How to Carry Heavy Bags

Dr. Karena Wu, Board-Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopedic Physical Therapy joins the Today Show Third Hour to teach how to carry the weight of a heavy bag. Dr. Wu describes when your bags are too heavy and how much weight you should really be carrying around. As a physical therapist, she teaches a quick postural exercise to show Craig Melvin, Sheinelle Jones, Dylan Dreyer and Al Roker how to stand with good upright posture. This is a common postural retraining exercise given to most patients. Dr. Wu also discusses how to disperse the loads and where to carry it on your body so that you minimize spinal load, injuries and extra work. She then describes how to use your heavy travel bag in those long lines at the airport so that you can get the benefit of a leg workout in before sitting on any flight. Lastly, Dr. Wu describes the components to look for in a backpack and shows how the kids are using the backpacks correctly or incorrectly. Watch as the whole team participates in each area to help avoid aches, pains and injuries when doing any lifting activity.