Discomfort and pain issue at the body part are common complaints reported by car drivers. It is due to driving task
require physical demands and need to maintain and adapt several postures in a constrained space while controlling
the car. Hence, this study aims to determine the pattern of shoulder activation muscle consisting of the Trapezius
muscle in two different driving posture. Respondents were required to grasp the steering wheel at 8 and 4 hand
position. The Surface Electromyography was used to get the reading for left muscle’s Trapezius Descendent (TD) at
two different positions; i) closest distant from steering wheel and ii) far distant from the steering wheel. Then,
Temporal Analysis was used to evaluate the pattern of the driving action. From the experiment, it shows the
different value of muscle activation occurred while driving according to turning action. The far seated position
depicted greater activation on driving action compared to the closer seated to the steering wheel. In conclusion, the
driving posture effects the activation of shoulder and arm’s muscles as early as after 20 seconds of driving activity.
Hence, choosing the correct driving posture allowed a comfortable driving environment for the driver.