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The Car Seat; a wonder of modern engineering and the cause of much pain! Imagine you are an automotive engineer; you have to design a seat that will be as comfortable for a very  large man at 19 stone, equally comfortable for a strapping teenager at 12 stone or a young woman at 9  stone; all of different heights, shapes and postures. So designing a  seat that will happily cosset each of these physically and physiologically diverse individuals, not just as they settle in and get comfortable — but for the entirety of a four-hour drive, it’s a huge ask. How many times have you struggled to get out of a car after a long trip and experienced pain in your legs, back, or buttocks? Have you ever wondered why? The car seat plays a major role in keeping passengers comfortable and safe. Its purpose is to provide support, comfort, and safety while meeting the expectations of the public, the manufacturer and the government. Regulations dictate seat design only minimally, the most important requirements concerning head headrests. In the end, manufacturers mainly ensure the seat design helps the car pass the government’s crash-safety standards. At the same time, seats must secure large and tiny drivers and allow them to see clearly over the steering wheel and reach the accelerator clutch and brake pedals. Hidden beneath layers of cushion fabric and foam padding are some very complex mechanisms. Gears, levers, cams, ratchets and other parts often must operate with the precision of a watch while being able to lock into place instantly for crash protection.  Add into this mix the fact that car seats, obviously the most direct contact between people and machine, help create an overall feel for the vehicle and important perception of brand value. Even as perspective buyers sit in a car on the showroom floor, seating systems give a first and lasting impression – and they often are a factor in the purchase decision.   So, car makers go all out to incorporate a range of seating functions made to impress including an array  of convenient seat adjustments and controls for back, shoulders, seat height, cushion angles, back tilt and body contour as well as retractable, adjustable and foldable rear seats. So is there the ‘best car manufacturer’ for their seats…. No unfortunately!  My advice is try them out, go  for a long test drive, find a seat that is supportive for your shape, height and weight. The more seat  adjustment available the more options to adapt the position to suit you, although this can be a poor substitute for a properly designed basic seat. Also consider the whole cockpit, for instance are you offset to the pedals, can you see the dash without crunching up, is the clutch or steering heavy, should you be driving a manual or try an automatic shift. You can buy back supports specifically to remedy car seat issues but most of these are very poor and there is only one type and manufacturer that I personally recommend, after many years of personal experimentation.  The main thing in all this is break up your long journey into maximum one hour ‘ driving blocks’ and have ‘get out of the car and walk about breaks’ in between the hour blocks. Be aware how you get in and out of the seats, don’t try to lift the entire weeks shopping out in one go, be cautious lifting luggage, dogs in the boot and be very careful when inserting/ lifting children in and out of the car.  

  The ACL lies in the middle of the knee joint and is one of the main stabilising ligaments of the knee, the others being the Posterior Cruciate Ligament and Medial and Lateral Collateral Ligaments. The ACL helps control and stabilize relative femoral/ tibia (thigh/shin bone) movement. The PCL passes in the opposite direction, forming…

  When I take a patient history or catch up with a patient, I ask questions about why they have come to see me, and their medical history. I try to establish the onset of the problem. This can be a difficult issue as people tend to be very vague about the facts of the…

  As you might expect, most osteopaths see a lots of backs, necks, shoulders, knees etc in their everyday work. So patient’s frequently take the opportunity when being examined to ask, re a particular ‘lump or bump’ what do you think this is? These are frequently nothing to worry about, interesting, concerning or quite worrying,…

Mayfield, where this clinic is based, has reasonably large number of elderly residents; consequently I regularly see patients affected by Cervical Spondylosis. This is an age-related degeneration of the discs (between the vertebra) in the neck, leading to a loss of height/length of the spine. The vertebral joints can then push together, rub down and…

  Most people are only vaguely aware of ‘ribs’ aside from the very nice ‘main course’ at some of the local pubs, that is until they become dysfunctional and invariably painful. Ribs are the long-curved bones that form the thoracic cage and are made up of twelve pairs, so 24 in total (some people have…

Around three million people in this country have Osteoporosis. 1 in 2 women and 1 in 5 men over the age of 50 will have a fracture mainly because of this condition. Men naturally have a higher bone density than women which is why these conditions are more prevalent in women than men. Osteoporosis is…

I used to go very regularly to Yoga which I found very beneficial and I still recommend the activity to my patients. Unfortunately with time at a premium these days, yoga has gone the way of many other things for me. Normally yoga teachers place much emphasis upon ‘breathing’ and the use of the thoracic…

  Most people in their professional and work lives develop little irritations about how certain things are presented to the public, by press and government; this is one of my mine. In recent years there have been very rapid changes in health policy, a lot of which have been good an my opinion such as…

  I am not a particularly allergic person, but I know a lot of people who are, as they form a significant part of my patient list. As a consequence, within the practice and in all patient interactions, precautions are taken to avoid any issues.   According to the website www.allergyuk.org the UK has the…