Healthy Travel Tips

In-Room Stretches For Healthy Hips

Do your hips and back feel stiff and stuck after travelling on a plane, or even after a long drive? Don't worry, there are easy stretches you can do right in your own hotel room! Give them a try.

Firstly: Why do you need to mobilise the hip?

When you sit all day, your hips are constantly flexed at 90 degrees. As the hip is a ball and socket joint, it's designed to move around in many directions, so it doesn't like being stuck at 90 degrees all day.  The muscles that attach to the femur, plus the glutes (butt muscles) and your hip flexors become short and weak from too much sitting, so stretching and moving is the best thing you can do to ensure you have a healthy hip joint for longer. 

1. Sitting Gluteal Stretch

This stretch can be done in your plane seat, at a desk, or on the bed of your hotel room.

• While you’re sitting, bring your right ankle up to rest on your left knee.

• With a straight back, gently lean forward, placing gentle pressure from your right forearm onto your right knee, gently easing it toward the floor.

• Hold as you count to thirty,

• Gently let go and repeat on the left.

Pic by Lifehack.org

2. In-Room Hip Flexor Stretch

This stretch is perfect to when you arrive at your hotel room. It's a great way to release the hip flexors that have been shortened throughout your trip.

1. Standing up tall, place the shin of your right leg on a chair or on your bed, making sure you left foot is straight.

2. Standing on the left leg, bend your left knee into a lunge position

3. Hold as you count to thirty

4. Gently let go and repeat on the left.

3. Spinal Massage & Child’s Pose

Lying on your back, bring your knees to your chest and gently rock side to side. This helps to release the erector spinae muscles that run parallel to the spine.

Next, on your hands and knees, gently rock back until you’re sitting on your heels, and stretch your arms forward for a real spine stretch into child’s pose. Rest here for a few breaths. If it’s more comfortable, place your hands down by your side instead of stretching them out in front.

4. Restore mobility with a spinal roll down

The hip joint, pelvis and lower spine are all connected, with many muscles joining these bones together. A spinal roll down is a great way to let gravity help you gently stretch the muscles and nerves of your lower spine and pelvic region. Check out the video below to learn how to do a spinal roll down.

1. Standing up tall and breathe in

2. Breathe out as you gently tuck your chin to your chest and roll all the way down to the floor.

3. Let your arms go floppy and your head hang.

4. Breathe in at the bottom, and breathe out as you roll all the way up to the top, thinking of stacking your vertebrae, one on top of the other.

You can repeat this roll-down a few times until you feel ready to sit back down.

If you get hip pain, low back pain or feel sluggish after travelling, try the stretches above when you arrive in your hotel room. If you're not sure how to get started with moving better at work, see a good Physiotherapist, or get in touch with me to get help, and start living your healthiest life at home, and when you travel.

Need More Motivation To Live Healthy?

5 Ways to Kickstart Your Health This Spring

The days are getting longer and the mornings are brighter - Spring is nearly here! You’re probably super excited for the warmer months, but the thought of wearing summer dresses and shorts might be a bit daunting. Never fear! Here’s a 5-step guide to start your summer-wellness mission.

1. Get up 20 minutes earlier and head outside

Twenty minutes is nothing right? Wrong! It can make all the difference, and help you kickstart your health and fitness for spring. Whether you go for a walk to get a coffee, head to the park and go on the swings, go for a run or even sit outside with a cup of hot water, starting the day outdoors can have a hugely positive affect on your mindset and mental health.

Tip: Go for a walk, even just a short one, and you’ll find not only does it kickstart your summer cardio regime, it also does wonders for your mindset.

2. Boost your energy with spring produce

Finally! Spring produce is popping up meaning luscious tomatoes are on the shelves, asparagus is nearly here and stone fruits are on their way! Change up your lunch and instead of bringing last night’s leftover pasta to work, try making a super quick salad. 

Tip: Throw some cherry tomatoes in a tupperware with raw asparagus, cut capsicum, baby spinach, balsamic and some aoli. Add tuna in olive oil at lunchtime (or keep it completely veggie) and give it a shake when you’re ready to eat. You'll be adding extra nutrients to your diet and avoiding the 3pm slump thanks to the organic energy.

3. Get more vitamin D to boost your mood

If you suffered from the blues this winter, you’re not alone. A lack of vitamin D can have a huge effect on your mood. Finally there’s more sunlight hours though, so try to sit outside for at least ten minutes per day to get your Vitamin D fix. 

Tip: Your skin will probably be super sensitive to the sun after being under a million warm layers, so don’t forget to use some sunscreen, or a BB cream with sunscreen in it already.

Catching some rays at Bob's Cove, Queenstown

4. Spruce up your activewear collection

If you’ve lost a bit of motivation to workout this winter, don’t worry. Now’s the time to get back on track and get moving again! A great motivator is beautiful activewear, so why not pick up just one new piece to motivate you. You’ll be dying to wear your new leggings/jacket/tank top so you won’t miss your next yoga class.

Tip: My fave brands at the moment are The Upside, Lorna Jane, P.E Nation and Kinki

I was thrilled to meet this amazing woman Kinki, founder of beautiful Chinese brand Kinki Activewear and creator of yoga empire K Yoga.

5. Get those niggling pains sorted

Have you had knee pain, back pain or a niggly injury that’s bothered you throughout winter? Now’s the time to get it fixed! Head to a good Physiotherapist to get your injury sorted so you can achieve your fitness goals this summer. Whether you want to run a half marathon, play with your kids more or simply walk up the stairs to work, long-term injuries can negatively affect your mindset and put you off activity. 

Tip: Don’t be the girl who says “I can’t, I have a bad knee,” be the girl who gets it sorted, and start with what you can do, with a plan to get moving and improve. You can do it!

Need more motivation? Join our FREE 4 Week Spring Wellness Challenge Now!

Wellness Retreat & Consulting Brand Official Launch

I wrote about our company's launch in my column for Queenstown.com - so it's 100% official - Aprivé Wellness is up and running and already changing the landscape of wellness.  Yay!

My mission is to make wellness fun and inspiring; plus share evidence-based science to help inform the health and wellbeing choices of people like you. 

I'm no hardcore health nut, but I do have years of education, lifestyle and industry experience to know what health tips are proven and reliable, and which are just passing trends.

I'm so excited to officially launch Aprivé Wellness Ltd. and thank you to everyone who has helped this day happen from my lovely retreat guests to friends, family and mentors in the Physiotherapy and Wellness world. 

At Aprivé Wellness, we have some special projects underway, so subscribe to my list so you'll be the first to know!

Thank you for all your support - Have a happy day!

Your health as an asset

Drawing parallels between your house and your health may seem strange, but it can help change your attitudes towards your health and wellbeing.

1. Renovations

Knocking down crusty walls and replacing them with open space and modern design breathes new life and value into a property. The same goes for your health; trying new superfoods, workout trends like Soulcycle or Barre, and experiencing new, evidence-based wellness therapies help freshen up and rejuvenate your health and wellbeing.

By adding modern innovation to your diet and workouts, you’re adding value to your health - just like renovations add value to your house.

2. Garage Sales

Getting rid of crap you’ve accumulated in your garage feels liberating! You can do the same with your health by ditching bad habits you’ve accumulated with a once a year ‘garage sale.’ If you started taking up social smoking, why not ditch it before it becomes a real habit? if you have a glass or two of wine every night, try having three alcohol-free nights a week before drinking becomes ingrained in your daily routine.

Little habits add up, so reevaluating your habits and ditching the bad ones leaves you feeling free and fresh to start anew.

3. Regular cleaning

A clean house is every home owner’s dream, but unclogging drains is never fun. The same goes for your health; you want to keep your body clean, and healthy pipes are important. Nutrient absorption is a vital element of health, and this mostly occurs within digestion.

Keeping this system healthy can help fight disease, help combat autoimmune disorders and prevent weight gain.

Probiotics help maintain a healthy pH in your digestive system, and eating natural fibres like psyllium husks, chia seeds, and fresh fruit and veggies can help maintain the motility of your digestive system.

4. Insurance

Insurance always seems like an waste of money, until you desperately need to make a claim. When it comes to health, it often takes that moment of desperation to inspire people to start making ‘payments,’ but you can start before then.

Instead of waiting for a health scare or injury; eat healthy, get regular exercise, meditate and meet up with a counsellor now, instead of later.

Even though these practices won’t stop an injury or health scare from happening, healthy habits help you recover faster when problems do arise.

5. Mandatory taxes and mortgage repayments

We all accept our mortgages and taxes as mandatory payments, but when it comes to our health we still see spending money on wellness as optional.

Instead, consider your gym membership, weekly yoga class and monthly visit to your counsellor or nutritionist as mandatory payments to elevate your health.

This doesn’t mean you’ll never skip a yoga class, but it does help prioritise health in your mind, and inspire you to make better use of your memberships.

Do you consider your health an asset?