Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett › Forums › General › Driving to Neck Pain

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    • 03/15/2015 at 2:49 pm #71294
      AvatarJon Balfe
      Participant

      My wife is a saint, she drives our two boys all over the state of Maryland for all sorts of reasons. They go to school, sporting events, farming events, play dates, etc This may not seem like much for folks out in sunny southern… or even northern California (before you get too upset I am a California boy transplanted to the east), but during the this past winter I think the stress of wintery driving has taken its toll. She complains of a tight neck and shoulders and feels like it’s directly related to her driving. I have suggested a few mob related movements she could do and she has had some success. But I noticed that in the episodes filter there’s only one “neck” related video… can anyone suggest some work she could do to release knots in the side of here neck and her traps? Thanks everyone!!

    • 03/16/2015 at 7:09 am #75853
      AvatarMáximo Ferro Párraga
      Participant

      I worked with at PT who suggested shallow breathing due to stress was causing neck/shoulder pain.  He had me work on some deep diaphragm breathing and I’m seeing improvement.  

    • 03/16/2015 at 6:40 pm #75854
      AvatarNathan Richer
      Participant
      when you drive a lot, your body can get stuck in a bad position.  if the steering wheel is too far forward, it can drag the shoulders forward with it. holding the arms on the steering wheel can create tension in the arms and shoulders. most car seats are poorly shaped. they are concave and the head rest kicks the head/neck forward. the concavity in bucket seats pushes the shoulders forward. the way the back is not optimally shaped to cause the pelvis to roll into posterior tilt, causing the entire spine to have problems. if someone spends a lot of time in this bad position, the body will rebel.
      here are some forward head on neck videos:

      http://www.mobilitywod.com/2011/02/episode-169-forward-head-on-neck-position/

      work the tspine – i’m sure it’s stiff:
      http://www.mobilitywod.com/2011/07/episode-294-shoulder-what-to-fix-first-and-wii-mob/
      for some trap work, i’d stick two lacrosse balls, one under each trap and lay on them. arch the butt up but keep good torso position. then move the arms overhead, around in snow angel fashion. move the balls for optimal effect.
      the other suggestions would be alterations to her car seat setup.
      1. i use this cushion: http://gokhalemethod.com/stretchsit-cushion. it hangs nicely down from the head rest supports. however, it is usually not enough by itself in today’s bad car seats. i use some big rubber bands and attach a paperback to the back of the pillow which pushes the body forward enough to clear the wings of a typical car seat.
      i would not recommend a lumbar support. it pushes the lumbar spine into extension and does not solve the shoulders pushed forward problem.
      note that this cushion should not be placed at the bottom but rather it should center around the junction between the t-spine and lumbar spine. this allows the butt to push further back and prevents posterior tilt of the pelvis. it also puts the body into a more upright position.
      this then allows the head to be more upright and not be kicked forward by the bad head rest. you can still rest the head on the headrest, but the head/neck will be aligned properly on top of the spine.
      2. move the seat forward so that you are not reaching for the steering wheel. get it as close to your body as you can get it. you may need to slide the seat back to get out of the car, but then slide it back forward when you get back in to drive. this prevents the shoulders from reaching forward and getting wiped out from holding them up there so much.
      good luck!
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