Bruises Behind The Knees Because Of The Seat?

I find myself ending up with some nasty bruises after a weekend spent in trucking school; I wonder if it's because of the seat. I have to move my seat forward and literally squeeze myself between the steering wheel and my seat in order to be able to press the clutch all the way down.

The bruises I end up having are the size of medium pickle right below the crease of the back of my knee, and are dark purple/blue/black. :(

You've said you're rather petite, that goes with the "move my seat forward and literally squeeze myself between the steering wheel and my seat" description. Are you able to lower your seat any? (That should also get your feet closer to the pedals, but that's not the point.)

The seat height is best when your heels are on the ground and your knees are slightly supported (where your phone l pickle bruises are) by the seat. In other words, you can't sit there and swing your feet back and forth.

The seat cushion should adjust independent of the rest of the seat assembly. I've found this true in Volvo, kenworth and freightliner. It's not a feature found in cars that I've seen.

My school had an old freightshaker we called Fred. Fred had been well used and was formerly owned by an instructor. Fred drove fantastic, shifted smooth as silk, however the drivers seat cushion had become detatched from the frame, and regularly "bit" me and two other female students on the backs of our legs leaving huge bruises. Thankfully, they sent Fred back to the corporate location, because the guys didn't have those problems but I'm not sure why.

This might sound crazy off the wall... but are you on the pill? How many hours did you spent driving?

I ask because women on the pill are suseptibe to blood clots and other anomalies...and soem women got bruises and blood clots from cross country flights and being o. The pill

X country is about 6 or 7 hours... how long w er e you driving without a break?

I'm not on the pill anymore, because I had a rare condition called cerebral synovenous thrombosis on the left side of my brain 3 years ago, and to complicate even more the situation, I had hemmorhaging on the right side. They found 5 days later that I was allergic to heparin, my blood count was dangerously low. 21 days hospitalized. This condition is usually found in newborn babies. Although they couldn't confirm it was because of the pill, they still had me off of it for life. I was "this close" to say goodbye. I'm still here. I'm still in trucking school, so I'm in and out of the truck. :)

Try letting some air out of the seat height and increasing the lumbar. This wilol push your legs forward off the edge of the seat some

Phil

Rebellious Vamp, I think most new drivers don't realize how the adjustment of the seat can negatively affect their ability to drive for long periods of time. I myself had to learn this on my own, no one bothered to help me understand it. I would have swollen ankles after just a few hours of driving and my legs would be killing me. I had the seat raised up too high. I was more comfortable in that position because I thought it helped me see better. I understand your concern about reaching the clutch pedal, but really there should be very few times you need to push that clutch to the floor - like only when you are trying to start from a dead stop. (Remember when double clutching you really just want to push the clutch in an inch or two) You could try just shifting your position in the seat for that initial start from a dead stop.

I think you have got the seat too high. It cuts off the circulation in your legs which cause blood to pool in the lower portion of your legs, this could very well cause some bruising if your legs are sort of hanging over the front edge of that seat. I'm not a big tall guy, but I have found that I prefer the seat down low for several reasons now. It is definitely more comfortable, and it relieves some of the problems we're talking about, but I also prefer the angle of the view I get in my mirrors when my seat is set low enough for my feet to be flat on the floor with little or no upward pressure behind my knee from the seat.

I'm not on the pill anymore, because I had a rare condition called cerebral synovenous thrombosis on the left side of my brain 3 years ago, and to complicate even more the situation, I had hemmorhaging on the right side. They found 5 days later that I was allergic to heparin, my blood count was dangerously low. 21 days hospitalized. This condition is usually found in newborn babies. Although they couldn't confirm it was because of the pill, they still had me off of it for life. I was "this close" to say goodbye. I'm still here. I'm still in trucking school, so I'm in and out of the truck. :)

Damn woman thank God you are still alive!!! It was a random shot in the dark. First thing that came to mind is that or anemIa.

You are spot on, Oldschool. For whatever reason, us ladies love to have the seat too high. The best instructors at my school insisted we become lowriders for those very reasons. Our little bruising problems were directly caused by a seat in which the cushion literally slid all over and the metal support frame got us lol.. tge lumbar support didn't work either. im sure the seat adjust was a factor because the guys never complained so the truck was sent to a location that had all male students lol.