“Drivers Thigh”

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 6866, 24 May 1932, Page 4

“Drivers Thigh”

An affection, which is stated to be fairly generally recognised by both medical and non-medical drivers, and to which the convenient and dcseiiptivc name of “driver’s thigh" has been applied, is discussed in a recent issue of the “Medical Journal of Australia.’-’ The complaint is described as a neuralgia or neuritis of the sciatic nerve observed in those, who spend a fairly large part of their time driving a motor car, and the symptoms vary from an ill-defined feeling of fatigue of the thigh muscles to these of a classical sciatica. In directing attention to the a flection, Dr. John Hoots pointed out that the cause was a long-continued pressure on the sciatic nerve just before its division in the lower third of the thigh. This pressure was produced by tlic use of the accelerator pedal, which required the foot to be held in the one position, often for long periods. Treatment which he suggested was the adjustment of the scat. He explained that it would appear that the scat without the usual tilt was the best kind for the driver. The trouble, he pointed out, occurred only when the driver sat in a bad position or the springs of the scat had given way.