listen to music). 

To protect your back, we also mentioned the following ideas:

• stand before boarding and stand in the transfer bus,
• book an aisle seat and stand up frequently,
• travel with a piece of anti-slip mat to stabilize the pelvis when you sit, and recreate a lumbar support with a pullover or a scarf that you roll behind your belt,
• standing, rest your belt against the wall (not the shoulder blades),
• limit high heels on the day of the travel, and insert padded soles in the shoes that you wear when you stand for long.

To protect your neck:

• whenever possible, use a detached keyboard and an external mouse (avoid mini mouses). Raise the laptop screen (top of the screen 10° below eye level),
• increase the frequency of short breaks when you work on mobile screens (see the article on homeworking ergonomics),
• do not work on non-urgent files when ergonomics is bad,
• prefer calls and vocal messages (e.g., Whatsapp) to mails.

Below, a relaxation routine to be done several times per day, even if in parts.

Finally, this is an exercise  to reinforce your mid-back muscles (ideally done in the morning and early afternoon). Choose one of these two positions, and push your mid-back forward without hollowing your lower back (the actual movement is minimal: you should mainly feel muscular tension). Then, increase the power of the exercise by gently forcing the elbows backwards and downwards, without actually moving them. Hold for a minute while breathing deeply.