Backpain when sim racing

[Chabalo169]

Hi guys, just got a P1x set up this week, all good and nice apart from the fact i get a lot of backpain just 10mins into driving, i think it must be something maybe regarding my position but i cant seem to figure out why - are the pedals too high ? I used to play for 4/5 hours easily on the playseat challenge with zero pain so this is a huge bummer.

Photos of the rig/position

Gyazo

gyazo.com

Gyazo

gyazo.com

Gyazo

gyazo.com

Thanks a lot for the help

 

[BrightCandle]

MIght be worth getting a picture of you sat in it at racing position or especially on the brake so we can comment on the potential causes. Just looking at it the pedals are quite high (typically you want the top about even with the seat and arse at the highest) and the seat is quite upright. But the backpain could also be coming from the wheel being too far away or curved lower spine and high brake force.

 

[Partick Eaton]

I had some issues with back pain when fitting my home made rig. Lowering the pedals and raising the seat made the difference for me. There are lots of threads on the web about seating positions for driving.

One recommendation is to sit in a car you are comfortable in and try to duplicate the seating position. I sat in my real car and measured the leg and back, angles and replicated them. This took a lot of pain away.

I still get some lower back pain after long sessions, maybe due to my vintage. I now stretch regularly and that helps.

 

[Chabalo169]

Thanks for the comments,heres a picture of myself on the rig

Gyazo

gyazo.com

What do you think its wrong ?

Thanks

 

[BrightCandle]

Thanks for the comments,heres a picture of myself on the rig

Gyazo

gyazo.com

What do you think its wrong ?

Thanks

Arms look OK although you can come a little closer. I think you likely do want to lean back a little and bring the wheel closer to accomodate as you are very straighten up compared to most. The main thing is your knees look quite high and your upper leg isn't supported. Try increasing that distance a bit up to the point where fully pushed onto the pedal is just short of your maximum reasonable reach so its comfortable but your thigh is to the seat of the chair. But its not a bad position as is but its clearly not working for you so try those two things and see if it improves comfort, definitely don't push through problems!

Edit: I should say one of the reasons there is an issue is the seat type. I found the same thing when I got a seat on a slider that is more like a normal car seat compared to the bucket seat with brackets, its a little bit too low. You need to compensate for that with a bit more distance as you don't have the angle of the bucket seat supporting a high thigh, these seats are designed more for the upper thigh to go out horizontally and that is really bad for the back with high pedals so you have to lean the seat back a bit to straighten the back to reduce the tension on it and get support for the thigh or its an unstable position. I think the ideal is probably getting some 8040 inplace of the 4040 that the seat attaches to in order to raise it 4cm or so but its possible to get comfortable with the adjustments I have suggested.

 

[alexSchmurtz]

Have to agree with the post above: your back seems too vertical, I would recline the seat more. Mainly the back but maybe also put the front of the seat a bit higher. Especially if you had a playseat challenge before: you were probably lying down more. Your back being too vertical puts too much stress on the bottom of your back, that's probably what causes the pain. Weight will be better distributed along your back if you recline more.

Arms should have a 90° angle, you seems to have a bit less. For a proper wheel distance, you should be able to put your wrest on top of the rim. I don't think the pedals are too high, in fact they may even be a bit higher if you put the front of the seat higher. Your 2 pedals are nicely middle aligned, maybe see if you can put them a bit further apart (if the length of the wire allows); just make sure you push in the straight line with both legs.

It can take a while to adjust until you find your position. Sometimes 1 cm here or there can make a big difference!

 

[Chabalo169]

thanks a lot for the suggestions, what i feel is i cannot properly rest my foot when on the seat and especially between moving between braking and relaxing : https://gyazo.com/62e865848a811fb3bd7a81a92a0328bb

Thing is im not entirely sure what to do to fix this , feels like my foot should be a bit higher compared to the pedal ?

 

[RCHeliguy]

You are correct that the Sprints normally have a raised plate in front of them. You shouldn't have your heels at the same level as the pedal bases. You need a plate that you can adjust a bit higher.

You definitely need to recline your seat 25-30 degrees

Once you recline your seat you want to put your arms out straight and have your wrists fall on top of the wheel and your arms should be about level.

You may need to adjust your wheel height and your seat fore/aft to do this. You may want to raise your pedals in addition to your foot plate, but start with the foot plate.

The overall geometry you need may require some iteration, moving the wheelbase, seat, pedal deck and foot plate.

 

[BillyBobSenna]

Yes, I think you seat back, and foot angle are to upright.

 

[broodro0ster]

Seat is too vertical and your shoulders don’t touch the seat. Sit closer to the wheel until your shoulders are supported. Might feel a bit weird in the beginning but you’ll get used to it. You’ll have more strength to fight the direct drive in the correct position. Pedals also look a bit too high. Your upper legs don’t have any support this way.

 

[stigs2cousin]

I concurre with the posters above that your unsupported thighs could put to much of a strain on your back.

Too avoid too much wrenching ( changing the seat hight/ backrest angle too much would mean readjustment of the monitor and wheelbase) I´d suggest to start with pushing the pedals a bit away and maybe a little lower.

If you get it right your thighs would get supported by the seat bottom pad, your heels would rest easily on the heelrest a little higher than now( as Mark wrote, the Sprint heel rest usually is above the swivel point of the pedals) and you should be able to fully depress the pedals without overexerting your ankles.

As to steering wheel and backrest I don´t think the mainstream "laid back" seating position to be advantagious.

In fact a rather upright position as shown in your pics is better for the invertebral discs and helps prevent muscular problems in longer sessions. Oftentimes people get away with a more "laid back" position by using very stiff bucket seats which don´t allow the discs to herniate. They can get uncomfortable quickly when not fitting extremely well to your body. There is a reason that pro drivers have their seat custom made.

A relativly soft seat like yours scores in the comfort department, but often lacks in lumbar support.
So if you go too reclined your lower back will suffer.

It´s also correct that your upper back seems not to be well supported, but it looks as if the upper bolstering is pressing into your shoulders which could be highly uncomfortable.
( As in shoulders to wide, backrest to narrow.) No idea how to fix this without changing the seat.

I myself use an reclinable seat ( streetcar sportsseat) as well and use the recline adjustment quite often to stay comfortable for longer sessions.

Start with the pedals adjustment, that would be the easiest solution ( and the cheapest)

MFG Carsten