First, welcome to FT!

Second, wheeled bags work well for some, but so do backpack-style bags, which free up your hands while admittedly putting a strain on your back.

Third, to reduce the strain from any bag, I've found it useful to pack the minimum clothing and electronics necessary. It's easy to pack 25 pounds of stuff in a carryon and 8-10 pounds in a briefcase, personal item, etc. Hauling all that around is tiresome, no matter what bag you use. Especially when you find at the end of a trip that you didn't use everything you carried.

Learning that last lesson and packing about half as much has made my travel, on airplanes but also in automobiles, a lot easier in the last few years.

By the way wheeled bags are great--until you hit your first European city with cobblestone streets and sidewalks. . .