Help for bad backs in Prius

the only thing i can recommend is the cheap back supports from target or walgreens or any other place like that. they are black and mesh.. they breath well and it supports my back... i don't even notice it's there at times.. i'll never take it off because the seat sucks without it... and i was used to the seat for 6 years...

 

when my back is bothering me, the seats are horrible. when is feeling good, so are the seats. i'll have to pick one of those up for the bad days, thanks!

 

I find that on very long road trips (8 hours and more) the seat is uncomfortable. It helps to roll up a towel or jacket and put it behind the small of my back as a lumbar support. Of all the cars I've driven since selling the Jeep 23 years ago, only the Zap Xebra has less comfortable seats than the Prius. Fortunately, it does not bother me on shorter trips, and I only take road trips about once a year now, for my summer hiking.

 

I hesitate to recommend anything, because I've found that cushions or supports and the like can be so subjective to the individual. What works and feels great to one person will not work for the other.

My opinion would be a cushion or support still might be your best bet, but you are just going to have to experiment and keep expirementing until you find the right one.

The other observation I'd make? Is you said this back/neck pain was a result of bulging disks from a motorbike accident a few months ago?

Optimistically one can hope that continued healing, maybe coupled with finding that perfection insert or cushion "might" lead to much less painful Prius driving.

Maybe compare your "Delica" seats to the Prius seats and try to figure out where the Delica seats are supporting you that the Prius seats are not? That might help you find or create a cushion or support that will work.

Also angle of your legs, bottom cushion support or lack of support can affect the entire seat.

 

I used a lumbar pillow for support for a little while but it made the seat rather short so it wasn't comfortable either.

I ended up just flipping my seat back forward so it's very upright. I don't have to use the lumbar pillow anymore, but for drives longer than 4 hours it still does get a bit sore eventually.

 

I got something that looked very similar to the above from Fry's Electronics on Oregon for ~$7. It seems to help as I had no back pain driving he ~860 miles from WA to San Jose nor did I have any when driving most of the roundtrip between San Jose and Vegas (>500 miles, each way).

Prior to the above, I can recall having back pain in my Prius that I posted about at http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...-thinking-about-buying-prius.html#post1159625 (~1000 miles in 3 days0.

 

that's the same mesh support i have. like i said.. i wouldn't go without it. other people i've let use it have purchased the same model.

 

We have 3 of those mesh supports that we bought from Bed, Bath & Beyond for $10 each, I think. 2 on the front seats of the Prius (family car) and 1 in the driver's seat of the Civic (it's my wife's commuter)

They definitely help my wife with her bad back. A friend who also suffers from back pain tried it in her Rav, but it didn't work for her.

 

I have the black mesh lumbar supports on my computer chairs as well as 2 in the Prius. I got mine at our local Dollar Tree store...yup $1. I believe they are the same ones selling on Amazon and elsewhere. Mine haven't broken down or gotten mis-shapened in over a year.

If you have Dolllar Tree near you its worth a try for a buck.

Bulk Mesh Back Supports at DollarTree.com

 

They have been. The seats are different from the 2nd gen (your 08) vs. the 3rd gen.

You might find Doug's comments at Episode 50 with Toyota's Doug Coleman | What Drives Us insightful about the difficulties of dealing w/complaints about the seats. Skip to the ~52 minute mark (or go back to the 47 minute mark, if you prefer). Keep in mind that product managers at many companies are marketing folks.

 

I know it's been a while on this thread, but I'm also getting severe back pain when driving my '07 for long distance. Leather seats, I don't find to be particularly comfortable to start with. On long trips I automatically put my wallet in the console, no matter what car I drive, but in the Prius I still get back pain, especially on the right side. After one long trip I thought I was having a kidney infection, turns out to be pinched nerves. Also if doing a lot of city driving, it extends down to my thighs and knee. One thing I notice is because of the wide spacing between accelerator and brake pedals, my foot is always twisted at an odd angle. If going from brake to gas, overly twisted to the right, if from gas to brake, always twisted to left.

Also have an old Buick Century, don't notice this as much, and have had various rental cars, some have wide pedal spacing, some don't, GM's have closer pedal spacing and Nissan Altima I rented did.

Getting to where I really don't want to drive the car, or if I'm going to have to drive a lot take a large dose of Advil. Shame, REALLY like the mileage, but man, the back pain is hard to take.

 

Rather than put up with the problem I had it fixed. Two surgery's in 2 years, neck, lower back! That took care of the problems, (multiple). Bulging discs are really painful, and they do not go away by themselves.You might be a good candidate for the spinal procedure I went through! After awhile way too much Ibuprofen daily will destroy the kidneys!
I have felt your pain.
Good luck, pain sucks!

 

Not to be ignored. You can permanently damage the nerves. I'd serious think about trading in for a Prius with power seats. It is the only real fix for the poor ergonomics of the Prius seats.

See above for consequences of ignoring stuff that causes back pain. You do not want the surgery. Nice that it worked for KK6PD but surgeons will tell you nothing is more hit/miss than spinal surgery for pain. If the car is killing you, you gotta do something.

 

Then you should REALLY try one of the mesh back supports like that one in post #8.

As I posted, it helped me.

 

I've driven hundreds of cars over my more than 50 years of driving and can't recall any seats as uncomfortable as the ones in the Prius.
I've tried all sorts of support remedies and settled on a hard seat wedge and a mesh back support. This makes it drivable , just about, for short journeys but not for more than half an hour.
Thankfully the Prius is my wife's car. There's a lot I like about it including 60mpg (UK) but if it was mine I'd have parted with it long ago.
Pity