My patients all know about my love of cars but they probably don’t know that I have been known to clock up over 25,000 motorway miles per year between commuting and visiting far flung friends, family and courses. I may get bored in traffic jams and I may listen to some rather dodgy albums but I never get back ache or neck ache from driving. Neither do I get stiff muscles, twinges or pins and needles in the car. Can you say the same?

I’m not claiming to be the best driver in the world but I know how to drive without taxing my spine or my muscles. The secret to pain free driving is to set up your car seat correctly, develop a good driving posture and take regular breaks where you get out of the vehicle and stretch. It sounds simple but it’s also easy to make mistakes that could set you up for back and neck trouble so I’ve collated for you some of the best advice and practices on pain free driving.

Setting up your seat

First of all you need to set up the seat from scratch. Take the seat back to its default settings (seat at its lowest, the cushion tilted with the front edge as low as possible, the back rest about 30 degrees back from upright and the seat fully far back.)

Now raise your seat up so you have good visibility of the road ahead but leave at least the width of your palm between your head and the car ceiling.

Move your seat forward to that you can fully depress the pedals by using your ankles. You shouldn’t have to lift your heels off the floor to press the pedals. Adjust the seat height again or fit pedal extenders if your heels come off the matt.

Next consider the tilt of the seat cushion. Your knees should be the same height or slightly

higher than your hips but you shouldn’t feel any pressure behind the knee.

Adjust the lumbar support so that it fits snugly against your lower back and prevents your from forming a C shape.

Place your hands together as if praying and then point them towards the steering wheel. You should be pointing at the exact centre of the wheel to avoid twisting your spine. Place your hands on the wheel in the ‘ten to two’ position: your elbows should be in a comfortable and relaxed position. Adjust the steering column as necessary.

Although a chiropractic adjustment is very effective at treating the pain of whiplash injuries, it’s far better to minimise the risk by positioning your headrest correctly. Most people have them far too low down to protect you head and neck in an accident. The top of the head rest should be at least level with your eyes.

Adjust your mirrors. Do you have good visibility of the road without excessively turning your upper body and head?  You’ll probably find that you’ll need to fine tune the settings. If your car has a seat position memory function then use it to save your individual driving position.

Developing a good posture

Your driving posture should be alert but relaxed. Your shoulders, hips and knees should be aligned. Your ears should be vertically above your shoulders and your head should not be jutting forwards.

Also consider your posture when exiting the car: place your thighs and feet together and swivel round until both feet are outside the car. Use your arms to help lift yourself up from this position.

Take a break

Sitting places a great deal of pressure on the spine and the vibration of the vehicle can increase the speed of fluid loss from the spongy discs in your spine. On long journeys schedule a 15 minute stop every two hours and once stopped actually get out of the car! Go for a brisk walk, rotate your shoulders and ankles and breathe deeply to revitalise your muscles. Even try a few gentle hamstring stretches.

If you are stuck in traffic jam you could try a few exercises such as clenching your buttocks, shoulder shrugs, flexing your toes and clenching your calf and thigh muscles.

Perhaps the best health advice concerning driving is this: for journeys under 10 minutes leave the vehicle at home and use your legs.  If you are suffering, you may want to visit my website for my neck and low back  range of motion and postural exercises. If this doesn’t help, then please feel free to drop us a line and we can see what we can do to help you back on the road to pain free driving.