My patients complain about it all the time and it is widely known that poor driving posture leads to back and neck pain. A report from the BBC October 10, 2003 suggests that people should be aware of there posture when driving. The British Chiropractic Association (BCA), according to the BBC, said that poor posture while driving leads to spinal problems. The BCA said that each month 32,000 individuals visit a BCA member because of back problems stemming from poor posture while driving.

According to Tim Hutchful, D.C. of the BCA, people who have poor driving posture are more likely to have back problems then those with proper driving posture. According to Dr. Hutchful, there is about two times the pressure on your back when you are sitting incorrectly compared to when standing on your feet.

Suggested ways to improve driving posture:

1. Make sure your review mirror is set such that you still can drive safely, but must sit up with good posture in order to use the mirror.

2. Set your side view mirrors such that you can comfortably and safely use them in a body posture that doesn’t require much head movement.

3. Make sure you are sitting so you buttocks and low back junction is touching the bottom of the seat-back.

4. Relax your muscles while driving. This will put less stress on the spine.

5. On long driving trips take breaks every 1.5 to 2 hours and get out of the car and walk around for five minutes or more.

6. Where looser fitting cloth when driving.

If you have any questions about this blog post or about back pain, neck pain, headaches, tingling and numbness or chiropractic in general, feel free to contact me at my Ann Arbor office at [email protected].