Do you drive around in your car a lot? Do you feel any uneasiness after a long drive? Do you know what your favourite car is doing to your body for not using it in moderation? Doctors from the city tell us how to take care of the body yet drive around your car
HYDERABAD: Some drive cars for joy, some drive for livelihood and some drive for necessity. Although it looks comforting from both outside and inside, there are certain issues that tags along, especially for those driving long distance on daily basis. So next time, say ‘Thank you’ to your Ola or Uber driver for taking the pain, quite literally to help you reach the destination.
The potential causes for the neck/back pain while driving need not always have something major, it could be the posture of sitting, positioning of your seat being too far away from pedals, which puts strain on your upper back and neck or seats not providing lumbar support.
“It is quite common for the drivers to face problems like straining of eyes and mind due continuous coordination with other driver/riders on roads in cases of worst traffic, back spine problem due to sitting in erect position for long hours. I encounter these issues while driving,” says Ajinkya Elnoorkar, an engineer. Having similar thoughts Rahul N says “As an architect, I travel a lot to reach my project sites and face tremendous shoulder pains and they get numb after a point. Continuous switching of feet between clutch, break and accelerator are hurting at times.”
“Commuting long distances on a daily basis in a car could lead to stiff neck, frozen shoulders, muscle attack and puts strain on spine. When you the drive car for a longer time, the position in which we drive puts a lot of pressure on neck as well as back. When we usually sit, we tend to bend forward, hence the neck also bends which puts the strain on muscle, which is another cause for neck pain. However the pain is also caused by sitting in one place for more than 45mins. Keeping the neck forward with no other motion motion results in Ankylosing Spondylitis or chronic neck pain,” says Dr Naveen Mehrotra, senior neuro-surgeon of Sunshine Hospital.
Dr Naveen also guides us on how to avoid these problems. “Relax your muscles and do some stretching exercises during traffic signal breaks. Please ensure there is some body movement every 30 minutes. Secondly, there should be some support to your neck and back in case of long drives. People who frequently face joint pain and shoulder pain must exercise everyday for 15 to 20 minutes which will help your muscle function better. Maintain a good posture which will take the strain off the body,” he shares.
According Dr Naveen, these problems were earlier observed in the people who are aged between 45 and 50 years but in today scenario, it is effecting the youngster who are aged between 25 and 30 years with this chronic pain.
These problems can also be immediately treated with home remedies by hot compress, ice pack, painkillers or creams. In cases of serious severe chronic pains consult neurologist or physical massage therapists, and acupuncturists. So sit back and relax.