Are you a road warrior? Finding more comfort in the car.

Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time in the car.

Have you ever had the experience of stopping for gas after a few hours of driving and found that your legs didn’t work? Just because we’re sitting down, doesn’t mean we’re relaxing. We use muscles for the brake and the gas, weaving around cars, checking in the rearview mirror, glancing at our GPS, stressing over traffic or even just thinking ahead about our next thing. 

Here are a few common points of tension while driving and easy steps to address them.

Problem #1: Your lower back hurts.

Sit on your sitting bones. At the bottom of your pelvis, are your sitting bones. They look like two semi-circles with a hole in the middle. This part of your pelvis is meant to support your weight. Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that we are sitting on our legs. The sitting bones extend lower than the hip joint (where the legs attach to the torso). Allowing your sitting bones to release down and letting go of any holding in the thighs will reduce tension. And back-pocket-wallet-people - make sure that you’re not sitting on your wallet as this causes you to torque your spine to compensate for a tilted pelvis.

Problem #2: Your upper back hurts.

Bring your seat back to a more vertical position. My first car was a 1980 Volkswagen Scirocco, in tomato-red no less, and it had bucket seats that I would lean waaaay back. I thought it was cool, but doing so made me have to hold my head a lot more forward. Do you know what happens when your head is suspended forward when driving (or texting)? It weighs A LOT more! That’s a ton more muscle you have to use just to remain upright.

Problem #3: Tight ankles, knees and hips.

Notice if you are holding your ankle above the gas or brake or if you are holding in your hips or knees to bend to fit in the car. Try thinking about your leg joints as simply available for getting your leg into the right position - not as something that you have to bend or “do.” See if you can allow your knees to release away from your hip joints and your ankles to release away from your knees. If you have your foot on the gas, would you be able to release your foot into the gas pedal, instead of thinking about “pressing” the gas?

Problem #4: Shifting to standing after being in the car for a while.

Recovery time is a real thing. Bodies that have been in one position for a while take time to transition. Staying with our theme of release, can you allow your head to release up while your legs release down as you come to standing? Can you allow your whole foot to extend to the ground, taking care to soften your ankles? If it takes your body a minute to transition, let it have it. Think about unfurling, like a butterfly’s wings.

I find that the more I give myself gentle directions like this, both in the car and out, the easier it is to be a road warrior!