Why We Carry On Now More Than Ever
There is nothing fun about waiting for 20 minutes while your bag is delivered. And it can put a dent in a vacation if you arrive at your destination and your bag doesn’t. Many airlines charge fees for bags that are checked. For those reasons more people are carrying on their bags instead of checking them. But as a physician, I want to convince you to check your bags.
Why You Should Check Your Bags
There is an increasing number of injuries from people who are carrying on their luggage. Neck and back strain, abdominal strain, groin strains are all increased because of people lifting heavy carry on bags into the overhead bin space. Sometimes those injuries even lead to the need to have surgery.
Pain is not what you want to feel on vacation, especially if you have it because you decided to carry on a bag that could have easily been checked. Nothing worse than having back strain, or other pain, ruin a vacation. Other injuries are becoming common because of fitting luggage into overhead spaces: groin strains, hernias, and neck strain.
The twisting, lifting, and turning from lifting of luggage into an overhead bin space leads to strain on the back and the neck. Most people don’t lift properly putting themselves at risk for injury.
But this can all be avoided if you check your bag(s). Do you know what else is avoided:
(a) Lifting the bags onto the security conveyor belt. Waiting to have your luggage scanned then taking the luggage off the conveyor belt is not only a potential place for injury, but it is a pain. Sometimes they want to go through your luggage, so you have to open it and wait your turn while they rifle through your bag.
(b) Dragging the luggage through an airport if you have a connecting flight. Most of us connect through some city. Do you know how nice it is to just grab your computer bag and run instead of your entire gear.
(c) If the airport you are going to doesn’t have a nice jet-way and you have to go down the jet stairs. If you travel with small kids now you have to carry their luggage as well as yours and hold their hand.
(d) If the airport’s escalator is malfunctioning you don’t have to carry your luggage down stairs.
(e) Fighting for overhead bin space. Plus, now airlines are charging more for that space.
(f) Some of the smaller regional jets do not have overhead space for anything more than a small brief case or purse. Which means they gate check your bag anyway.
(g) The risk of your bag falling and injuring yourself or a fellow passenger.
But the injuries can even be worse than just pain. There has been an increase in the number of spine operations (both neck and lower back) from people who fly a lot and do not check their bags.
If you think waiting 20 minutes for a bag is rough, how about waiting twenty minutes to see your doctor?
In the last year I have had two patients come in for hernia repairs after lifting bags into the overhead bin. Would you rather wait 20 minutes to see your doctor, have the pain of a hernia, have surgery, and wait again a few times to follow up? By the way – they both had great insurance but they had $5000 deductibles. Which means that operation cost them over $5000 in addition to any co-pay. Do you know what that is- that is the price of a great vacation. Had they spent $30 to check their bags they would not have needed the surgery. Surgery or vacation – which would you prefer?
While airlines have changed the size of carry on luggage, but still, the average weight of that luggage is 8-10 pounds when empty – especially if it is a bag that has wheels. When you add your clothing and other gear the average carry on will weigh 25-40 pounds! How good a shape are you in? Do you work out often with those kind of weights? What about picking something up, twisting, and moving it overhead. Sure you can do it – but these kind of movements cause strain to your abdominal muscles that can lead to a hernia, and that also has a large amount of stress on your lower back and your neck. 
And if you fly a lot, and insist on carrying on your luggage, than this routine (picking up your bag from TSA, putting it in an overhead bin, taking it out) becomes a repetitive injury- and it is the repetitive injuries that cause the most strain.
I don’t like losing luggage, or waiting for luggage, or paying a fee for luggage but I also don’t like:
(a) Hernia surgery
(b) Back surgery
(c) Cervical neck surgery
(d) Any pain that would ruin the vacation
Not only do those come with pain, the pain from injury and the pain from surgery – they also significantly hinder your recovery. So here is my recommendation:
(a) Learn to pack less. Thousands of articles about this – but you don’t need to pack too much.
(b) Pay a porter to bring your luggage from curbside to the check in area. In fact, many places will allow you to check your luggage in curbside. But if you don’t have curbside check-in the porter will bring you to the front of the line. The tip is $3 per bag. You have two bags, that is six bucks. Still less expensive than most people’s co-pay for seeing their doctor with back pain, or neck pain.
(c) Pay the porter to help you get the luggage off the conveyor belt and bring it to your car, ride, or taxi. Three dollars per bag- pretty inexpensive.
(d) Only carry-on a few essentials like your phone, your medications, and maybe a change of clothes.
If the airline loses your luggage – you can always shop for new clothes and keep your receipts for when you file a claim for lost luggage. Don’t let it ruin your vacation – just plan on shopping anyway.
The modern era has made bag loss much less than even a couple of years ago. All bags are scanned and you can see where they were scanned on the airline app. These new scanning machines have greatly decreased lost luggage.
So for your health – check your bag. It gives you a sense of freedom when you step on the plane and don’t have to fight for overhead bin space. And when you get off the plane you just grab your computer and go. Do you know when I have left things on the plane – my son’s baby blanket, my Kindle reader, my pouch with power cords – when I had to think about getting a suitcase from the overhead. When I check my bag it is pretty easy to see that I have those few items in my computer case (American Airlines never did find my son’s baby blanket).
Finally – if you travel with your children, like we do- you never know when you have to carry a sleepy child off or onto a plane. And it is a lot easier to carry a child when you don’t have to worry about your luggage — and you will remember their blanket!
