Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion Helpful Tips car travel

stretching always stretching....
left right, forward, back ward......lifting a leg an arm...
and of course I am driving under medication.....

Eddie Rabbit sang it best - Driving my Life Away.

Always moving the electric seat.
If I do not drive, I keep going in the whole financially each month....so this is the only work I can get.
I stop and give the smokers a break, I stop and let new residents look into the sun, it may be the first sunshine they have felt in years.
I take off my shoes and try and get one foot at a time up on the dash.... Yep it can be grueling, but I keep saying, over and over in my head: I HAVE FLET WORSE THAN THIS BE3FORE, I HAVE FELT WORSE THAN THIS BEFORE, I HAVE FELT WORSE THAN THIS BEFORE!

I just fidget and twist and turn in the passenger seat. Cross legs, uncross legs, stretch one, then the other. When driving, I can make it one to 1.5 hrs, then have to stop and stretch.

There is a cushion called a TUSH CUSH that has a narrower size that fits in a car. I got one of them, plus a normal size one when I had a pilonidal cyst removed a number of years ago. It helps with tailbone pain and might help with SI pain for some people. The car size fit fairly well in my bucket seat car at the time.

Lon, cannot believe you got your foot up on the dash while driving. Really?? Hugs, my friend. Keep on going strong.

I hate sitting for any length of time. It triggers bursitis and radiating pain down the back of my legs, and low back pain.For many years before being diagnosed, my family would chuckle as I always had to use a pillow on our hard wooden kitchen chairs. They don't chuckle now!
I cannot sit on hard surfaces at all so I take a pillow or temperpedic cushion with me everywhere I travel--car, plane, to church for pews, to the movies, etc. But I still travel long distances as I go to watch my 15 year old son ski race across the country, or visit my extended family in Virginia (we live in Ontario, Canada now) and I love to travel, but sometimes it IS agony when I do. When driving, I try to stop every hour and stretch. I also have a car with heated seats, which helps me immensely in the winter. Plane travel can be a killer, especially if crowded and long. I wish I could afford First Class. When I flew back from Hawaii to Toronto once, I was in such acute pain they had to take me out by wheelchair, as I couldn't even walk and I was only 42 years old. Embarrassing! I will take tramadol or tylenol 3's for pain (have a bit of codeine in them) but it doesn't help that much.

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Just diagnosed in 2013 with AS after 25 years of pain and seeing over 22 professionals (family docs, rheumatologists, orthopedics, chiropractors, physiotherapists, etc). Am on sulfasalizine for now, as the same week I was diagnosed with AS, I collapsed with myocarditis, and cannot use Humira until my heart is fully healed. Am HLA-B27 negative and FEMALE.

I take my Coccyx Cushion whenever we go more then 20 miles in the car. I forgot to pack it in the car when we went on vacation last fall. After about 3 hours, I was really in pain and we were not anywhere near a city where I could buy another one. It wasn't till late in the evening that I found one at a Walgreen's.By then, I was almost in tears. I keep it in the car at all times now. I use the spare when I ride in another car.

Can't wait til I can just lay down in my self driving car:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdgQpa1pUUE

Hi,
Car travel can be a massive struggle somedays. Few things that helped me were
Lumbar support
Rear vision mirror (a big one) reduces neck movements
Blind spot mirror on side rear visions, again reduces movements/shoulder checks
A rear view camera or sensors
If you can, consider a SUV shaped car. Getting in and out of a sedan (bend, turn, twist, fall back on bum, twist in... ouch) was and is the worst for me. I trigger pain in the process and hence start hurting before turning the ignition on.

I have been on a hunt to get customised head rest, but haven't had much luck so far.

Somedays i would wear compression bands on elbows or knees or wrist while driving, especially when doing long distances.

Switching to automatic transmission has been a life saver. Hope that helps.

I drive for a living and it's absolutely unbearable at times, I am lucky in a way where I never drive for more than 20min roughly before I reach any stops I make. I have a big lumbar support which does help in the mid spine (lumbar and sacrum are already fused) NSAID'S help but not much... I pull over every 20 minutes or so and walk around parking lots or tim hortons (oh, Canada) compiled these all help but often not very much.

wish you the best!

I know exactly how you feel! I bought a toyota echo (and yes I put blind spotters on my side views) looks funny but saves me most days and getting in and out is not bad, I can't even get into most sedans these days. lumbar helps, I am going to try the compression bands.

cheers!
Matt

rumble-yea I can get it up once in a while but getting the succor down hurts....

in the passenger seat I can not get my left leg up...

I had to buy an automatic car, manual transmission just killed me! Also I now have a 2007 car which is lighter to steer than my old 2001 car, it makes such a huge difference. The seat is higher up too so can get out of the car easier.

Sitting in chairs really hurts, the pain builds and builds till I just have to get up. Hard seats are the worst, also any seat that tilts backwards. I fidget alot and get up and down to help minimise pain. What helps me to sit for longer is having the feet up too, so using a foot rest or a second chair to have the legs up on really helps.

I am also a huge fan of memory foam, I have a little memory foam cushion which I use on the kitchen chairs as they are sooooo hard!

You are not alone, I think it is very common that people with AS cannot sit for long.