Watch this video to learn a few tips from Liz on how to get in and out of the car with back pain.
Liz is a Pilates Instructor at CORE and has had a history of back pain and sciatica. This history is what led her to become a Pilates Instructor.
Liz: So now I’m going to talk about getting into the car and then out of the car in a safe way, without twisting or twerking or doing anything that isn’t mindful and intentional that might increase discomfort in your body.
So the first thing that you want to do is without really having a lot of visibility, you’re going to have to kind of place your trunk here over the center of the seat of your car, and I’m going to place my hand on the door frame to help me and then the outside of the car here. And I’m going to slowly lower myself into my car watching out for my head, see I’m not quite sure where that is, and bringing myself in.
And now I’m just facing forward, I’m not twisted in any way and I’m just going to take a moment to scootch myself back into the center of the seat. Now getting the legs into the car, I’m going to do something where I take my right leg and I move it to the door frame, the bottom ledge of the door, and now I’m going to bring my left leg while I’m keeping my body in line with my feet.
And now one final move should get me into my car, but take as many moves as we need to do this in a way that’s not uncomfortable for you. So I’m going to bring my legs inside the car as I twist my body forward and now I’m seated and I’m ready to drive.
So getting out of the car is pretty similar. I’m going to do the same thing where I find a place to support myself. So here I’m using my hand on the steering wheel and on the outside part of the car. And I’m going to try to turn my body towards the door in one line, so I’m keeping my pelvis in line with my feet. So I’m having to kind of scootch myself to stay in that nice alignment, and now I’m going to place my hand in a different place so I can support myself to scootch my body to a center facing position with my feet sitting outside of the door.
And now I’m going to bring my head forward and I’m going to place both feet firmly on the ground and I’m going to use my hands against my legs to kind of press myself up and forward. And there we’ve done it, we’ve gotten into the car and out of the car.
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