Here are some helpful tips from Alberta’s chiropractors to ensure your holiday season is full of joy and pain free:

• If you have to drive more than two hours to visit friends and relatives, take a break – get out of your vehicle and stretch. This temporarily restores normal posture, which will help prevent a recurrence of neck or lower back pain or conditions.
• When loading your vehicle for the trip, organize your luggage and packages into smaller loads instead of one large suitcase, cardboard box or carrying case.
• Wear your seatbelt and adjust vehicle headrests so that they are no more than two inches behind the centre of the back of the head. Many of the estimated 20 million car accident victims suffering whiplash injuries in North America could have prevented much of the injury had their vehicle seat headrests been adjusted properly.
• It’s OK to be a couch potato, but don’t slouch on the sofa and don’t fall asleep on the recliner, as two or three vertebrae in the spine can assume a sharp angle. When you sit up, the normal movement is not restored. Chiropractors often see patients walking into their offices with their heads held sideways, because slouching irritates the nerves and blood vessels, causing muscle spasm.
• Avoid bending directly over the oven door to lift out the turkey. Crouch down, pull out the oven shelf and use your legs for better balance. This helps reduce the potential of unnecessary strain on the lower spine.

If you experience back, muscle or joint pain, consult a chiropractor. Chiropractors are specialists in back and neck disorders and are specifically trained to diagnose and correct spinal dysfunction. Find a chiropractor near you.