This week I sat down with my colleague and my great friend, Dr. Emily Bohan, to discuss strategies that you can take to have a healthy and pain-free flight.

So if you’ve ever felt that your back or your hips get stiff after a long flight, or if you’ve even dreaded flying because of stiffness in your back or your knees, or if you’ve avoided flying altogether because of these same issues, this episode is perfect for you. And believe it or not, how you feel on your flight can significantly affect how you feel when you get to your destination.

Okay. So Here. We. Go.

Dr. Emily Bohan has a combined 10 years of experience as a physical therapist, a personal a nutrition coach and an overall amazing athlete. She’s worked alongside highly qualified specialists working on her on her own crafts.

She also has her own Yoga Alliance Teacher Certification, which I did not know about her until very recently. And she is a doctor in physical therapy with a specialization in orthopedics, sports, and pelvic health. She loves working with people like weightlifters, runners, rowers, people with pelvic health issues,

So I want to welcome to this podcast episode, Dr. Emily Bohan welcome.

Dr. Emily Bohan (02:15)
Thanks, Stephen. Excited to be here.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (02:18)
It’s really good to have you, thanks for coming on. So today we’re gonna be covering how to have a pain-free flight. this topic is gonna be really, really important for anyone that goes on a long flight, let’s say from California to visit Disney World in Orlando on that five and a half hour flight, and they get off that flight and they’re just feeling very stiff in the back.

Their knees are creaking. They’re not feeling good at their neck. Or this is for those people that dread going on those lungs flights because of the same reasons. So yeah, this is gonna be a great episode for anyone that feels that way, which to be fair, I I’ve felt that way before.

we drive into this topic, Emily, I wanted to ask you just a couple of lightning round questions just to get to know you a little bit more. So are you ready for these questions? Okay, first question. What is your favorite place that you’ve ever flown to?

Dr. Emily Bohan (03:18)
Yeah, let’s do it.

You know, Stephen, that’s a hard question. There’s a lot of really cool places out there. But one of the things I do with my company is some contracts in Hawaii. And Hawaii is definitely up there on my top favorite places to be. So yeah, that’s probably got to be number one at the moment. I really love going out there.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (03:50)
I love it, Hawaii is beautiful. Thanks to my wife, I have a special connection with Hawaii. Which islands have you gone to and which island is your favorite?

Dr. Emily Bohan (04:01)
Mmm. So I normally work on Kauai, which is beautiful and I love the hiking there. I do appreciate the more like city life, faster pace of Oahu as well. I feel like Oahu you can get like a little bit of all of it. You can be in the fast pace of Honolulu, but then you can also get out for like the beautiful scenery and hiking and Oahu. So I have also been to Big Island and Volcano National Park. Very, very cool.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (04:12)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

That’s awesome. I can only.

Dr. Emily Bohan (04:31)
So, eventually would love to

go, yeah, I’d love to go back and like see it actually like live erupting. We weren’t there when that was happening, but very humbling to go see. But I think Oahu probably wins, but Kauai is a very, very close second. Like I do love being in Kauai.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (04:42)
It’s wild. Okay.

Yeah.

And I’m sure a lot of people, a lot of listeners would love to go to Kauai as well since Kauai is the basis for Lilo and Stitch, the popular Disney movie, right? So that’s awesome, that’s awesome. What is one bucket list destination that you want to visit in your

Dr. Emily Bohan (05:12)
I, well, on the recent bucket list, I’m trying to make it out to Spain and or Portugal, hopefully in the next year or two. So I’ve been to a few other spots in Europe, but I’ve heard Portugal is really beautiful, underrated place to be. So I’d like to go check that out. I’ve never been anywhere in Africa as well. So that’s also pretty high on my list. Yeah. My sister did a study abroad in South Africa.

would love to go explore a little bit there. It’s just a totally different world from what we experience here.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (05:44)
Yeah, I bet those are really

good choices, really, really good choice. Because you’re living in Denver right now, right? That’s going to be a long flight. That’s, yeah.

Dr. Emily Bohan (05:48)
Mm-hmm.

I’m currently in Denver, yes.

yeah, mean everywhere I just mentioned, even at Denver

to Hawaii flights. So this is a great topic because yeah, the things you can do to be able to prep your body before you get on that flight, little things you can do when you’re on the flight. Even once you get off, right, if you’re feeling those cranky knees, that sore back, like there are things you can do to combat at least some of that. So that way when you end up at your final destination, for many of your listeners at Disney, you’re not feeling

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (06:03)
Yeah!

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Emily Bohan (06:25)
all that soreness of traveling, or at least you’re able to mediate some of it, right?

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (06:30)
Exactly, exactly, exactly. All right, one final question before we dig into things. what is your favorite Disney movie?

Dr. Emily Bohan (06:39)
Ooh, Lion King. I don’t have to think about that one. Yeah. yeah. Yeah, definitely. I think that’s one of the best movies out there, for sure. And the soundtrack is fantastic. Mm-hmm.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (06:43)
That was a quick one, straight at it. Good, that’s awesome.

Mm-hmm. yeah, Hans Zimmer.

Great, great, great, great soundtrack for sure. Good choice. Very good choice. Awesome. Okay, so I’ve got a list of questions that I thought we could go through. Why don’t we just start with one of them and kind of see where this conversation takes us? So here we go. So most listeners already struggle with soreness just from walking around Disney because of how many

Dr. Emily Bohan (06:57)
Thank you.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (07:21)
many steps they take and how they’re not quite ready for all of that walking all day in the weather. How does flying long distances affect this?

Dr. Emily Bohan (07:34)
Yeah, so flying long distances before you even get there, if you’re not taking steps to prepare your body for that trip to Disney, you you’re already setting yourself up to be more sore than you would otherwise be. So for example, a lot of people, they don’t drink enough water when they’re on the plane or the whole day of traveling, right? A lot of us don’t eat like the healthiest foods when we’re traveling, lots of snacks. And that’s going to increase

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (07:55)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Emily Bohan (08:01)
the sodium in the body, it’s gonna increase water retention, it’s gonna cause fluid to accumulate in your legs. So that can add to some of like the soreness and discomfort of traveling that sometimes can linger into that next day, even once you get to the parks, right? another thing too is sometimes we’re not sleeping enough as well. Just around those travel days, you got a really early flight, you got a really late flight, something like that. And all of those factors together can

just cause some low level inflammation in the body that just make everything feel a little more sore and a little more creaky than they should be. when you tack on, you know, if you haven’t been preparing so much for all those steps at Disney, and then we also have all these other factors of like sleep deprivation, dehydration, not eating great, it’s gonna make your body feel a lot more worn down once you finally get to your destination than what it needs to be.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (08:53)
Yeah, let’s unpack that a little bit because you jump through like three or maybe even four like really big topics that I feel like are major mistakes that a lot of Disney guests tend to make. But not just Disney guests, but really Disney travelers, right? This podcast is aimed, yes, at the Disney traveler that goes to Disneyland or Disney World, but it also is aimed at the traveler that is

Dr. Emily Bohan (09:03)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (09:21)
going on a Disney cruise or traveling internationally, going on an Adventures by Disney trip or going to other theme parks like Universal Studios. Right, but anyways, so hydration. Hydration’s a huge, huge thing for sure. you know, Emily you’ve been a lot more well-versed in this whole nutrition game than I have personally, I have to admit.

Dr. Emily Bohan (09:31)
Yeah

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (09:51)
So it was really cool to hear how exactly your hydration affects how you’re gonna feel during your flight and how that’s gonna affect you while you’re at the parks, right? So, know, something as simple as making sure you’ve got that refillable water bottle in your carry-on backpack when you get to the plane or when you get to the airport.

Dr. Emily Bohan (10:02)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (10:14)
making sure that you refill it right after going through security because I’ve found personally and I’ve seen it in my friends and my family, we’ll go through security, we have to empty our water bottle because we’re going through TSA and then we get through and we gotta run to our gate to get to our next flight only to realize that we forgot to refill our water bottle, right? So it’s really easy not to refill that bottle.

Dr. Emily Bohan (10:36)
Thank you.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (10:39)
Not to drink enough and then all you can get when you’re on the plane if you don’t want to pay for anything is Those like eight ounce cups of water, which is not enough, right? Not enough at all

Dr. Emily Bohan (10:47)
I mean, no, it’s not.

Yeah. I think a lot of people think, if I drink a lot of water, maybe my body retains more water, which isn’t true. When we’re dehydrated, our body does everything it can to hold on to more water. And so some of the discomfort that can come with fluid retention, it can be due to dehydration. And so that’s why it’s so important to make sure you’re drinking enough water.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (11:01)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Emily Bohan (11:12)
As you mentioned, Stephen I have this pelvic floor background, right? So I often will see, especially with some of my lady travelers, they like to restrict their water intake because they don’t want to have to worry about getting up to go to the bathroom. They don’t want to have to worry about urgency, frequency, or anything like that. And so I think even training yourself before you get to some of these long flights of like drinking a little bit more water so your body is more used to that.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (11:16)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Emily Bohan (11:40)
bladder capacity expanding and being able to hold more. So that way you can be hydrated and you don’t also have to worry about having these issues with urgency on the plane, right? It’s also a good idea because even once you get to your final destination, if you’re out and about and you’re moving, you’re going to need to be drinking a lot of water, especially if you’re going to a park in Florida because you bet it’s hot. And the last thing you want is get dehydrated there and then you feel bad because you haven’t drank enough water, right? So it’s one of those like

It seems really small and simple, but I feel like it’s really overlooked. And I also don’t think that most people realize how much water they actually need to drink. So I usually tell people about half their body weight in ounces of water. I rarely have patients who actually meet that number. And this is talking about your kind of just like normal average everyday person. And then once we start tacking on exercise and movements and like all these other factors, that number goes up, right?

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (12:33)
Hmm. Mm-hmm.

Dr. Emily Bohan (12:37)
So yeah, so dehydration, very overlooked piece that can just make everything feel better. I mean, even, you know, we have synovial fluid in our joints. So it’s like the lubrication in our joints. Like we need water in order to help things move better in our body, right? Like water is everything in our body. So, yeah.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (12:46)
Mm-hmm.

Right, right.

Yeah, super. And then to tack onto that, I feel like what you eat kind of goes hand in hand with water as well, right? You mentioned it’ll change your, I think you said something about changing like sodium concentration. especially, like let’s talk about really quick, like I like to fly Southwest a lot. And the one thing that Southwest tends to give are those those pretzel snacks, which are super salty.

Is there anything better that you recommend that you eat or like how would you go about you know? What you eat when you’re flying?

Dr. Emily Bohan (13:32)
Yeah, yeah, good question. So it’s not necessarily that you need to avoid sodium, but I feel like a lot of people, eat the pretzel snacks, they also eat the other chip bag that they brought, and then they also eat the, you know, like really sodium packed mediocre sandwich they bought in the airport. Let’s be real, airport food is a little hit or miss sometimes, right? So my point is, if you’re eating like all of this really processed food,

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (13:54)
Totally.

Dr. Emily Bohan (14:00)
when you’re flying on the plane, the amount of sodium that you’re taking in compared to how sedentary you’re being, that can also increase water retention, things like swelling in the legs, all of that. And so a lot of people I don’t think realize you can actually, you can pack a decent amount of food through TSA. They usually like you to announce it. You can’t obviously do anything liquidy, right? But even just for like your own health purposes, maybe you pack your own sandwich or you pack, you know, some

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (14:10)
Mm-hmm.

Right.

Dr. Emily Bohan (14:30)
veggies or something that’s a little healthier that’s maybe in your normal diet along with you for the flight. So that way you aren’t just loading up on all these super processed all that processed food can also lead to other travel issues later down the road. Like a lot of people end up dealing with like an upset stomach or something like that after they’re done traveling. And part of that can also be because of the diet they’ve been eating on those travel days, right? So.

If you can pack your own food, great. If not, you know, they still have some like good healthier options at most airport lines now. So I always like to tell patients and clients it’s about balance. You know, if you’re like, you just like love your Pringles when you get on the flight, like that is, it sets you up for like a good flight. I’m not saying don’t eat the Pringles, but like maybe also buy an apple or like bring some carrot sticks or like let’s balance it out. So that way it’s not just

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (15:03)
Hmm.

Yeah.

Dr. Emily Bohan (15:27)
all processed food, right?

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (15:29)
Yeah,

yeah, totally. And I think that brings up a really important, what’s the word I’m looking for? A really important concept that applies to how much walking you’re doing at Disney World. So one of the biggest concepts or the most important concepts that I like to talk about is just how much walking you do at Disney World and how generally, you know, the typical Disney guest isn’t quite prepared to walk all that, all those steps at Disney World, right?

Dr. Emily Bohan (15:58)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (15:58)
You can

kind of say the same thing for what you’re going to be eating on your flight or when you’re on vacation. generally what people tend to eat while they’re on their flight. And then while they’re on their vacation is a lot different from what they’re normally eating in the, on a day-to-day basis. So it’s almost like a huge shock to the system, right?

Dr. Emily Bohan (16:12)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. And that could really create like the just a low level inflammation process in the body that makes us feel maybe a little more sore over the next few days than we otherwise would. I think the other tendency too is people eat a lot of like high fat, high carb snacks. And if you’ve been training for your trip to Disney, which I really hope everyone does because that’s going to make your life so much easier, right? Like more fun, more energy, all of that. But that also means that you need to be eating enough protein.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (16:20)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Right.

Dr. Emily Bohan (16:44)
And protein helps your muscles recover. So even on your travel day, still see if you can pack some high protein snacks. It’s also going to keep you from being so snacky because protein is the highest satiety macronutrient out there. things like, well, protein’s a little bit harder, I would say, for traveling when it comes to not eating processed.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (16:44)
,

Dr. Emily Bohan (17:11)
So like getting a good quality clean protein bar or even like they have some really good like jerky’s and beef sticks and stuff like that. Those I still think are a good option to make sure you’re getting enough protein in. And that includes even once you’ve landed in your destination and you’re walking around and doing all of those steps, like give your body the fuel to recover.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (17:34)
Yeah, totally. yeah, like you were alluding to really, it’s like, you want to make sure that you have these habits that you practice, not just on your flight, but also when you’re at your destination, right? And like you said, also, it’s not so much that you need to clean the entire time, like a hundred percent. It’s really more about moderation and you you can have, you can have those chips, just make sure you’re following it up or, you know, you’re kind of balancing it out with something a little more healthy, right?

Dr. Emily Bohan (17:46)
Mm-hmm.

Exactly. Yeah. So I think that goes a lot further than what most people give it credit for.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (18:09)
Yeah,

yeah, totally, I love that, I love that. the last thing that you had mentioned earlier that I wanted to bring back up is sleep, right? And sleep in and of itself is such a, it’s such a black hole of a topic. let’s say you’re traveling from,

maybe Denver or even California, right? Because that’s two to three hours behind the time here in Orlando. how might that time change affect how you sleep maybe on the flight And how might that affect how you feel when you are here walking around at the Disney parks?

Dr. Emily Bohan (18:47)
Yeah, I mean even little amounts of jet lag like that can really affect people. I mean, I think we all feel it with like spring forward, right? It’s like, how can losing an hour make such a big difference? But that being said, like there’s still certain things you can do. If you’re really like on top of it, you want to make the most of your dizzy days and yeah, you’re flying over from the West Coast. What you could do for like the week beforehand is work on.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (18:55)
Mmm totally.

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Emily Bohan (19:15)
Half an hour, even just 20 minutes going to bed a little bit earlier every night. So that way by the time you get to your destination, you don’t have this big like three hour difference where, okay, now I’m finally here, I’m landed, I’m getting up for my first day at Disney, I want it to be really early because I want to make the best of my experience. But my body clock is three hours behind. And so now instead of getting up at 6 a.m., I feel like I’m getting up at 3 a.m. And that does not feel good.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (19:42)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Emily Bohan (19:43)
I probably didn’t go to

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (19:43)
Mm-mm.

Dr. Emily Bohan (19:43)
sleep early enough the night before because of that three hour difference as well. So if you can, like that week before, like prep yourself a little bit with like trying to slowly graduate your bedtime back further and further. I also really like magnesium glycinate for a lot of people. A lot of folks are deficient in magnesium anyways, especially active people. It’s like over 70%.

are deficient in magnesium, and magnesium can really affect sleep quality. So magnesium glycinate’s one of the most absorbable forms of magnesium, and so that can be a really good one to take before you go to bed at night, because it’s gonna help with muscles and all that anyways, but it’s also gonna help with sleep quality too. So that can be a nice little easy supplement that you can bring along on a trip.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (20:11)
Oof.

And this is, this is something you can just pick up, you know, at a CVS or like something pretty easy. Okay. Wow. That’s cool.

Dr. Emily Bohan (20:38)
Yep. I’m pretty sure I saw

this at Costco the other day. yeah. Although I will say there’s different forms of magnesium. So magnesium citrate might send you running to the bathroom. So get magnesium glycinate.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (20:43)
I did. That’s awesome. That’s awesome.

Okay.

Got it. Now,

that the same type of magnesium that has been recommended by certain people to like combat nighttime cramps? Do you happen to know?

Dr. Emily Bohan (20:56)
it.

So magnesium glycinate, I don’t think that one as much is helpful for nighttime cramps, but if you have a magnesium deficiency and glycinate is helping fill at least some of that, it could take the edge off of some mild cramping, but I think there’s other forms of magnesium that if you’re really specifically going for muscle cramping, I think you probably got some other, maybe some other better options there. But glycinate, think umbrella wise and the absorption of it covers a lot of bases. So, mm-hmm, yep.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (21:21)
Hmm.

Okay, gotcha. Cool. Good

to know. Definitely good to know. One last thing I want to touch on before we maybe move on from this topic on sleep. What about sleeping on the plane? you know, most people fly economy. Everyone knows how economy tends to be pretty cramped. You can only lean back so far to get comfy. Sleeping upright without, you know,

Dr. Emily Bohan (21:38)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (22:01)
leaning onto the person next to you, even though you don’t know them, it can be a little awkward, you know what I mean? So what are some things that our listeners can do to help sleep a little better? Because I also know that some people take the red eye to get out here, so they’re going to want to sleep on them.

Dr. Emily Bohan (22:07)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm, yeah. So once again, I think some sort of sleep aid can be really helpful, even if it’s a really, really low dose of melatonin. Something like that, I think, can be helpful. But otherwise, a neck pillow, they’re not the most comfortable thing in the world, but I think it’s better than ending up over here trying to use a jacket.

or using a significant other or a stranger. Hopefully that’s not happening. Interesting way to make a friend. would be, that’s for sure.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (22:49)
I mean, I guess if you’re flying to Disney World, chances

are they’re going to be flying to Disney World too. So I guess that’s not a bad way to make a friend.

Dr. Emily Bohan (22:59)
Yeah, exactly. That’d make for a really great origin story to a friendship.

I would love that. But yeah, I think having some sort of neck support, that can be really helpful when you’re in that upright position. But that, feel like it really depends on the person, you know, and how you feel like you can get comfortable. So I’m a big fan. I mean, if you’re on a red eye, I think prioritizing sleep is probably the best thing that you can do. If you’re not on a red eye,

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (23:08)
You

Totally.

Yeah.

Dr. Emily Bohan (23:29)
then I think movement, a little bit of movement on a plane is probably the best thing that you can do. The red eye, you just gotta figure out however you can get comfortable. Yeah.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (23:39)
like you say, sleeping position, optimal sleeping position is very personal, right? Everyone sleeps differently in bed. Everyone sleeps differently sitting up. And everyone finds a different position for them that works for them and doesn’t necessarily work for others.

I’ve found personally, if I have a window seat, leaning on the window tends to help, because I can get into a more, like my neck isn’t as cocked to the side, right? I can get a little bit more of that, more of a neutral position. Other than that, a neck pillow is great. And I didn’t, I wasn’t a believer previously in inflatable neck pillows, but now I am after having my own.

Dr. Emily Bohan (23:53)
the

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (24:19)
They’re just, they tend to be lot more firm, right? As opposed to the foam pillows that allow your head to sink into that pillow. So I love how a neck pillow that you blow up tends to be more firm and allows your head to stay upright, which I didn’t think it would be that comfortable sleeping upright like this, but it worked. It worked.

Dr. Emily Bohan (24:32)
Mm-hmm.

That’s awesome. Yeah, I feel like the window seat is definitely if you can get a window seat for a red eye, that definitely makes it a lot more comfortable. So but yeah, I like the inflatable neck pillow. I’ll have to try that.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (24:50)
Yeah, and you know what? I have the link to that inflatable neck pillow. was recommended to me by a former patient of mine, but I’ll make sure to put that link in the show notes so that everyone has a chance to take a look.

Dr. Emily Bohan (25:06)
Awesome. Yeah, I always have to take an overnight flight when I come back from my Hawaii contracts and it can be a struggle to sleep on planes for sure.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (25:16)
Yeah, yeah, for sure. And What do you what do you think about? don’t remember what the term is called, but you know, loading up, so to speak, loading up on sleep before going on a flight where you change time zones.

Dr. Emily Bohan (25:30)
That’s a really good question.

I think that if you tend to be a poor sleeper on planes, I think there are certain people that it’s like, it just doesn’t matter, I can never get comfortable, right? I think that is a great technique to go ahead and try, right? So I think generally the more consistent you can be with your sleep schedule, the better off you are. But if you know you’re a poor sleeper, I think that’s actually a good idea to try. And then being really good about

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (25:47)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Dr. Emily Bohan (26:02)
Once you’re there, you’re in a more comfortable bed in a hotel room, like getting back on track with a decent sleep schedule.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (26:10)
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So basically, if you have those quality sleep habits, if you have that quality diet habit, that quality movement habit, and you’re already doing that, that sets you up for success on your flight, even if you’re taking a red eye,

Dr. Emily Bohan (26:28)
Yes, yeah, it definitely does. And I will also say too, taking a red eye, since you don’t leave till really late at night, you also have the opportunity to get some exercise in before you get on your plane, which can help you get some of that sleep, right? But can also help with some of those other pieces too, of making sure that…

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (26:31)
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. That definitely makes a lot of sense. Uh-huh.

Dr. Emily Bohan (26:52)
You know, you’re getting enough water in, you’re getting some muscle pumping and moving action before you go and like sit and be really sedentary on a plane for a while.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (26:55)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah, and let’s not forget, I know we’re spending quite a bit of time on sleep here, but let’s not also forget the fact that quality sleep means quality recovery for yourself, which means really you get to have more energy during the day when you’re at the Disney parks or when you’re at your destination, which also means less stiffness, less pain at the end of the day.

So that’s why quality sleep is so important. It’s probably, you know, it’s probably what top three things that you need to make sure you’re getting to make sure that you’re having a pain free trip, would you say?

Dr. Emily Bohan (27:38)
for sure, I mean with my personal training background, if your sleep is shot, whether you’re going to a Disney park or you’re trying to build a good physique or you’re trying to get out of pain, mean sleep is such an important thing for any and all of the things we do. It’s how our body recovers, right? So, mm-hmm.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (27:42)
Mm-hmm.

I love it, I love it, I love it. Okay, let’s see, so we talked about, we haven’t really talked too much about movement. Why don’t we go into that? Let’s see, so one of the factors that can affect how stiff or how painful you might feel on a long flight is the fact that you are literally sitting in a tight spot for five, six, maybe seven hours at a time, right?

Dr. Emily Bohan (28:08)
Thank you.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (28:27)
What are some strategies that listeners can implement to make sure that they don’t feel so stiff on their flight?

Dr. Emily Bohan (28:36)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. So the body loves to move. A lot of us, we don’t even realize how much we fidget in our seats. We fidget when we’re on the couch, like little things like that. And a lot of that gets shut down when we’re sitting in these airplane seats that are like this big, right? yeah, even like little, little bit of fidgeting, if you tend to cross your legs, pay attention, cross the other way, like switch it up. Do some ankle pumps when you’re sitting. So that’s just where…

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (28:51)
Hahaha.

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Emily Bohan (29:04)
If have your feet flat on the floor, you’re lifting your heels up so you’re coming up onto your toes. So that gets a little bit more circulation back into like the lower legs and up into the legs. And if you’re sitting in an aisle seat, this is obviously the easiest, but being able to stand up throughout your flight, especially if you’re on a really long flight, I’d say anything longer than like two and a half, three hours, I would make a point to try and get up a couple of times during the flight.

just to like stand, move around for a hot second, sit back down, right? So all of those things, the body is meant to move, our joints are meant to move, and keeping things even just like slightly moving and slightly warm is gonna help you feel a lot better at the end of your flight versus if you just kinda like hunch down and just go through the whole flight without any sort of movement.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (29:58)
Right, and you know, that general movement also helps to re-lubricate the joints, right, moves things around. I love the idea of ankle pumps, especially if you’re in the middle seat or the window seat. The idea of standing up if you’re in the aisle seat. I love, personally, my back tends to get pretty stiff on flights, so I just love twisting. know, just twisting back and forth.

Dr. Emily Bohan (30:16)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (30:20)
Even just taking the cool guy stance and relaxing into your seat, letting your leg go out if you have that aisle seat. You might feel like you’re rude, especially if you’re an introvert, because you don’t want to be in anyone’s way, but honestly, just open up. Do something different. So I love that. I love that.

Dr. Emily Bohan (30:37)
Yeah.

And no one’s probably going to care. And mean, you can even do like, like with your back, some like little cat cows. So think you’re just kind of like rocking your back forward and backwards. Like you’re not going to bother anyone next to you. They, they don’t care what’s going on. You’re not getting into their seat at all. So that’s a good way also to get that low back moving. So I get the same thing. Sometimes my low back gets a little stiff. So yeah, I’ll do a little bit of those movements. I…

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (30:50)
Mm-mm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Dr. Emily Bohan (31:02)
I get up on planes, I have no problem getting up. I’m like, watch me stand here for the next couple of minutes. I’m good with that. But even if you have a jacket and you don’t have the jacket on, even putting low lumbar support behind your back can sometimes help a cranky low back. So it even just gets your body into a different position for the next 30 minutes or so.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (31:04)
Hahaha!

Right, I love this whole idea of just doing something different for your body. Really, the thing we’re trying to address is the fact that you’re potentially not moving for three to seven hours, right? Like you said, your body likes to move. So even just doing something simple like changing positions can make a load of difference, a load of difference. And I do wanna emphasize, respect to you for not caring about

Dr. Emily Bohan (31:35)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (31:58)
whether or not people care about whether you stand up in a flight, right? I feel like a lot of people don’t quite feel that way. So this is your sign to make sure that it’s more important to let your body move than for you to try to be polite, even though really, like you said, I don’t think anyone really cares, right?

Dr. Emily Bohan (32:02)
didn’t

Thank you.

They don’t. Think

about the last flight you took. Do you remember seeing someone standing in the aisle and going, ugh, this person? No. And I can promise you I’m not the only person who doesn’t care about standing in the aisle. There are usually multiple of us, right? And you can’t even remember them right now. So you’re better off taking care of your own body so you have a better trip once you get there than worrying about all these humans on the plane that you’re never going to see again. So.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (32:28)
Hahaha!

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Right,

exactly, think about your trip, think about how you’re gonna have those magical memories with your loved ones. Just, yeah, you got it, you hit the nail on the head. Hit the nail on the head. What about, we talked about moving while you’re in your seat, we talked about getting up and walking while you’re on the flight. What about connecting flights? What about pre-flight when you’re still in the airport? What about everything surrounding the flight too?

Dr. Emily Bohan (32:58)
Exactly. Yeah.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (33:17)
Would you agree that what you do right before getting on the flight and what you do in between flights also makes a difference?

Dr. Emily Bohan (33:25)
totally. Yeah. I think if you have connecting flights, take that opportunity between connecting flights to walk around the airport. I’m not telling you to like, you don’t have to be the calisthenics guy in the corner who’s doing pushups, right? But take a couple laps around the airport, let your legs stretch. Yeah, do a few little twists, whatever you’re comfortable doing. Just do some degree of movement. Don’t get off your flight and then go sit and wait for your next flight, right?

depends on how long your layover is too. But I think take advantage of those moments to get your body like feeling and moving a little bit better before you go and you sit on another flight. So, I mean, for me, if I get to the airport a little earlier than I expect, I still even will take like a walk up and down. Just because, yeah, I’m gonna be sitting for the next however, three to eight hours, depending on where I’m going. So get a little bit of that movement in beforehand and it will prolong.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (33:55)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Dr. Emily Bohan (34:21)
how far into the flight you get before you start feeling some of that stiffness.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (34:25)
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. It prolongs the positive effects. I personally, like I used to be the guy that would show up an hour before my flight, because I have TSA pre-check, so I was like, it’s cool. I’ll just take my time, get into the airport. It’s no big deal. But now I’m the type of person that’s like, let’s get to the airport two hours early, mosey our way through. That way I have less stress going in.

Dr. Emily Bohan (34:30)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (34:54)
don’t have to spend so much mental effort worrying about getting to my gate. And then I can get to my gate, make sure my flight’s on time, and then walk around. yeah, that idea of walking around is so, important, but it also helps you have a less stressful vacation, which, like you said earlier, the little things add up. So if you’re a little bit more stressful during your vacation, you’re less likely to recover fully on your next day.

when you’re walking in the theme parks, right? So taking a lot of time, even intentionally scheduling flights to where you have a longer layover so that you can take those extra steps to make sure you’re not stiff. Those are some strategies that I’ve developed over the years.

Dr. Emily Bohan (35:26)
to hear it.

Mm hmm. Yeah, I found that makes a really big difference for me. If I can move before I get on the plane, that really prolongs how long before I start getting some, yeah, some back and some hip stiffness for sure.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (35:58)
Yeah,

absolutely. What about, so we talked about before the flight, in between flights, what about after flights? Let’s say you’ve landed at your destination. What are some things that you like to do, whether or not it’s at the airport or on the way to your hotel or when you’re in the hotel? What do you like to do?

Dr. Emily Bohan (36:18)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. So for me personally, once I get to the actual destination, once again, first thing I do is usually move. I get out for a 20 minute walk around the neighborhood or I mean, I’ve even like jumped on the treadmill just for 15 minutes. It doesn’t have to be long, but like let’s just do something to break up the sedentary-ness of the body. I think that’s really important. Or if you’re going out to eat somewhere, if you’re going somewhere close to your hotel, can you walk?

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (36:37)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Emily Bohan (36:48)
there, right? So it also just kind of prepares yourself mentally and a little bit physically before you jump into this like crazy full day the next day. I also personally, I have like a mobility routine I like to do to kind of open up my hips and get my back moving a little bit better. So I’ll do that when I get to the hotel room too, just based on what I know is tight in my own body. But I’ve also done that for other clients as well, where it’s like, okay, we know you kind of get A, B and C pains.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (36:49)
Right? Right?

Dr. Emily Bohan (37:17)
because you have A, B, and C that tends to get tight or isn’t as strong or whatever. so building this routine of like kind of this like 10, 15 minute mobility strength routine that gets you moving and feeling better. But then also you could use something like that before you even go to the parks to get everything warmed up and get the right muscles activated. So that way you get through more of your day before you start feeling tired.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (37:17)
Hmm.

Yeah, yeah, I love that how it’s really just getting movement in, but also knowing if you’ve got some sort of issue that you’re dealing with, having a specific routine that works for you, right, when you get there. And I guess that’s also a good reason why you need to work with a trusted clinician, whether or not it’s a doctor in physical therapy or a specific physician that you really trust.

Dr. Emily Bohan (37:58)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (38:12)
But really, if you’ve got some issue that you’re working towards, like a hip issue or some sort of knee pain, you have someone to help you address that and give you a specific mobility routine, exercises, what have you, to make sure that you’re still addressing that on your vacation.

Dr. Emily Bohan (38:28)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, exactly.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (38:31)
And we’re back. Okay, lighting issue has been fixed. It’s funny because I didn’t even notice it until you mentioned it, but it’s all good. It’s all good. Okay, so we’re talking about some sort of mobility routine, some sort of movement routine once you land at your destination.

Dr. Emily Bohan (38:38)
You

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (38:53)
specific to Disney guests, because I know a lot of my listeners that have been to Disney World or Disneyland in the past. Some of them like to fly into their Disney destination and go straight to the parks. And we’re talking like arrive at eight in the morning and then go to the park at like 10 a.m. and go until park close or something like that.

Dr. Emily Bohan (38:53)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (39:21)
Any opinion, anything that you wanna say about that, anything that you would do if you were gonna go to the parks or anything you would do differently?

Dr. Emily Bohan (39:33)
Yeah, well, I think everything we’ve talked about with prep work becomes especially important. You better be drinking a lot of water on that flight so that way once you get to the park, you’re not fighting an uphill battle of dehydration, right? Having some sort of, like I said, a mobility routine or an activation routine or anything like that. If you do tend to deal with aches and pains, think doing that before you get to the park can also be really helpful too, right? So that way you’re not just hitting the ground running.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (39:46)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Emily Bohan (40:01)
We’re like taking a few steps before we jump fully back into everything. I think the nutrition piece is especially important then too, making sure that you’re eating good quality food so that way once you get to the parks, you don’t have any GI issues going on. You don’t have like the inflammation or swelling issue from a really high sodium diet from your flight. So I don’t think it’s a problem to go straight to the park. I love that energy. Keep that energy if you’re one of those people.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (40:27)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Emily Bohan (40:31)
Just also use that energy and make sure you prep with that energy, right? mm-hmm.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (40:35)
Got it, yes. So the

emphasis is really on the pre-planning stages, right? Making sure that you’ve got those quality habits to ensure your success when you’re on your vacation. I love that, that’s awesome. That’s awesome. That brings me to another question then. How far in advance should listeners prepare before their trip to work on

Dr. Emily Bohan (40:49)
Yep.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (41:04)
any of these habits.

Dr. Emily Bohan (41:07)
Yeah, that’s a really good question. So are you referring to the nutrition, sleep, water piece? Are you referring to the exercise piece? Like what are we talking about here?

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (41:19)
Yeah, good question. Let’s

start with the nutrition sleep water piece. And if you wanted to break it down further, you could definitely break it down further.

Dr. Emily Bohan (41:24)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, all of those pieces are good habits to have, I’d say, in general, right? But if your life isn’t really conducive to that, we all have different schedules. Some people work night shifts, etc., etc. But I would say probably the week beforehand, to get yourself into a somewhat regular pattern, be really mindful of your water nutrition intake. Like I said, look at the sleep schedule, see if you can start dialing it back.

I’d say that’s the minimum. If you can start dialing all that in for a couple weeks beforehand, two to three weeks, I think that will only make your life easier. If you are one of those people who deals with urinary urgency frequency stuff and that stresses you out on flights, so you tend to dehydrate yourself, maybe you even get to the park and stresses you out in the park because you don’t want to have to deal with going to the bathroom every hour. That is a pelvic floor piece, which by the way can be treated by a pelvic floor physical therapist.

You don’t have to live with that, so I just gotta put that out there. But that, would say, working on bladder retraining habits, that can take a long time. And so the best thing you can do is work with a pelvic floor PT or someone who’s knowledgeable about that, I would say two to three months beforehand, so that way you’re really confident by the time you’re traveling and going to the park. Because that, you have to kind of reprogram the connection between your brain and your bladder.

So what that can look like for a lot of people, is it okay if I go off on this side tangent for hot sec? Okay, so let’s say every 45 minutes you get the call to go. Your bladder normally gives you the call to go when it’s about half full. We should be able to go two to four hours without having to pee. So if you at 45 minutes, you’re like, I really gotta go. Unless you chugged like a gallon of water, I can promise you your bladder is not full yet.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (43:01)
Yeah, totally. Please.

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Emily Bohan (43:24)
And if you ignore that urge long enough, it will eventually go away and diminish. So if you work on that before you get to your traveling, before you get to your destination of, okay, I feel this really strong urge to go, let me wait a couple of minutes, let me do some deep breathing that can help calm that urge down. will eventually retrain your bladder to be able to go longer periods without having to worry about, yeah, getting this urgency frequency issue. A really interesting connection for a lot of

folks that works really well for clients is one of our nerve roots, our S2 nerve root, it innervates both our bladder and our calf muscles. And so for a lot of my folks who get urgency issues, let’s even just say you’re on the flight and you’re like, I really gotta go to the bathroom, but there’s turbulence and I can’t get up right now. Doing some seated calf raises. So once again, toes are on the ground, heels are coming up. That can actually diminish some of the intensity of that urge to go.

So that’s the way that you can also kind of moderate some of that. So might also be helpful when you’re at the park, do some calf raises, know? The bathroom line is 30 women deep, I’m sure that happens. You know, like do some calf raises in line. You’d be amazed at how many clients I have that are like, you know, it seems like kind of a weird, strange connection, but it works so well.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (44:45)
Yeah, that’s really good. That’s really good. And you know what? I really appreciate that you went on that tangent too, because I feel like there are a lot of Disney guests out there that are dealing with this, because this issue is not often talked about, and not nearly often as it should be, right? Or at least addressed, if anything. So that’s great. That’s great.

Dr. Emily Bohan (45:07)
Yeah,

there’s a lot of pelvic floor dysfunction out there, so I’m always happy to talk about it because it is fixable. Men and women, it is fixable.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (45:18)
Yeah, yeah, right, not just women, but also men, absolutely, absolutely. Okay, so why don’t we go ahead and start wrapping it up? Let’s see, why don’t we finish with the last question? So for the listener who always arrives at Disney feeling sore from their flight, what is one simple change that they can make that will have the biggest impact on their

Dr. Emily Bohan (45:22)
Yep. Mm-hmm. Yes.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (45:50)
I’ll give it at that. I’ll let you take the floor.

Dr. Emily Bohan (45:51)
Yeah.

Yeah, that’s a really good question. So I would say the biggest thing comes back to like, let’s get your body moving better again when you first get off the flight, right? So getting a little bit of a walk in or getting that mobility routine in, getting like a good amount of water in if you are landing dehydrated. So I think that’s probably the biggest thing that you can do to

to help improve everything. But I mean, I can’t stress this enough, your preparation beforehand makes the world of a difference. So even like having a really good training program, you know you’re going to Disney, you’re walking crazy steps. Are you doing a walking program? Right? Are you doing a strength training program? A strong body is a resilient body. And so the stronger you go into your trip, the more time you’ve spent working on your endurance, the less sore you’re going to be even with flying. So.

Yeah, so I would say best thing you can do, get some really dedicated, diligent movement in when you get off that flight to once again lubricate those joints, get the blood flow and muscles pumping, but prevention is better than cure. And so really focusing on that before flight stuff is what I like to see.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (47:13)
prevention is better than cure. Got it. Got it. No, I couldn’t have said it any better. I could not have said it any better. The preparation is key. The preparation is key. Awesome. So I think that just about wraps it up. Emily, where can people find you and what are you up to nowadays?

Dr. Emily Bohan (47:23)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, so I’m out here in Denver, Colorado. I have some limited in-person availability that I do both personal training and physical therapy for. As you mentioned, Stephen, I do everything from sports PT to people who have never worked out in their life to I love pelvic floor PT for both men and women is what I treat. That being said, I also have a very large clientele that I do coaching and online physical therapy for.

And so my services are available nationwide, essentially. So there’s so much that we can do even just in the remote format to really get people moving and feeling better, which I think is a really funny silver lining that we maybe got from COVID, right? We realize how useful actually the virtual world can be. So yeah, so that’s mostly what I’m up to nowadays is coaching both the virtual and in-person for the people who are in Denver.

Otherwise, yeah, I some of my contracts at Hawaii that I love and starting to dabble a little bit more in the professional sports world now too, which has been really interesting and fun.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (48:38)
That’s That’s so

awesome.

Cool. And what’s the best way people can get a hold of you if they want to work with you?

Dr. Emily Bohan (48:46)
Yeah, so my company name is Bohan PT and Training. You can find me on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Bohan PT Training. But otherwise, a quick Google search of my name should pop up all of those platforms too. My business email is bohanpttraining at gmail.com if you want to reach out directly to me. So, yeah.

Dr. Stephen Cabebe (49:11)
Perfect, and I’ll make sure to put all that contact information in the show notes so that you all have it. Dr. Emily Bohan, thank you so much for joining me. That was a lot of fun, and I actually, learned, I don’t know about you guys, but I learned a lot on this talk. So yeah, thank you again.

Dr. Emily Bohan (49:29)
Yeah, it’s always a pleasure, Stephen. Anytime.

Stephen C (49:32)
That concludes our conversation with Dr. Emily Bohan on how to stay pain-free and stiffness-free while also staying healthy while flying. That was a lot of information to cover and unpack, so let’s go ahead and summarize what we talked about while giving you five key takeaways that you can utilize while on your next flight. Okay, key takeaway number one.

Stay hydrated. One of the biggest mistakes that you can make when flying is to forget to stay hydrated. It’s one of the reasons why you actually might feel stiffer when you get off the plane. Key takeaway number two, make sure that you’re watching what you are eating when you are flying. Emily talked about how it’s so easy to just keep snacking and keep snacking while you’re on your flight.

which changes your sodium concentration and increases your water retention, which can lead to that stiffness that you feel when you’re sitting for long periods of time. So you don’t wanna necessarily avoid that bag of chips when you’re on the flight, but what you do wanna do is make sure that you’re eating in moderation. Maybe you’re following up with something more healthy like an apple.

On top of that, making sure that you’re taking in high protein foods to make sure that you can recover fully, make sure that your muscles are ready to take on the Disney parks. So eating things even like,

jerky or a high quality protein bar are really good ideas for snacking when you’re going on the plane. Now remember that you can also bring food on the plane and you don’t have to worry about airport food which can be hit or miss sometimes. Key takeaway number three, make sure that you’re getting good sleep.

To make sure that ready for the time change, especially if you’re coming from the West Coast and traveling to the East Coast, Emily talked about sleeping a little bit earlier in the days leading up to your flight to make sure that you can adjust that time change easier. She even mentioned things like taking magnesium glycinate to help, or take a low dose of melatonin, which can help.

Even things like using a neck pillow to make sure that you’re comfortable while you’re flying because it can be very uncomfortable, especially on those economy seats. And then we briefly talked about subject called sleep banking where this can help especially if you tend to have lower quality sleep, trying to get better sleep or more sleep on the days leading up to your flight to make sure that you are a little better rested to.

take on your flight and then also your trip. Key takeaway number four, the importance of movement cannot be stressed enough. And when we’re talking about movement, we’re really just talking about doing something that’s different for your body. So if you’re sitting on long flights, doing things like ankle pumps, fidgeting around, changing positions, doing something different that your body

can be happy doing instead of just sitting in one place the whole time, in and of itself can lead to that stiffness as well.

We talked making sure that you’re walking before, during, in between, and after your flights. importance of movement, again, cannot be stressed enough. And then we briefly talked about the importance of developing a specific mobility routine or exercise routine if you’re dealing with something specific like hip pain or low back pain.

And that also brings up the importance of working with a healthcare professional to make sure that you’re getting the proper care that you deserve. Key takeaway number five. If we’re not emphasizing the importance of sleep or movement enough, then we are definitely not emphasizing the importance of making sure that you’re doing the necessary prep work before your flight. So that means

making sure that you’re practicing good quality sleeping habits, good quality diet habits, and then also adding in more movement to your daily routine, whether or not that means a walking or going to the gym or going for a run, whatever you find enjoyable. Because Emily mentioned it best, a prevention is far better than the cure.

And this is something that I want to bring up because it’s a topic that’s often brought up among the Disney community. And that’s flying and going directly to the parks right after landing at your destination. She actually mentioned that it’s okay to do that as long as you’ve done the necessary prep work beforehand to make sure that your body can handle everything that you’re doing. Flying four or five, six, seven hours, maybe getting off the plane and then going straight to the parks to do all that walking.