Children’s legs suffer in the car – how is this possible?

What do you associate with driving with a child? Is it an idyllic picture of laughing kids in the car’s back seat or another stressful situation that can overtake you at any time? Traveling with children in the car is a real challenge for many parents! And we don’t just mean long journeys but also regular trips to the nursery, doctor, or shop, which can become daily torture. Let’s face it, if the child in the car isn’t happy, nobody is. So let’s think about what makes a kid in the car unhappy and try to find a solution.

Will your child tell you about it?

There is one big problem with young children. They cannot always communicate what they are unhappy about, mainly because they cannot yet identify their needs or what is bothering them. And while the resolute 5-year-old can usually warn their parents with messages such as “I’m going to throw up” or “I want to sleep,” younger toddlers will be in a bad mood, crying or trying to get out of the car seat while driving. Let’s try to counteract this and make the child feel comfortable in the car.

Boredom or an uncomfortable seat?

Most parents interpret some of their child’s behaviour as a reaction to boredom while riding in the car seat. Kicking at the driver’s seat, taking off their shoes, crossing their legs, or leaning against various vehicle parts. Sound familiar? Meanwhile, fidgeting, and sometimes crying may be signs of something else. Your child is, at best, uncomfortable and, at worst, suffering while in the seat.

Ask yourself, dear parent, how you would feel if you had to sit in an uncomfortable position with your legs dangling loosely and not reaching the vehicle’s floor. After what time would you start looking for foot support? Being a young child, you probably didn’t have the opportunity to experience such discomfort. Like most kids in those days, you probably lay comfortably in the back seat with a cushion under your head or sat on your mum’s lap. Of course, this was highly unsafe, but the state of knowledge about the safety of carrying children in a car was not high then. Remember that those 30-40 years ago, there were far fewer cars on the road, and they drove much slower.

Dangling legs in a car seat

At first glance, few people would associate buttock pain, tingling in the feet, or numbness in the legs with restricted blood flow in the lower limbs. This is because the thighs and calves, resting against the edges of the car seat, are compressed from below. In addition, the lymph flow is blocked in the legs placed in this position.

Few parents will associate their child’s complaint of a sore leg with prolonged muscular tension caused by legs held in the air. Meanwhile, loosely hanging limbs that do not reach the vehicle’s floor have no support to counteract gravity forces and the aggravating overload caused by manoeuvring on the road.

Young passengers then intuitively look for ways to reposition their bodies and legs. However, in many cases, these solutions expose them to dangerous consequences during an unexpected accident. For example, no car seat is safe if the child does not sit in it correctly.

3 steps to improve safety and comfort

How do you deal with this? Firstly, when buying a child’s car seat, look at the safety certificate and quality of the seat materials.

Secondly, let’s match the seat to the car, as only some products, even the best in this category, will fit all models equally well.

Finally, thirdly, let’s use a car seat footrest KneeGuardKids, which, regardless of the car seat manufacturer and car, will allow your child to travel more comfortably and safely. Again, on the one hand, providing solid support under the legs and, on the other, helping the child to maintain the correct posture for as long as possible while driving.