Holiday Travel Tips If You Have Arthritis
Nov 08, 2023
How Do You Travel with Arthritis?
Chronic pain doesn’t skip the holidays, but that doesn’t mean you should. The busiest time of the year can be stressful when traveling with arthritis, causing painful flare ups and increased symptoms like fatigue. Prevention and pain management are key to traveling safely and comfortably.
Keep your arthritis pain from messing with your holiday plans with the following tips and find out how Doctor Hoy’s® is the best topical that’s TSA friendly and FDA-approved to reduce arthritis symptoms so you can enjoy all your favorite festivities pain-free.
Celebrating the Holidays with Chronic Pain
From that Thanksgiving feast to office holiday parties, kid’s Christmas plays, and local parades, the holidays are a busy time spent visiting family and friends both old and new. If you suffer from chronic pain like rheumatoid arthritis, keeping the holiday spirit can be tough when your joints hurt, you feel exhausted, and you have cold weather aches and pains.
Arthritis flare ups are common in the holiday season for many reasons including cold weather, changes in barometric pressure, and the added stress of traveling. Cramped airlines and long car rides may increase joint stiffness. Even certain foods, changes in diet, and infections or sicknesses like the common cold can worsen symptoms.
There are ways you can prevent and manage your pain like taking frequent breaks, eating a balanced diet, and using travel friendly topical arthritis pain relief like Doctor Hoy's Natural Pain Relief Gel and Arnica Boost Recovery Cream.
How Doctor Hoy’s Makes the Holidays Painless
When you need fast-acting, powerful pain relief that’s hands-on and lasts for hours, choose Doctor Hoy’s Natural Pain Relief Gel this holiday season. Our natural formula provides non-toxic, soothing relief from arthritis, joint pain, inflammation, and even simple backaches from long plane rides.
Safe for repeated use and great for on-the-go relief, our pain relief gel comes as a roll-on for hard-to-reach areas and a 3oz tube for larger muscle groups. It’s clean, safe, and effective, with 90 percent of users finding relief within minutes so you can celebrate every family tradition without pain holding you back.
In the winter, moisturizing your hands, feet, and other areas affected by rheumatoid arthritis helps relieve dry, cracked, or inflamed skin. Our Arnica Boost Recovery Cream moisturizes your skin while using the power of natural arnica to reduce inflammation and joint pain. It also aids in healing, making it great for bruise relief and minor scrapes or cracked skin.
The best part about Doctor Hoy’s topical pain relief for arthritis is that our 3oz topicals are TSA compliant, making them perfect for airline travel so you have the relief you need at all times. Just keep them in your carry on with your other arthritis medications and your holidays can be pain free.
Our Best Tips for Traveling with Arthritis
Flying can aggravate arthritis along with cramped car rides, standing in long lines, and the constant busy flow of the season. When you’re traveling with rheumatoid arthritis, it's important to have a good prevention and pain management plan in place. Here are our best tips on how to travel with chronic pain from arthritis:
Visit Your Doctor First
Schedule a doctor’s visit in advance so you can get any medication refills you need and discuss your symptoms further. When traveling out of the country, ensure any necessary vaccinations won’t interfere with your treatment plan. Healthcare providers may provide a note about your medications or a joint implant for airport security.
Plan Ahead
The time of day when you feel your best is when you should plan to travel. If flying, arrive at the airport early with extra support like a wheelchair, cane, or scooter. Call ahead to ask the airline about early boarding for mobility issues, help carrying your bags, and whether they offer seats with extra leg room for your knee arthritis.
Pack Light & Bring Joint Support
Avoid packing heavy bags, especially if you do not have a travel companion to help you lift them. Some of the essentials you might need for traveling with arthritis include:
- A neck pillow or lumbar cushion
- Extra joint support including wrist braces, knee braces, ace bandages, and therapeutic tape
- Your regular medications
- Topical pain relievers for fast relief
- Sunblock, as some arthritis medications make you more sensitive to sunlight
- A mask and hand sanitizer if you are immunocompromised
Avoid Stress
Stress is a major trigger for arthritis flare ups. Some simple ways to reduce stress are deep breathing exercises, yoga stretches that keep your joints limber, and taking time for yourself by booking a day at the spa, buying yourself a gift, or staying somewhere with a pool, hot tub, or sauna.
Stay Active & Move
Joints become stiff and inflamed after you’ve been in a car or on a plane for a long time. Walking down the airplane aisle when it is safe, taking frequent breaks at rest stops, and stretching during layovers keeps the blood flowing and your joints feeling limber.
Eat the Right Foods
By maintaining a balanced diet with immunity boosting whole foods that fight inflammation, you can have less joint pain and still enjoy your favorite holiday cuisine. Make your own side dish for Thanksgiving with leafy greens, snack on heart-healthy nuts, and indulge on seasonal fruit like oranges.
Get Enough Sleep
Fatigue from arthritis can put a damper on holiday plans. Many people feel more tired in the winter, so take advantage of the increased hours of darkness by getting enough sleep to fight fatigue.
Set Boundaries
Know your limits with the activities you can do. It is okay if you can’t stay up until midnight to see the ball drop on New Year’s Eve. It is also okay if you’d rather stay inside by the fire than go ice skating. Setting boundaries for you and your arthritis is essential to enjoying the season while saying no to pain.
Happy Holidays with Doctor Hoy’s Topical Pain Relief for Arthritis
Traveling with chronic pain should not stop you from getting into the holiday spirit. Use our holiday travel tips and topical arthritis pain relief to get the most out of your favorite time of the year!
References:
Arthritis Foundation. (2018, November 13). Holiday Travel Can Be a Pain. Living with Arthritis.
Boynes Shuck, A. (2020, August 6) Here’s How to Travel When You Have Arthritis. Healthline.
