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-   -   Severe back pain and driving! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/30420-severe-back-pain-driving-20.html)

Recently my colleague was in Thailand and bought a car backrest for himself and me by brand name Air Lumba (see YouTube link - unfortunately in Thai - but explains the mechanism)
Have been using it since 2 weeks and seems pretty effective and mainly works like a half filled air pillow.
Costs a bit too much at 8k INR and is an official accessory from Toyota for its SUV range - hence took the bait trusting that Toyota would have done their bit of research to approve this seemingly simplistic looking back rest.
Would be interesting to see if someone in India can create cheaper versions of the same.

Some links to give more info below

https://youtu.be/YVhAGw6TKrk
https://youtu.be/rwoqfhL1KOk

https://m.facebook.com/AirLumbaToGo/

I just wanted to share my experiences with backpain.

I have bought 3 different lumbar support accessories and a cushion to sit upon. But my back pain was only really alleviated after I went to a proper physiotherapist. Until I did that, I used to self-diagnose myself as having severe spinal issues...

The physio instead diagnosed me as having very tight hamstring muscles. She said 80% of those who've come to her with back pain have had this problem. For many of us, our hamstring muscles fall into disuse with our lifestyle and the muscle group fails to obey our brain's commands (i.e., the neural motor function fails). Many suffer from shortened hamstrings, while I only had incredibly tight muscles there which wouldn't twitch when needed.

She proceeded to perform dry needling on me. 3 sessions of dry needling and 1 week of advised hamstring loosening stretches solved it for me! None of these lumbar support accessories could really help me in the way that a qualified physio could!

Moral of my story
If you find yourself spending too much on lumbar support accessories one after the other - stop! Just go to a physio.

What is dry needling?
Similar, but not the same as accupuncture, this technique involves insertion of a pin into the nerve-muscle junction of the muscle which fails to twitch. Doing this helps the muscle recall what it is like to execute the commands which it receives via those nerves.

What did it feel like when the pins went in and afterwards?
At the moment when she had pricked me where the motor nerves meet my hamstring, I felt a funny twitching sensation immediately. And a miracle happened once I was off of the bed in the physio's clinic; I could walk with way more mobility and my back pain was eliminated by 80 or 90%.

There have been no side effects and I'm a happy man today.

Hi everyone, bumping up an old thread. Is there any remedy in case the passenger travelling with me, on the rear seat, is facing tail back bone pain? My vehicle is Nissan Kicks which is actually known for great suspension, so I am confused as to why the concerned person is facing this difficulty.
Thanks in advance.

I too face coccyx pain on long drives in my Vento. I believe it's a combination of insufficient padding on the seats and the seat base angle which increases the load on the bone. Does the person face the same issue in other cars too? If not then you know the reason. If yes then it could be a case of Coccydynia which can be caused by various factors.

Guys,
I recently bought Creta SX(O) and facing severe back pain issues, to the extent that I'm thinking of selling it. Please help and suggest what can I do. I have tried all sorts of things (lumbar support, seating adjustments and all other things) but to no avail. Some mechanics are saying that the pain is because the car seat is at an angle (knee is high and the back is slow). I'm not able to understand how to correct that provided that's the issue, any other suggestions are welcome. Because of the ventilated seats and motorised adjustments I'm not able to put a seat cover that might reduce the angle. Request experts to suggest what all can I try. My height is 5 feet 7 inches and body type is on the thinner side.

I face a similar issue with ciaz. Bought it last month after selling the Verna. I used a back support in Verna and found it to be very comfortable. In ciaz though, which I bought without a test drive, I feel pain in my lower back and do not get adequate thigh support. I am 6’ 0” tall. Problem with height adjustment is that it raises the height of the seat uniformly, unlike cars earlier where front and back of the seat had different adjustment levers. Planning to get a custom cushion made which is thicker in front and tapers down at the back to provide better thigh support.

That is quite strange. My situation in Creta is just the opposite, my seat position is at an angle where the knee is up and the back is down, something like 30 degree. So in fact, I want a cushion that is thicker at the back and thinner at the front (knee side). Not sure if that will solve the problem but most of the people that are in after market upgrade, say that. Some are saying that can change the angle and make it straight but I don't if that's possible and how much damage it can make to a seat.
If anyone has done something like that, please advise.

Hi everyone,
My dad drives a 2016 Hyundai Creta and has had a history of back aches for a long time. He uses the Creta primarily for longer drives (anytime more than 30 minutes of drive). Based on suggestions from his friends, he is now trying to identify if memory foam based back rests are worth looking at. How good are lumbar roll or half-roll suggested earlier in this thread?
Since I dont have much of an idea about the back rests for use in cars, I am turning to the teambhp community for inputs.


If it helps, a little bit about his driving pattern: He drives long distances very rarely. If he needs to, it will be with family and hence probably another driver (like me or y wife). He uses another car - a Tiago for shorter runs. The Creta is used for drives from Gurgaon to Delhi or Gurgaon to Noida and back. These are generally in-frequent and the drives in the Tiago are relatively more common but generally shorter in duration.

Did this help?

Lumbar rolls / pillows can help in 2 situations:

1) The car seat offers poor support - ie. is literally bucket shaped.
2) The person needs extra physical prompting to maintain the right curvature in the lower spine.


Another common problem, and one that needs to be corrected before any additional lumbar support is added, is the position of the hips.

(A) They need to be pushed back against the backrest
(B) The pelvis needs to be rotated so your tailbone points downward (or back), and definitely not forward

You can see both of the above A & B done wrongly on the left, and correctly on the right:


Image source

I had come out of a back pain and was pain free for 5 years till i recently started using my Slavia. At the first I felt the highlighted Lumbar area was too soft. It used to sag after a few hours and started making me fatigue.


So i got some after market foaming added which is in the process in the pic
:

After foaming there's only a slight visible in the thickness of the lumbar area.
Now the lumbar sagging has become almost zero, but now rather feels intrusive onto my back when i sit. I think now i feel more of the road's undulations.

Any suggestions? Should i give up on the bucket like shape? Or that will further worsen up the situation?

Is bucket shape actually comfortable or just a marketing gimmick?

I'm also having severe lower back pain problems during long drives in my Vento. I bought a back support cushion from home center, still has not fixed the problem. Is this a common issue in sedans only?

I have been driving for almost 30 years and never faced any pain in-spite of having a slipped disc between L1 and L2, until I started driving a 40 year old car. The timing of the car purchase coincided with a new chair that I had bought for home and was using for working from home. I was not able to isolate the cause, if it was due to the chair or the old car. Bought two coccyx cushions and have been using them on the chair and in the car for the past 1.5 years and have not faced the pain again. If you are facing pain in the tailbone area I would recommend to have a look.

I have not been able to find myself a comfortable position in my Harrier for the last 18 months. No setting seems comfortable and I am either left constantly shifting and moving or with a stiff back by the end of a drive, no matter how short it is.

I think the shape at the bottom of the seat that joins the backrest is kind of a deep hole and the lower back is never really in full contact with the seat is the cause. Do not want to get seat covers as this one has airbags, Wondering if I cant get some memory foam sheets and see if that solves the issue. Are there any stores in Bangalore from where I can buy few small pieces of 1" memory foam sheets? I have already tried the Frido backrest and seat cushion and those do not help. In fact, they reduce the seat width significantly, making them pretty useless.

I would suggest people to visit Dr Rajiv Sharangpani in pune if they get a chance. Its extremely difficult to get an appointment and the doctor is really very senior but he prescribes some lifestyle postures and correctional exercises (including driving and riding) which work like magic.

It's worth the wait and standing in queue. He evaluates each patient individually and adjusts the intensity of the stretches accordingly and prescribes applicable exercises. I was unable to even stand in one place more than 5 minutes with total loss of sensation in my left leg diagnosed with L4-L5 disc prolapse requiring fusion and surgery way back in 2013. I've been totally fit and fine after taking his treatment and completely avoided surgery so far.

Hello, I tried this accessory. It worked for me!! No more back pains during long journey. Thank you so much for the suggestion.