ACTUAL Lumbar Support for Sitting + Driving!
“Sitting is the new smoking”. It’s a phrase that was thrown around by anyone and everyone a few years back to relay just how detrimental to their health a sedentary lifestyle with a lot of sitting can be. While I understand and appreciate the intent of the phrase, part of me cringes when I hear it. Why? Smoking is never healthy or necessary, but sitting, at least in today’s modern world is unavoidable (good luck flying or driving without sitting for an extended period of time).
Many people have jobs and careers that require them to sit for extended periods of time. Police officers sit in squad cars while doing patrols, truck drivers sit for hours while transporting goods across our interstates, dental assistants hunch over patients all day, desk workers, well…work at desks. Not all of these people who sit for work are doomed to a life of tiresome low back pain. Some will inevitably have pain that is primarily caused by or made worse by sitting for long periods of time, but not all. The number one piece of advice I can provide to avoid having sitting-related low back pain is to get as much movement and positional variability as possible during your work day. Put simply, change positions often. Sit, stand, sit with one leg crossed over, then the other, kneel, squat, sit up straight with “picture perfect posture” then slouch into the frumpiest posture you can. Do all these things but remember this one caveat —-> NEVER ONE POSITION FOR TOO LONG. This can be especially tough for the drivers, confined to the space between the door and the console, but it can be done!
Many of today’s office chairs and vehicles tout “innovative” or “groundbreaking” new features that help support the lumbar spine (low back), but there’s no need to spend hundreds of dollars on this extra “tech” when there is a portable, low-cost option available like the McKenzie Lumbar Roll. This handy little cylinder shaped pillow provides fantastic structural support and proprioceptive feedback like no office chair or vehicle can match at a price tag below $30. There is no right or wrong way to use this tool, simply push your butt and back to the back of your seat, lean forward, place the lumbar roll in your low back and sit back in your seat. If it needs to go a bit higher or lower, simply move it up or down to a spot that feels comfortable. If you start to get uncomfortable with it in the same spot for too long, move it up or down or take it out for a while, it couldn’t be easier to provide your low back with a bit of support and movement variability.
This is a cheap and effective tool at alleviating low back pain to most people while sitting or driving that I recommend to all my patients and use myself while on roadtrips, watching tv for too long, or writing this blog post in an office chair in my basement on a super frigid January morning.
