We have all heard of needing a vacation from a vacation, and the aches and pains encountered while traveling generally aren’t in the itinerary. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Even if getting to your vacation destination is less than pleasant, there are ways to decrease the pain and strain on your body. We’ll show you how.

It is almost inevitable that you will suffer at least some minor aches and pains while traveling. Lack of activity and keeping your body in the same position for an extended period of time can take its toll on the legs, back, neck, and other parts of the body. Often travelers have little control over their traveling conditions—they might endure long waits, endless hours in a seated or standing position, heavy bags to haul at odd angles, and cramped quarters that don’t allow for much movement or stretching. Below are some of the most common muscle pains you could feel while traveling, as well as tips for preventing and treating these aches and pains.

Types of Pain

• Aches—a dull persistent pain that is usually felt when your body is at rest
  • Aches generally feel better after you start moving and warm up the muscles.
• Tingling/asleep—a numbing sensation or loss of feeling when a nerve is pinched
  • Once the source of the pinching is found and alleviated, the sensation should subside.
• Cold—when muscles are contracted, affecting circulation
  • Cold muscles are often helped by moving around and increasing blood flow to the cold areas.
• Cramps—sudden contraction in the muscle
  • Relaxing the muscle by stretching should reduce or eliminate cramps.
• Knots—when muscle fibers do not relax
  • Massaging the knots and stretching the muscle can help relax the fibers.
• Spasms—severe cramps that come and go in "waves"
  • As with cramping, relaxing the muscle by stretching should reduce or eliminate spasms.

Prevention Tips

Treatment Tips

• Rest aching muscles.
• To increase blood flow, do light to moderate exercise.
• Try heat therapy. Hot showers, heating pads, and hot compresses may help to relax muscles.
• If recommended by your doctor, take over-the-counter pain medicines to relieve pain and stiffness.
• Give yourself a mini-massage.

When to Seek Medical Treatment

While many travel aches and pain will go away on their own, get medical treatment if you have:

• Severe aches that do not go away after doing the personal care steps, like applying a heating pad, taking over-the-counter medicine
• Other symptoms along with muscle pain—such as fever, headache, weight loss, sore throat, rash, redness, swelling, abdominal pain, or loss of muscle strength
• Pain that travels down the limbs
• Numbing or tingling sensation
• Signs of a possible blood clot in your leg—such as lower leg swelling, pain, tenderness along the thigh, warmth