Stuck in traffic jams on your vacation route, do you have back pain? Discover a contortionist’s easy routine to immediately relieve pain.
Stuck behind the wheel on the highway, speedometer stuck at ten kilometers per hour, a sneaky tension builds in your neck and the lower part of your back turns into a block of concrete. Your first instinct? Quickly straighten your chest, convinced that you will be punished for your “bad posture”. Good news: three minutes of simple actions, without even leaving your seat, are enough to unblock everything.
And the culprit is not who you think. In any case, this is the observation of Jessica Prevalet, contortionist and former professional gymnast, founder of the Flexifit application, who shares her anti-tension routine. According to her, posture is always wrongly blamed: the real enemy, the one that paralyzes you on the road, is simply the lack of movement.
Our body is a machine designed to constantly move and adapt. When you sit for hours in the same position, your joints slow down, certain muscles contract tirelessly to hold your body up while others fall asleep. Hence this feeling of being “rusty” upon arrival. The key is therefore not to aim for perfect alignment, but to inject mobility. Allow 20 to 30 seconds per stretch, breathing slowly.
Start at the back of your neck. Tilt your head to one side by pushing the opposite shoulder toward the floor on a deep exhale, then place both hands behind your head to gently bring your chin toward your chest. Then cross your arms in front of you, hands on your shoulder blades as if to spread them apart, and let the weight of your head fall forward.
Move to column. Grasp the sides of your seat, inhale while slightly arching your back and opening your chest, then exhale while rounding and tucking your chin. To go further, cross your left arm to grasp the underside of the seat on the right, right hand behind your head, and tilt your torso to the left. Your shoulders will love it when you grab the headrest by pushing your armpits forward. And if circulation is completely blocked, place your left ankle on your right knee and lean your torso forward, back straight: your glutes will instantly release.
Jessica Prevalet insists on one point: we never seek performance or pain, only comfortable stretching carried by deep breathing. And as soon as the opportunity presents itself, apply the best reflex of all: get out of the vehicle during breaks, every two hours, to walk for a few minutes. Your hips and back will thank you.
