Stretchsit Cushion Lumbar Support/backrest for Chairs/car Seats - Spinal Traction/Decompression for Relief from Lower Back Pain, Neck Pain, Shoulder Pain, Fibromyalgia

I read Elaine Gokhale's book years ago when I was having hip and sacrum pain. Her theory is that our posture strongly affects pain in the back and hips. Since then my issues improved and I forgot about her methods. In the last month I developed a knot between the shoulder blades that would not go away and made it uncomfortable to drive. The chiropractor I was seeing recommended a lumbar pillow for the car. That did nothing and made me more uncomfortable. When searching Amazon for products I saw this pillow recommended by Gokhale and thought I would give it a try. Hallelujah! Excellent for the back of a chair or car. Totally relieved the discomfort when I was driving. The pillow hangs from the headrest and it at the highest point should sit just under the shoulder blades. My knot has now gone away but I decided to keep this in my car because it improves my posture so much when driving.

We recently upgraded my wife's vehicle to a newer Honda CR-V (she was in a 2009, now in a 2016). At some point between those years, some brainiac at Honda decided that the headrest really should push your head forward into an incredibly uncomfortable position. I can't decide whether they're trying to give us a greater appreciation for airline seating, or just make us all navel-gazers. At any rate, the only way I found relief was to remove the headrest and turn it around, which of course kills its actual intended purpose of protecting against whiplash injuries. What to do? Risk whiplash, or put a chiropractor on retainer? And then...along came this crazy looking pad thing, designed by this gal whose name I can't pronounce correctly to save my life. I don't remember where I first heard about it, probably on one of the many car forums where folks were commiserating on the lousy posture being forced upon us by auto manufacturers (a vast Asian conspiracy, certainly), but somebody somewhere gushed about this thing. I figured what the heck, it looks weird enough that it might just work...sort of like a monochrome version of the high priest of Israel's breastplate. Lo and behold onto your hamburgers, the gushers weren't kidding! I hung it over the headrest (after turning it back around to its factory shove-your-head-forward orientation), settled into the driver's seat, and found that the Gokhale pad fit very comfortably just below my shoulder blades, and gave my middle back just enough support that the headrest was almost unobtrusive. Way to go, Gokhale!

I needed something to fill in the 'bucket' of the back. The wings are so deep that my shoulders were being pushed forwards and even a trip to the store was painful. I had tried the headrest cushion first, and that was nice, but didnt fix the shoulder problem. I tried another back cushion that made no difference at all because it was too big. But this makes my seat comfortable for me! I have a good firm cushion to support me away from the headrest and away from the chair wings! It just barely fits hanging from the headrest, but it does slide sometimes. I have not tried using the additional included straps.

I like this back rest because it helps stretch my vertebrae into the proper position for correct posture. I purchased 2 of these hem one for my work chairs. I can sit long hours with an upright back. The t comes with various straps with adjustable lengths. You can use it in your car and even a plain wood chair. Excellent product that l will tell my friends about.

I really love this product for cars that have headrests that shoot forward.I have not found it to work as well for older cars that don't have foward reaching headrests but different concerns. My main car is a 2000 Subaru that does not have the headrest issue. The seat isn't perfect as it has bolsters on the side that slightly roll my shoulders forward. Using the cushion makes in that car allows my shoulders to roll back but means my head can't rest safely and naturally against the headrest as it should. I have tried towels and others things in that car, but have just had to make due with the slight shoulder issues the seat causes.However in the newer Subarus that my husband has had over the years I desperately need this cushion to avoid pain. The cushion works perfectly to compensate for the headrest and bolsters that force your body into a slumped position. It did take some getting used to though and I can't say it works perfectly as described on the Gokhale website, but I still love it as it accomplishes it's main goal in the right car.My main problem is not being able to stretch sit with it in a car situation. First, when I use it to stretch sit as outlined in the Gokhale method my clothes tend to be the thing that clings to the cushion, my skin underneath just slides right back to where it is and I don't get any stretch but end up with my shirt bunched up higher on my torso. Second, as soon as I turn to check my blind spot I've lost any semblance of a stretch sit position and cannot safely go through the major motions of acquiring it again while actively driving a vehicle. None of these are huge issues because I've given up being able to actually get a stretch from the stretch sit position while driving, but it does allow me to keep my body in a good position which is enough for me at the moment.I do want to add that my husband hated it at first (and still claims to but uses it). He has not read about or followed any of the Gokhale method principles, so for him it was an extremely weird cushion. One of his shoulders always goes numb on long road trips, so after that happened once I convinced him to try the cushion again and walked him through how to use it (granted, I am no expert so I'm sure my instruction was faaaar from perfect). He used it on the long drive back and said it was uncomfortable, but he didn't have a numb shoulder so he now tolerates it being in his car all the time. So, I do think the take away from that is it really is important to follow the videos or blog tutorials on how to use the cushion if you don't know anything about the Gokhale method but still want to try the cushion. It might not feel as "comfy" as leaning against some of the soft plushy foamy car cushions on the market, but in the grand scheme of things you will probably end up in less pain caused by driving.