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Healthy Driving
 
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Healthy Driving

Loss of movement/Physical disability


Cartoon of a car

Loss of movement or physical disability (such as severe arthritis, lower limb amputation etc.) can limit your ability to safely drive a vehicle. Your GP can refer you to a driver rehabilitation assessor who can assess your physical ability to drive and make recommendations for vehicle modifications.

There are a number of simple exercises you can do to help increase your movement and flexibility.

Exercises to improve flexibility

Neck rotation
  1. Turn neck as far to the right as possible.
  2. Turn neck as far to the left as possible.

Repetition - Five times in each direction.

Useful for - Looking over your shoulder to check for blind spots, parallel parking, adjusting mirrors and reversing.

 Neck rotation
 
Chin tucks
  1. Nod your head slightly forward.
  2. Glide your neck backward, aligning your ears perpendicular to your shoulders.

Repetition - Ten times.

Useful for - Parking, reversing, adjusting mirrors and looking over your shoulder.

Chin tucks
 
Press up

If you are subject to lower back pain do not attempt this exercise before checking with your doctor.

  1. Lie on your stomach on a soft, but firm, surface, such as a carpet or rubber mat on the floor.
  2. Place your hands under your shoulders with your palms facing downward.
  3. Push up onto your elbows to extend your back.
  4. Try to keep your waist on the ground as you push upward.

Press ups
 
Shoulder back
  1. Shoulders are straight forward.
  2. Bring both shoulders backward as far as possible.

Repetition - Ten times.

Useful for - Steering, preventing fatigue, reversing and mirror checks.

Shoulder back
 
Side bending
  1. Look straight ahead.
  2. Tilt head to the left as if trying to touch your ear to your shoulder. Keep right shoulder down - do not allow to ride up.
  3. Repeat move to right side.

Repetition - Five times in each direction.

Useful for - Preventing fatigue, parallel parking, reversing, adjusting mirrors and looking over your shoulder.

Side bending
 
Trunk rotation
  1. From a sitting position, slowly rotate your trunk, from waist up, to the left. Try to keep hips in place, facing forward.
  2. Return to the forward position.
  3. Repeat move to the right.

Repetition - Five times in each direction.

Useful for - Parallel parking, reversing and adjusting mirrors.

Trunk rotation
 

Source: These exercises are from the WA Older Road Users Guide. Most state licensing authorities have similar publications - contact yours for more information. Contact details of all Australian licensing authorities can be found at the end of this module.

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