Physical Therapy Tips to Prevent Pain When You Drive
Sitting in a car for extended periods—whether for a daily commute or a long road trip—can lead to discomfort and pain if your car setup isn’t ergonomically sound. Small adjustments can make a big difference in preventing back, neck, and shoulder pain while driving.
I’m Dr. Lauren Masi, Doctor of Physical Therapy and Board Certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist. I’m also the owner and Clinical Services Director of Bay Area Physical Therapy and Lafayette Physical Therapy. Today, we’ll discuss car ergonomics and how to create a more comfortable and supportive driving position.
What Do We Mean by “Car Ergonomics”?
Ergonomics is how you fit in your environment. How you fit in your car can affect your pain and your posture. Since not all cars are created equal, some may be better suited for individuals with physical ailments. For example, SUVs often make getting in and out easier compared to sedans. But once you get into the car, the actual setup of the seat position, steering wheel setup, and other factors are relatively similar across different vehicles.
Please read this whole blog post to see how one piece connects to the next, so then you can identify which aspects of your setup may need adjusting to reduce strain and improve comfort.
Factors to Consider for Good Car Ergonomics
As a physical therapist, a lot of my patients complain about back pain, shoulder pain, neck pain, and hip pain while driving. Proper car ergonomics can alleviate these common issues. Here are the most important factors to consider when adjusting your setup in your car:
1. Seat Positioning
The first thing I want to talk about is the seat position itself. Newer cars have a lot more bells and whistles, and yours might give you the ability to adjust the angle of the seat itself. You want the position of your thighs to be as close to horizontal as possible.
If your car does not have a seat adjustment feature, I recommend folding a large beach towel and putting it only in the back half under your tush. That can lift your butt up to make your thigh more parallel in the seat.
2. Angle of the Seat Back
When it comes to the seat back, you don’t have to be bolt upright. Its purpose is to support your spine so that you don’t have to hold your body up. Keeping your seat back at an angle between 90 and 120 degrees would be acceptable.
3. Your Body Position in the Seat
Make sure that your butt is all the way back in your seat when you sit down. You don’t want to have your butt far forward as that will cause the rest of your body to slouch. You want to sit back all the way in your seat so you can use the back rest properly.
Another thing that can contribute to your body position is whether or not you keep your foot on the footwell. You should keep your left foot extended and resting on that hard piece of plastic on the lower left while driving. If you don’t, it might raise your knee enough that it could cause an excessive bend in the hip joint, which could lead to some discomfort.
4. Your Distance from the Steering Wheel
Per the Department of Transportation Safety, you need at least 12 inches between your chest and the steering wheel for the airbag to safely deploy in the case of an accident. If you have your seat back in the upright position mentioned above, you might feel like you’re too close to the steering wheel. Make sure that you adjust the seat back so that it can both support your back at the proper angle and keep your chest at the recommended 12-inch distance from the steering wheel.
You also want to make sure that you aren’t so far away from your steering wheel that your shoulders are reaching forward off of the backrest. You can gauge this by resting your wrist on the top of your steering wheel and adjusting your seat position so that you can do this without your shoulder blade pulling forward from your seat back.
Lastly, old school rules for driving said your hands should be at 10:00 and 2:00. Now, they say that keeping your hands at 9:00 and 3:00 is acceptable. You should hold the steering wheel at whatever position ensures that your arms hang loosely and relaxed while driving. You don’t want to have to be lifting and holding your arms up because that can lead to pain in the shoulders.
5. Head Rest Positioning
The final point that I want to mention today is that, in my opinion, headrests in newer cars are terrible because they angle toward your head. This can make you feel like it’s pushing your head forward and can be an uncomfortable posture to maintain while driving.
The reason car manufacturers design headrests this way is because they want your head to be in contact with the headrest immediately if you are in a car accident. This is a safety feature designed to prevent whiplash.
But if you sit in the posture these angled headrests force you to sit in for long periods of time while driving, it can cause pain. My tip is a non-approved correction, but I’m going to throw it out there if you find it necessary to alleviate your pain while driving.
Some car headrests can come all the way out if you push the little button on the side. Once you take it all the way out, you can flip it around so that the back of the headrest will support the back of your head. The reason it’s not an approved correction is that little click-in portions of the spikes that go into your seat back don’t always work both ways. This means that, in a rollover accident, the headrest could potentially come out. I only recommend it as a temporary fix to alleviate pain on an immediate basis.
Don’t just take your headrest out entirely, they are critical to protect your neck in the case of an accident. If you’re having a lot of neck pain, you might need to get a full back pillow cushion that would scoot your whole body up a little bit so that you can maintain good posture despite the forward angle of your headrest. In essence, you’d be bringing the back of the chair up to meet you and filling in that gap caused by the headrest.
Reach Out to Bay Area PT for a Consultation
If you are having any pain while driving, please try to make some of these adjustments. And if you need further assistance, please reach out to us at Bay Area Physical Therapy for a complimentary consultation today.