Driving a car while wearing a hard cervical collar?

In My Humble Opinion
1

This is about whether to drive a car while wearing a hard cervical collar after neck surgery. I am now 27 days post surgery, namely anterior cervical discectomy and fusion at C4-5. I did also have this surgery on C5-7 fourteen years ago, so now four vertebrae are fused together. This leaves only C1-3 available for head movement, but C1&2 normally contribute far more than their share (2/7) to movement. Recovery is going well and I haven’t had any narcotic painkillers for weeks.

Here’s the collar I’m wearing full time:

The issue, broadly, is whether it is reasonably safe given the limited range of head motion possible, and thus the limitation on being able to see.

My doctor advised that I was allowed to drive as soon as I was off the narcotics, IF I feel safe doing so with the limited range of motion. They specifically said they weren’t addressing the mobility safety, and that that was up to me. There are plenty of web sites that say you flat out can’t drive in a collar, and ones that say you can especially if you get wider mirrors, and ones that say you can drive in a collar. I think statistically more are negative than positive.

I think the critical issue is being able to spot traffic at intersections or when changing lanes. I don’t think it is critical to be able to turn around in the seat and look out the back window — I haven’t been able to do this for years, and do all my backing up using the mirrors. I can back down my twisty hilly driveway just fine by using either outside mirror. After all, there are plenty of vehicles that don’t let the driver see out the back window.

I bought some convex mirrors to increase the field of view. I think I will use these in the future just to keep my neck more comfortable.

The trouble is that it’s somewhat a hardship not being able to drive. I can’t walk to any businesses from my rural home. I have 16 more days in the collar, if my re-evaluation on March 8 goes as expected. However, I have a medical leave of absence from work through then, and a spouse and a daughter who can drive me.

Broadly, I tend to lean toward not driving, not trying it. This leaves me contributing less and being more of a burden on others, but not terribly so. But I wouldn’t want to decide this too easily, if driving in a collar is no big deal. I’m sure having a cold or having worked a long day or being angry about something all take a toll on driving ability, yet we generally don’t ask others to drive us around with these impediments.

It’s a question of judgement, and I’m looking for opinions on where the judgement should land. What say the Dopers?

Thank you!

2

My mother had this issue for a time, and although my brother, my children, and I were available to drive her most of the time, she felt the same way about being a burden on us. She made the choice to drive (always during daylight and not very far), but it sounds like she was more confident about it than you are. I can say without hesitation that her family would have been completely happy to step in if she’d decided not to, especially for such a limited amount of time.

I think the bottom line is that even if it’s relatively safe, if you don’t feel comfortable driving, you shouldn’t do it.

3

A lot of the safety issue comes down to visibility. If you have sufficient mirrors/back up cameras/whatever that you have no need to turn your head to observe the situation around you then it’s probably OK. Question is - do you?

Also, if you have limited neck motion going forward (which is what you OP sounds like) you might want to get those extra mirrors and such installed anyway, just to be safe in the future.

4

If you need to ask, the answer is “no”.

If an accident were to happen might your insurance refuse to cover you? You can bet the other party would claim you were impaired.

Install the mirrors. Find a driving evaluator to do a test ride with you to see if you have compensated adequately for your mobility limitations once the collar is off. A physical therapist who does rehabilitation assessments should be able to recommend a local driving evaluator.

I suspect your needing to have others drive for you bothers you much more than it does them. Let loved ones do for you, that’s a gift you give them. Then take solidly safe care of yourself, that’s another gift you give them.

5

@Napier it depends on your ability to turn your head rapidly. Or, as noted by @Broomstick, your ability to see around you.

If that is compromised then driving is not advisable, but that depends on the roads and traffic that you’d likely encounter. If you’ll be on dirt farm roads with no traffic, then your driving might be fine. But with heavy trafficked roads, driving would be a bigger risk.

If you choose to drive, then do so with an appropriately broader “safety cushion” around you — and I define that as situations where your required rapid neck movement is reduced to virtually zero.

On Wed 25 Feb I had open heart surgery and I posted about that here. On Mon 30 Jan I was discharged and my chest hurt like hell. I was advised not to drive for at least four weeks. My ability to quickly turn the steering wheel or turn my head were severely compromised.

But starting on Tue 31 Jan I started driving but with s hugely expanded “safety cushion” around me. I’ve been driving every day since then, and as I continue to heal I’ve been able to reduce the size of the safety cushion around me and my car.

I am convinced that those discharge instructions are written in part to obviate liability responsibility on the part of the hospital that treats you: “we told him NOT to drive, but he drove anyway and got into an accident. He is fully responsible for that.”

The TL;DR version of my post is, take full responsibility for your actions.

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I had fusion of C5-6-7 and a soft collar for about 2 months, in 2018. I was able to drive again in about 2 weeks, but might have waited 3. When driving post-surgery, I recall having to turn from my waist in order to look properly in every direction. I do not rely on mirrors when driving, always turn and look, because I have had vehicles materialize like quarks out of thin air into my car’s blind spot when I relied too much on the mirrors. Bad, esp with fast unpredictable freeway traffic or curvy roads without visibility.

If the rest of your spine will not allow you to turn from the waist or abdomen, and you don’t have one of those newfangled beeping cars that warns you of everything, I’d say don’t drive or try driving with a trusted chaperone in the car during daylight hours until both of you can assess what’s safe for you.

You said “rural”. So I also remember that rough roads with potholes were painful and awful to drive on. And if I had a driver who was too abrupt, tailgating, swerving, and braking, impatient, that was painful as well.

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Did you mean Wed 25 Jan you had surgery? Otherwise you have a time machine or it took you a year to heal up.

Speedy healing to you from open heart surgery, @Bullitt

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We talking physically, or in re risk?
If I don’t feel comfortable, I won’t! This post is about researching whether I should feel comfortable. It’s like the surgery itself – going under the knife seems like an awful idea in general, until you do the research and learn that it’s the best choice.

What’s the thinking here? There’s no point in asking?

Yes, I’ve been there for years now. I turn mostly from the waist, and from the hips and knees if I’m standing or walking.

Not worried about that. Yesterday I did a 5 mile walk on the roads near my house (normally I do 5-10 mile hilly trail hikes and I’m working back up to that). I’ll get a little discomfort here and there, perhaps a twinge of pain if I push to far.

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I meant “uncomfortable” in the sense of “uneasy behind the wheel.” There are plenty of people driving who can’t physically turn to look at things or whose vehicles don’t have good visibility from the driver’s seat, and as long as your mirrors are set to the proper angles, that should be safe enough.

10

Yes! Duh.

Thanks for the catch. And, thank you.