| You may have the best seats in
your vehicle, in terms of brand name, seat design, optimal
ergonomics and choice of material, but you still can get
backache. Having the best car seats doesn't mean you will be
spared that pain in the back, especially after spending some
time in the car, on a long distance drive or being caught in
the daily traffic crawl. The only way you may relieve your
tortured spine of unnecessary stress and the subsequent
backache that occurs is to adopt a good driving position.
Nevertheless, it is all up to you, to slouch or to adopt an
ergonomically correct seating posture. "Relaxed" posture
is referring to a situation that you are slouching in your
car seat with the back curved in a rounded manner.
Eventually, this posture is 'murder' on your spine or more
specifically, the discs, vertebrae and back muscle. This
added stress leads to backache, if not in the immediate
term, then surely in the time to come. It must be remembered
that backache may also affect your driving performance by
being a distraction that may take your attention off the
road. Here are a few basic tips that will help you stay
alert and yet feel none the worse, where your back is
concerned, at the end of the drive.
- Sit with your buttocks as close as possible to the
backrest. The ideal position is having your leg slightly
bent when you press a pedal to the floor.
- Your shoulders should be as close as possible to the
backrest. To achieve that, you should adjust the angle
of the backrest to the point when you can easily reach
the steering wheel with your arms bent.
- Adjust the seat height to the highest comfortable
position. And if you have a seat tilt facility in your
car, the advice is to choose a tilt angle that allows
you to easily press the foot pedals down to the floor.
The backrest angle should also be adjusted to complement
the tilt angle in getting a good driving position.
- The fore and aft facility also comes into play where
thigh , support is concerned. You should adjust the
distance in such a way that your thighs are in contact
with the seat cushion almost up to the back of your
knees. A guide here is that the distance between the
edge of the seat and the back of your knees should be
about two or three fingers wide.
- The upper edge of the headrest should be aligned
with the top of the head since the headrest plays an
important part in good driving posture. And if the
headrest angle can be adjusted, it should be selected in
such a way that there is about three quarters of an inch
between your head and the headrest.
So, enjoy your driving - either to work or for holiday -
by choosing the correct seating posture and feeling good for
it!
Article contributed by AAM
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