FALL RELEASES ARE HERE!! But what does that mean for your back?

I love, love, LOVE September. It doesn’t matter how hot it is, all the September releases and festivals put me in to the fall mood. Friends, fam, great paddling, and LOTS of driving.

Though it’s super fun, it’s still a transition from my weekend day trips to the Ocoee. I go from 1 hour drives and playing my way down the river and then home to my comfortable bed to hours and hours of seat time between the car and the boat.

This September I’ve been in Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina…

If you’re like me you’ve been in the same boat (pun intended?)

It is typically much easier to mentally shift to fall boating, but sometimes it can be harder to physically shift to the actual act of fall boating. I’ve seen it a lot in the Facebook communities over the last few weeks: back pain, back stiffness, hips hurting, etc..

I hear ya! If you’re like most paddlers, you have a day job. Probably, that day job means that you’re sitting a lot during the day. Then when it comes time for paddling you sit in the car… and then sit in the boat…

That’s actually a lot of strain on your back. It also makes your hips tight. In addition to feeling the strain in your back and hips, you are putting pressure on your actual spine and discs. And the combo is quite miserable.

Fortunately, there are some easy things that you can do to counteract this and get your back feeling great pretty much all of the time. At first it will be uncomfortable because you are likely tight, BUT if you stick with it then you will find that you hardly have back pain. Try these mobility exercises out for a pain-free good time. You can do them any time of day, and are amazing pre and post river trip.