There have been many shifts taking place around the world recently and one of the biggies I have noticed is an uptick in people driving to their destinations. Airports and flying are taking a hit as people find it safer to drive where they need to go when the distance is a feasible drive. For some of you, the drive may be because you have always had a long commute to work and that hasn’t changed for you. And for others, like myself, driving is about half of my job now and it wasn’t even close to that before. Regardless of why you may be driving more pain and injury often accompanies new and repetitive activities like this. Luckily, common pain and injury from increased driving time is avoidable and preventable.
To be successful in preventing injury, we must go deeper than ergonomics and address the driver’s body mechanics and habits as well. Adjusting one without the other will not be as effective. The following tips will combine the two effectively decreasing overexertion and stress on the neck, back, shoulders, elbows, wrists and hands leading to less injury and happier, healthier, and wealthier drivers.
Tip #1: The Best Posture is the Next Posture
This is one of my favorite sayings I tell my clients because there actually is no such thing as “perfect posture”. Variety is the key. If we stayed in one position all of the time, even if it was “perfect”, we could develop pain when life requires us to move out of that position. Our body adapts to the positions we are in constantly. Some of those positions put more stress on certain tissues and structures in our body and overtime can lead to pain that is most noticeable when doing activity that takes us out of our usual position. The take home message here is, don’t drive like a statue in “perfect posture” but don’t stay slouched and unaware of your position either. Use the different controls and positions of your seat to adjust your sitting position slightly every 30-60 minutes. Keep adjusting. Keep moving.
Tip #2: Motion is Lotion
Keep moving brings us to the next tip: Motion is Lotion. What I mean by that, is take about 1-2 minutes every hour to get out of the vehicle and move around some. It could be as simple as walking a lap around your car or getting out and doing some light stretching that works for you. Obviously, we all work under time constraints but adding a few minutes onto a drive is well worth your ability to keep driving pain free in the long run.
Tip #3: Give Yourself Some Postural Cues
Now I know Tip #1 says “perfect posture” is a fluke. And it is. But there are still some positions that we should spend a little less time in at once when our activity requires a repetitive task (siting long periods on a drive). Sitting with a rounded spine constantly can result in back and leg pain from disc injuries. So the tip here is to remind yourself to sit more upright every once in a while. When you first get in your vehicle, adjust the seat so you are sitting a nice upright and supported position. In this position, adjust all of your mirrors. Take note of the view. What parts of the road and your vehicle are you seeing. Then, while driving, if you notice the view is different, that is your cue to sit up straighter. Again, sitting with a rounded spine for some time isn’t going to cause major injury in your spine, but doing so all the time can lead to pain down the road. Give your self a cue to find the next posture using the mirror trick.
Avoidable injury should not be so prominent in today’s world. We focus so much on safety yet some of the most common causes of lost time at work and disruption to our everyday life continue to come from VERY preventable causes. Taking the time to adjust the ergonomics of your vehicle AND your body mechanics can go a long way. It allows us to make sure you are protecting your greatest asset in life (your body and health) to ensure it gives you the greatest return on investment: an abundant life where you are happy, healthy, and wealthy doing what you love with who you love.
No part of life should cause us to sacrifice another, especially if that sacrifice prevents us from doing what matters to us most. Contact us today for more information about yearly movement screens and other injury prevention services.
