Back Behind the Wheel

Get up and be active –
or risk the consequences
of sitting still in our cars for too long

By Bill McLauchlan

It’s ironic that we all still look forward to collapsing onto the couch or into a comfy armchair at the end of the working day and taking the weight off our feet, yet most of us will have spent nearly all of the day sitting down at work.

According to the Stats Canada, Canadian adults aged 18 to 79 spend an average of nearly 10 working hours per day sitting down (not including sleep). Sedentary time was significantly higher in females compared to males, particularly in the 40 to 59 year age group.

And it’s not doing any of us any good. World Health Organization figures show that physical inactivity has been identified as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality, causing an estimated 3.2 million deaths globally.

The main concerns are: Obesity and Slower Metabolism, leading to cardiovascular issues and diabetes in particular; Cancer and Heart Disease, an increased risk of 60%; and Rheumatic Disorders due to wear and tear to joints caused by a lack of activity and sitting badly.

But the biggest issue we face from our sedentary life is back pain, and apart from the desk job and leisure time in front of the TV, it’s the car that’s at the heart of the problem. In a recent study of business car drivers, at least half had suffered from lower back trouble in the last 12 months, and leisure drivers are similarly afflicted. It is essential as drivers that we note this and take care of our backs, in order to make ourselves safer, better focused and more comfortable behind the wheel.

The daily commute to work is an everyday reality for a large number of us. In a 2011 survey, Statistics Canada determined that about 15.4 million Canadians commute to work daily, and of those people 74 percent drove a car to work. The average commute can vary greatly, though, depending on where you live. A shorter commute by distance with a higher volume of traffic may actually see you spending more time in the car than someone with more distance to commute but lower traffic volume.

PRNewsFoto/IBM

But whether that time is spent sitting in gridlock traffic or not depends greatly on where the driver is located. Take Toronto, Canada’s largest city, for example. Many drivers commute from surrounding communities, such as Mississauga – a 54 km (33.5 mile) round trip – to as far away as Barrie – a 188 km (116.8 mile) round trip, adding up to a lot of hours spent on the road in an average year. How much? Well, the Mississauga commuter racks up 13,500 km (8,389 miles) annually, or enough to have traversed the Great Wall of China twice. Making the daily drive to and from Barrie puts 47,000 km (21,749 miles) onto the odometer every year – that’s 1.1 times around the Equator every 12 months, according to Insurance Hotline.com.

Sitting Time Bomb
Ask an anthropologist and he will say that man is essentially a hunter-gatherer; designed to be up and about all day, trotting around looking for things to eat. Instead, modern man sits at a desk during the day, slouches in front of the TV at night, and in between may drive for several hours a day. When we use our backs in such an inappropriate way, is it any wonder that they fail?

Health experts now say ‘Sitting is the new smoking. The more sedentary you are, the worse it is for your health.’

Desperate Driving

GEM Motoring Assist

Sitting puts 50% more pressure on our lumbar discs compared to standing, and then combine it with the bumps and shocks from the road surface, the use of the pedals to brake, accelerate or operate the clutch, not to mention the twisting when looking around for other traffic, and it’s surprising we can still walk when we get to our destination. Of course the increasing stress of modern driving and living is a growing problem, but then there is the seat we’re sitting on – the car seat is far from ideal.

There have been great strides in the design and manufacture of modern car seats to adjust in accordance with the great variety of body sizes and shapes using them, but they are compromised by cost, space and the other safety and driving paraphernalia surrounding them. As Dr Graham Cox, an author on the subject writes: “Most seats are designed so that our knees are above the level of our hips, which is good for safety but poor ergonomically. When driving we need to extend our legs asymmetrically to move the pedals, turn the steering wheel, change gears and constantly be on the lookout for danger.

“Though we often start out well and with due consideration for back health when driving, it is not long before we are slouching or slipping down into the danger zones.”

As soon as your bum moves forward and a gap between the back of the seat and your own lower back appears, or between your shoulders and the top of the seat, then it is a sure sign that your spine is in the wrong physical shape and certain areas of the spine are taking excessive strain. What’s more, the vibrations and bumps also dehydrate the spongy discs that sit between our vertebrae and allow us movement, and act as shock absorbers – the less fluid, the less they have to work with. The point to remember is that you need to sit well back in your seat so that your back is in contact and supported from top to bottom.

Less Pain, More Gain
The essential thing to keep in mind is just to keep your back moving throughout the day. If you are sitting, whether in a car or at a desk, get up and walk around for at least five minutes or so every hour – ‘movement is medicine’ as the saying goes; keep your back moving to keep it flexible. The more we abuse this incredible part of our body’s architecture, the more we will suffer throughout every part of our physical and mental being. Take care of it and it will take care of you.
Being fit and healthy, and free of pain, can only make us all better, safer and happier drivers. Back pain can ruin your day, but as a dangerous distraction behind the wheel, it can all too easily ruin the lives of others, too.