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Ergonomic Driving
Tips for Driving With Good Ergonomic Posture
Tips to Improve Your Driving Posture and Your Ergonomic Setup
Behind the Wheel
by
Ergonomic
driving, do I really need that?
Whether
it is your daily commute or the extended road trip, by the end of the average
week you have accumulated a lot of time behind the wheel of the vehicle.
A
good ergonomic setup can go a long way to
enhancing both the comfort and effectiveness of your driving, as well as
preventing accidents due to highway hypnosis.
Properly Adjust Your Car Seat
The
ergonomics of your car's command center, the driver's seat, is the most
important thing you need to get right in order to avoid discomfort and fatigue
while driving.
Luckily
the car companies have already done a lot of work to make it easy for you to
get it just about perfect.
Unfortunately,
the vast majority of people don't know how to properly adjust the driver's seat.
Mind
Your Posture
One
of the most important ergonomic tips for
driving is to always mind your posture. It is easy to slouch or roll your
shoulders after a short time driving.
This
will cause you all kinds of pain and prolonged problems. Keep you back
lumbar and shoulders supported.
And
make sure you hold the steering wheel. Don't just rest your hands on it.
Don't Sit On Your Wallet
You
never really want to sit on your wallet. So if you are driving get in the habit
of taking it out and putting it in the console before you rev the engine up.
Adjust
Your Steering Wheel
Often
the ergonomics associated with adjusting your steering wheel have more to do
with making sure you can see all the dials and readouts on the dashboard than
ensuring the optimal wheel position.
And
there is validity to that. But for the wheel itself you want to set it in a
position so that it rotates with an up and down motion of your arms using the
elbows and shoulders.
If it
is at too much of an angle to your body your arms will have to move forward as
the rotate. That engages the chest muscles as causes a lot of torque on your
otherwise stationary torso and that can cause fatigue and posture problems.
Adjust
Your Mirrors
Set
your side and rear view mirrors so that you have a full 180-degree view behind
you. Set your mirrors while you maintain a strong posture.
Line
up your rear view mirror with the top of the rear window or some other
reference point so that if you start to relax your posture and slouch you'll be
visually reminded of it.
Take
Breaks During Long Drives
Take
a break at least every two hours. Stop the car and get out for a short stroll.
This relaxes the muscles used while driving and gets the blood circulating
again.
Rest
When You're Done
When
you are done with a long drive take a few minutes before you start unloading
the luggage.
Muscles,
tendons, and ligaments have tightened up and your blood flow is not the best.
Give them some time to stretch out and recover before you start bending and
lifting. Otherwise, you might tear something.
Chris Adams
Human
factors engineer and industrial designer
Human
systems integration lead at Strata-G Solutions, Inc.
Experience
Chris
Adams is a former writer for ThoughtCo who wrote about ergonomics for more than
nine years. Ergonomics is the study of how humans effectively interact with
their work environment. Chris has more than 11 years of experience working in
the field of human factors and ergonomics. He was a human factors and systems
engineer with Jacobs Engineering working on NASA's the Ares I and V rocket
systems. Chris later became the lead of human-system integration for Strata-G
Solutions, Inc.
Chris
specializes in furniture design and corporate identity and works as an
independent consultant on various design projects. His work for ThoughtCo
appears on many websites, newsletters, and books which focus on engineering
spaces for human use.
Education
Chris
Adams earned a Bachelor of Industrial Design (B.I.D.) in Industrial and Product
Design from Auburn University in 1999.
ThoughtCo and Dotdash
ThoughtCo is a premier
reference site focusing on expert-created education content. We are one of the
top-10 information sites in the world as rated by comScore, a leading Internet
measurement company. Every month, more than 13 million readers seek answers to
their questions on ThoughtCo.
For
more than 20 years, Dotdash brands have been helping people find answers,
solve problems, and get inspired. We are one of the top-20 largest content
publishers on the Internet according to comScore, and reach more than 30% of
the U.S. population monthly. Our brands collectively have won more than 20
industry awards in the last year alone, and recently Dotdash was named
Publisher of the Year by Digiday, a leading industry publication.
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