Do you drive a Honda sedan? Do you drive it at least an hour per day? I mean an hourlong stretch in stop-and-go traffic like a daily commute. I’m interested in your experience.
Since I started work, I’ve been driving Melanie’s Honda Civic every day, leaving the Buick minivan for her and Isabella. Lately, I’ve been noticing that my right knee has been hurting, especially at the end of my commute, either at work or at home. I thought maybe I’d hurt it bowling a few weeks ago, but the pain has come on over a long period of time.
Melanie mentioned today that when she used to commute in Dallas in her Honda Accord that her right knee became sore all the time. She just attributed it to being too tall for the car, but that’s obviously not the case for me. So I began to pay attention to how I drive the car. I noticed that my leg is cocked at an angle so that my foot can tap the accelerator or the brake, and it stays that way for a long time, jumping back and forth as I edge through the traffic jam that is Boston traffic.
For a time I tried putting my foot on the accelerator straight on, keeping my leg straight and that seemed to take the stress off the ligaments on either side of my knee. But I really can’t drive like that for long because it slows down my reaction time.
So for all you Honda owners out there, do you have the same problem? (I’m keeping in mind that this is a 2000 Honda Civic so perhaps later models have fixed the “problem” if indeed it is a design problem.)
Interestingly, neither of us have the same problem with the Buick Terraza because you sit more nearly upright with your legs in a more natural sitting position. Moving from one car to the other is an adjustment because I feel like I’m sitting on the ground in the Honda.
