When The Daily Commute is a Pain in the Everything

Nobody loves their morning commute. Or their afternoon commute. And while it would be nice to think we could all pick up, move, and end up closer to work, that's not always the case.

Being a road warrior has impacts on mental health and happiness. You didn't need scientists to tell you that. What you might not have realized is it can also have a substantial impact on the health of your back, neck, and knees.

You can't exactly start teleporting to your job either, so here are a few tips for dealing with the daily commute.

Exercise to mitigate back and neck pain.

Prolonged periods of sitting, especially in an unnatural position, are two of the drivers (no pun intended) of commuting pain. Certain muscles tighten up and shorten while others lose strength.

"Sitting is the new smoking," but most of us can't do much about having to do it. What you can do is make it a point to do some strengthening and stretching exercises every day so you can give your muscles what they need to stay strong.

Address your driving posture.

We've all done the rapid-fire seat adjustment after the taller or shorter family member has used the car before us. But how much thought do you actually give to your seat position?

Once you've got the seat close enough for you to comfortably reach the foot pedals, you need to start thinking about seat height. Your hips and knees need to be level. Adjusting the recline of your seat and the steering wheel position until you aren't putting any strain on your body is equally important.

Bring portable comfort.

Soothie's not the type of company that's going to hammer its product every blog post, but in this case it's really worth mentioning. Soothie can give your lower back the support it just doesn't get in any natural vehicle seat.

Add the hot or cold comfort to ease painful muscles and you might just have a more bearable commute. Which means a more bearable work day, because you won't be in such a foul mood after your commute.