By Chris Watts

The stresses and strains of traveling take their toll on all our body structures. Carrying bags asymmetrically, eating all the wrong foods, getting hugely de-hydrated, affecting the elasticity of all muscle and connective tissues. The confinement and density of public transport and the negative energy from all the short-tempered and tense travelers from delays and crowds, all add up to bodies wound up like a Swiss watch!  

The good news is you certainly don’t have to be in a gym or Stretch clinic to be maintaining your flexibility. I believe there is no better time than right now, at any place to be opening up and lengthening tight and contracted tissues.

The problem I find with the long haul traveling, since me as a frequent flyer voyaging to Hong Kong/ London twice a month, is all the waiting around. Then there is the actual 12 hours of static, non-active air time.

Remember you are placing 8 times more pressure on your spine when sitting than standing.

Getting up and moving around will automatically rehydrate those compressed intervertebral disks that are designed to cushion the spinal joints. It is essential to think of doing some basic stretches for the whole spinal column during your journey.

Here are 5 simple Active Isolated Stretches for the spine;

1. Whilst sitting, legs slightly apart, breathe-in, contract your stomach muscles and lean forwards grabbing onto your lower legs and gently pulling your spine down to lengthen all your erector spinae muscles .Hold the stretch no longer than 2 seconds and come back up to the start position. Repeat 10 times. This action works like a pump to shunt blood and nutrients into the tissues that you are stretching. This flexion of the spine will open all the spinal extensors that keep you straight and upright.
2.  Again whilst sitting, actively rotate your spine as far as you can comfortably go to the right side. With your right hand on the back of the chair pull yourself into a stretch holding no longer than 2 seconds. Return back to the start position. Repeat 10 times and then repeat the spinal rotation to the left. This not only works the superficial erectors but also the deep rotators and multifidae muscles down at the joint level.
3. Whilst sitting, clasp your hands behind your head, keeping your hips still; rotate the trunk to your right side as far as you can go. Drop the left elbow to the left knee to open all the lumbar structures. Again hold your stretch no longer than 2 seconds so as to prevent the myotatic stretch reflex from engaging. Return back to the start position and repeat 10 times. Then work the opposite side.
4. To extend the spine and stretch all the spinal flexors which cause people to buckle and bend forwards, place the hands behind the head as if you were under arrest. Keep the abdominal muscles tight and engaged. Take a deep breath and bend the spine from the mid back and look up to the ceiling. Do not bend back too far as it will compress the lower back. We are talking about gentle movements of no more than 15 degrees of backward extension. This can be done sitting or standing. Repeat at least 10 times.

This method of Active Isolated Stretching is one of the newest, safest and gentle forms of achieving greater flexibility. The principal being that the muscles you are stretching are in fact neurologically switched off or relaxed due to the opposite muscles being engaged or contracted. The more they are switched on the more relaxed the stretched muscles will be. The stretch is only held in its extended position for 2 seconds. This is safer as it can prevent an eccentric contraction or ‘push/pull’ feeling that can potentially tear tissues.