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Is your car seat causing back pain?
You either love driving
or you hate driving, but for most of us it's an daily need to get us to work
and back home. Did you know that 80% of the population spend on average 360
hours each
year in the car?
A lot of us experience
lower back pain whilst driving. A number of researches have investigated
the relationship between driving and Back Pain, which uncovered uncovered
some interesting results. One finding is a comparison of drivers in the USA
and in Sweden found that 50% of people questioned in both countries reported
low back pain.
So what is the connection of driving and back pain?
So far research has found
three factors for low back pain whilst driving. The first one is the vibration
from the engine (something that you can not change), the sitting position
is the second factor and the third one is the lenght of time that we drive.
Scientists at laboratories have researched the effects of vibration
of our body whilst driving. The Lumbar Spine (lower back) naturally resonates
at a frequency of 4-5 Hertz and from research they found that this natural
frequency can be distorted. This distorsion can result into higher spinal
loadings (compression) in the lower back, therefore causing an increased
chance of low back pain. As mentioned before you can not change the vibration
of the engine, but what you can do to reduce the effects of this on your
lower back is to drive shorter periods at a time.
It
is a lot easier to get comfortable in your seat when the car is stationary,
a bit like sitting in a normal chair. But once you start driving the body
will be subject to various forces like accelerations and decelerations, lateral
movements from side to side and whole body vibrations.When we sit on a chair
our feet, when on the floor, are used to support and stabilise the lower
body. Whilst driving our abdominal muscles can not provide enough stability
to our upper body and arms when turning the wheel. This will result in a
significant increase of torsional stresses in the lower back, which in return
will significantly increase the risk of low back pain.
To start with we should address one more important issue first - we all
are guilty when it comes to adjusting our car seats correctly! In 2004 one
of the largest car insurance companies (i won't mention a name, after all you
may think i am paid to write about this), released the findings of a research
into how we sit in our car. (about 2.000 people were involved in this).
The research resulted in
the following -
- The
headrest was found to be in an incorrect angle when driving of 61% of people
involved in the study. This will increase the chance of ruptures of the
spinal ligaments or worse when involved in an accident.
- 50%
showed a slouched or hunched position over the steering wheel.
- About
a third of the drivers had back pain whilst driving.
- 25%
tilted their heads or shifted in their seats each time they had to look
into the 'rear view mirror'.
- Wearing
unsuitable footwear or clothing happened to 34% of the drivers.
Please find below a list of 10 ways
that can help to improve your seating position, make your
driving experience more comfortable.
The
Seat
Make sure that your bottom sits all the way in the back of the seat - where
the base and the back of the seat meet. This will help to make you sit more
upright and maintain the natural curvature of the spine, minimizing the stress
on the spinal ligaments. If your seat has a lumbar roll built in have this
all the way out - most cars with lumbar support that i tried do not allow enough
support fom this lumbar roll, therefore it would be best to have it all the
way out.
The
Base lenght and Height of the Seat
The base of the seat should never touch the back of your knees and the front
of the base should be slightly higher then the back, helping to provide more
support and allowing you press the pedals without changing your spinal posture.
The
Backrest
First relax back into your seat, place the seat at about a 10-15 degrees incline
from the vertical position. If this feels unnatural to you then it probably
means that the backrest is not upright enough for you. This can result into
neck strain and / or coccyx (sitting bone) pain. Move the backrest more upright
or if that doesn't help you can place a small towel (folded in three) against
the midspine, between the shoulder blades.
The Headrest
Have you ever noticed when watching an American movie that the headrests are
often missing from the seats - it makes me crinch each time i see this (ooch).
So much for giving a good example to our children. The position of your headrest
will not only help to minimise the injuries of an accident but also to help
to allow a better posture. The bony bit at the back of your head (known as
the 'inion') is a good guiding point, the headrest should be level with this.
There should be about 2.3 cm's (1 inch for the non -metrics) between the back
of your head and the headrest, when you are in the sitting position as described
earlier. This to absorb shock as much as possible. This allows for the ligaments
and the muscles of your neck to control the posture of your head better and
giving better support in case of an accident.
Seat
- Pedal distance
Make sure you have the distance between seat and the pedals so that when operating
the pedals this does not cause you to over strech your legs or twist your body
in any way. Thus your legs should not be straight when pushing the throttle
or clutch all the way down. Obviously your knees should not be bend to the
point you cannot easily move from one pedal to another. It is normally adviced
to have your knees bend about 45 degrees.
The
Arm position
Your arms should be as relaxed as possible, elbows bend around 20-30 degrees.
If your steering wheel is adjustable have it in the mid to lower position (make
sure the wheel does not partially obstruct the instrument panel), this will
help to reduce the stress on your shoulders. Your hands should be positioned
at '10 past10' and not as is suggested left hand at 9 o'clock
and right hand at 3 o'clock.
The
Armrests
If your seat has armrests then it is adviced to use these. As a guidance you
should position the armrests so that they gently support the elbows, any more
will cause the shoulders to rise and increase the change of straining your
neck.
The
Mirrors
These should only be adjusted once you have positioned your seat as described
above. If not sure then please revisit the information again how to adjust
your seat. The mirrors should be adjusted to allow you to freely look into
them without the need of having to move your head much. you either have adjusted
the mirrors incorrectly or you are to close to the steering wheel.
Adjusting
Seat at intervals
This sound great in theory but for most of us this may be akward whilst driving.
For those who have electric seats it is easier (although it always advicable
to stop first), just reach for the buttons to adjust the seat without the need
to take our attention of the road. It is said that you should be doing this
every 30 mins. to reduce the incidents of back pain. This allows to change
the pressure that is placed on the spine is varied regularly. Once arrived
at your destination it would be good to strech! (don't worry if it looks funny,
soon everybody in the carpark will join in - you can be proud having started
a new 'healthy' trend)
Have
breaks
We all have seen the 'take a break' sign along the roads, helping you to avoid
falling asleep behind the wheel. Taking a break helps your back as well, so
when you need to take a rest you can have a strech at the same time to help
your back. An hour maximum is the current thinking, although these tips should
be taken as a general rule. This is a good time to adjust your seating position!
If you wish to you can read more in depth information about car
seat ergonomics - unfortunately the site is not pleasing on the eye, but
has some useful information.
Please do not hesitate
to contact me with any questions you may have -
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
or
01244 852545 or 851449
Arjen Bootsma BSc(Hons),
MCSP, SRP
Chartered Physiotherapist and Founder of ChesterPhysio,
Medico-legal Expert Witness and Physio of the Welsh National Gymnastic Squad
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