Are you a busy working mum who experiences back pain only when you are driving your car? It may be possible that it is your posture when sitting in the car that is the cause of your back pain. In this blog, lets discuss four simple tips to prevent back pain when driving
Firstly, sit back into your seat so that your bottom is touching the seat. However be mindful that there is a 1 inch gap between the edge of the seat and the back of your knee. This ensures there is no additional pressure on the important structures that are present at the back of the knee. If your seat is too long and this is not possible use a cushion behind your back to shorted the seat length.
Secondly make sure that your feet can sit flat on the floor of the car. The cushion behind the back will help you with this if your legs are too short to reach the floor when sitting back into your car seat. Keeping the feet on the floor will ensure that there are no additional pressure on the calf and hamstring (back of thigh) muscles, which would otherwise pull on the pelvis, and possibly lead to back pain.
Thirdly make sure that your hip joint is slightly above the level of your knee joint. This is difficult to achieve when you have bucket type of deep seats in your car. This can again be easily managed with a seat cushion to sit on and a back cushion, if needed. Keeping your hip joint or pelvis slightly elevated as compared to your knee keeps the pelvis tilted forwards, thus keeping the lumbar spine in a good posture, thereby avoiding slumping or slouching at the lower back.
Fourthly, if your car seat does not have a lumbar support, roll up a towel and keep it in the curve of your lower back. This will support the muscle that are located in the deepest parts of the lumbar curve, thus eliminating the need to slouch in the car seat.
And fifth and most important tip is movement. Unlike your work or home it is not possible for you to get up ad walk around to avoid static sitting. This can be in the form of just arching and relaxing your back while waiting at the red light or just doing some deep mindful, relaxed breathing along with these movements.
If you want to learn more simple tips to achieve and maintain a good posture, grab your free guide HERE.
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