Road Trip Advice From Your Chiropractor

As we move into summer and start looking at taking some long road trips it is important to evaluate our sitting posture and try to minimize the amount of stress that we put on our backs. 

For starters when we are sitting it puts 3 times the amount of pressure into the low back compared to when we are standing, thus the importance of making regular stops to get up, move around, and stretch a bit.

How NOT to sit when driving

When it comes to the unavoidable sitting portion we can adopt some healthy habits that help minimize the discomfort that can build from being in the car for long periods.  One simple posture that we can adopt to help our bodies is keeping our both our feet placed at the same relative place inside the vehicle.  When we have one leg extended with the other leg pulled back toward the seat it causes the hips to shift and creates an uneven distribution of pressure on the different sides of the back.
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Another thing we can do to help minimize the stress and strain on the back is to sit in a position where our hips roll forward a little to keep the inward curve of our low back (not rounding it out or slouching). 

​If your bottom section of your seat has tilt functions built into it you can raise the back portion of it up so it sits slightly higher than the front and this will give you a gentle roll forward.  If your car doesn’t have this feature you can get a sitting wedge and it will accomplish the same thing.  The back side of the wedge should be 2”-3” high for best effect.

Hopefully helpful tips from your favorite chiropractors - be safe and enjoy the ride!!!

How to sit when driving

A sitting wedge/cushion for car seats