Lower back pain - would a different seat help?

I reluctantly have to admitt that my 996 is giving me serious lower back problem. I'm pretty sure that my driving position is good. Seat close enough that upon depressing the clutch my left leg is still slightly bent. I've raise the back of the seat bottom so that the back part isn't much lower than the front part. The back of the seat and streering wheel are adjusted so that I can turn the wheel completely without lifting the shoulders from the back rest. ...yet my lower back stills kills me when I drive the car any longer than 30 minutes. I have a few other vehicule and do not experience this in the other one. As you can imagine the 996 is my favorite. What to do ? Would another aftermarket seat help ? Anyone with the same issues ? Marc

My wife and I had the exact same problem. Here is what worked for us. Five years ago I learned this tip for our Boxster, I inserted a couple of computer mouse pads inside the center section of the seat for added lumbar support. That completely eliminated the problem. We went from driving for 30 minutes and getting back pain, to driving 13 hours with no problem. Be careful when you pull it forward, I've been told that there is a clip than can break and the center part of the seat back cushion will fall forward. I only pull it out far enough to slip the mouse pad inside. Here is a picture of the seat on my Boxster, the Carrera seats are the same. Since then, I have purchased inflatable lumbar pads that insert into the seat in the same way, but allow instant adjustability. This is the one I have in both seats on the Carrera... http://www.coreproducts.com/asp_cata...log.asp?pca=84 Installation tales a little more effort because it is thicker, and harder to slide in, but it works very well. One disclaimer: I do not know if this setup will work with heated seats.

timely thread! will try this tonight.

i bought a pair of these. http://www.sptpanel.com/inflatable_lumbar_support.htm One is still in the 944 my brother sold two years ago. When I called I spoke to the owner of the company who told me they were FAA certified for flamability (nice if you DE) and he had a big order from Piper. The other went from my Z28 to my Miata. I stuffed a sponge (round on top, flat on bottom about 4"x6" you see all over) in the S2 because the porsche seat had a lot of clips. I still miss the 928 12 way seats i had in my S2 that was stolen.

i bought a pair of these for my p-car and they are wonderful. lumbareez- http://www.adpro1.com/index.html they advertise in the Porsche Pano. magazine and offer a small Porsche discount.

Make sure you are removing your wallet from you back pocket when you drive. This will also cause you discomfort and lower back pain.

YES!! You are right Robyn. I always remove my wallet from my back pocket when driving and that, too, helped reduce my back pain.

Along the mouse pad theme: Try rolling one up and inserting where the problem is. Helped me.

Since I've been doing mods to the car I find that siting on my wallet causes no pain. It's rather flat.

...yet my lower back stills kills me when I drive the car any longer than 30 minutes. I have a few other vehicule and do not experience this in the other one. The problem that you experience is not that uncommon, and it's the primary reason that I sold my beloved 993. As we get older our ability to tolerate cars with stiff suspensions decreases, especially for those of us who have had back problems. Since you love your car so much, it wouldn't hurt to try some of the suggestions offered on this thread. Unfortunately nothing worked for me and I had to sell my car, but each case is different and maybe you'll find a solution. Good luck.

Thanks all for the advices, I'll surely try one of these lomb. support. I think the main reason the seating is so different is the fact that your legs are very close to being straight since the seat is so low. It's kind of like sitting in a lounge chair by the pool as oppose to sitting in a more normal chair. I'm woundering if Recaro makes a seat with an integrated lond. Supp. ?????

on ebay someone is selling 2 lumbar support for 39 bucks...I bought them about 6 months ago and they work great.....!

How bout doing some P.T. or back exercises to fix the problem.

If it's muscle pain, you can put a baseball or tennisball between your seat and your back and move it around to loosen up the muscle cramps. Works for me.

Speaking from experience, do you have alot of stress in your life? My back pain came and went with my stress. I had every gimmic and gadget sold and didn't get better til Howard Stern talked about this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/044...838349?ie=UTF8 Don't want to sound like a fruit, but this book gave me my life back.

had the same problem till i started stretching and lower back excercises