My Neck "Went" Backing Out Of My Own Driveway. My Physio's Six Words Explain Why Reversing Hurts After 60 — And The $119.99 Screen That Ended It.

By Ray Mitchell, 68 — Sunshine Coast, QLD
Last updated July 28, 2026 · 6 min read

My wife's been at me for weeks to write this down. I told her nobody wants to hear about my neck. She said, "No. But every driver our age needs to hear the part about reversing." So here it is.

It happened backing out of my own driveway.

I turned to look over my right shoulder, same as I've done for fifty years. And something in my neck went off like a snapped guitar string. I sat there halfway across the footpath, and I could not turn my head back.

I'm 68. Drove trucks for a living, then utes, then whatever was in the shed. Driving has never once worried me.

But that morning I had to crawl back up the driveway using only the mirrors, neck locked solid, praying nothing was coming. My hands were shaking when I got inside.

My wife booked the physio without asking me.

The physio was a young bloke. He moved my head around and measured how far it turns with a little gadget. Then he said something I haven't stopped thinking about.

I asked what that meant. He said everyone loses a little bit of neck rotation as they get older. About half a degree a year, on average. It's been measured in study after study.

You never notice it happening. Because daily life almost never asks your neck for a full turn. Checking the letterbox doesn't need it. Watching telly doesn't need it.

But one thing still demands the full twist you had at 40. Reversing a car.

He told me the standard check for older drivers only looks for about 30 degrees of turn each way. A proper over-the-shoulder look takes a lot more than that. So every single reverse asks your neck for range it no longer has.

"That's why it never settles," he said. "You strain it, it calms down, then you reverse again and strain it again. You're re-injuring the same spot every time you leave the house."

He had a name for it. Reverse strain. Said he sees it constantly in drivers over 60, and almost nobody connects it. They blame the pillow. The cold. Getting old.

So it's not just sore. It's dangerous.

I did the exercises he gave me. Every morning, honestly, for months. They helped with the stiffness. But he was straight with me about the limit. Exercises help you keep the range you've still got. They don't hand back the degrees you've lost.

I tried the other tricks too. Stick-on blind spot mirrors, which are fine until it rains or gets dark. And parking at the far end of the carpark so I could drive straight out. I told everyone that was for the exercise.

It wasn't for the exercise.

Then my son came up for a weekend and watched me reverse out of the driveway. He didn't say much at the time. A week later a box turned up.

Inside was a 7-inch screen. He rang me and said, "Dad, just try it. Ten minutes."

I'll be honest, I thought it was another gadget. My car is from 2011. I don't do screens.

Here's what it actually is. A bright 7-inch display that sits on the dash. It comes with a reversing camera, and the moment you put the car in reverse, the screen shows you everything behind the car. Big and clear, with guide lines showing exactly where you're headed.

It powers from the cigarette lighter. Setup took me about ten minutes, and I'm no tech person. No mechanic, no cutting into the dash. Works in any car, old or new.

The first time I reversed with it, I laughed out loud. Fifty years of craning my neck like an owl, and the answer was a screen showing me what's behind the car. The same thing new cars have had for years.

That's actually the part that annoyed me. If I bought a new car tomorrow it would have a reversing camera as standard, because the car industry worked out long ago that twisting around is a terrible way to see behind you. But a new car is $40,000, and a car audio shop quoted my mate over $1,100 to build a screen into his dash.

This one was $119.99, camera included.

What's In The Box

7″ HD touch screen (wireless CarPlay & Android Auto)	$200.00
HD reversing camera with guide lines	$80.00
Total value	$280.00
Today's price	$119.99

YOU SAVE $160.00 — CAMERA INCLUDED FREE

• Powers from the cigarette lighter — no mechanic, no cutting into the dash
• Works in any car, old or new
• Set up in about 10 minutes
• 30-day money-back guarantee
• Aussie owned — express shipping from Brisbane

Check Availability →Your own driveway is the test drive

Only 43 left at this price

It does the phone things too. Maps come up on the screen, calls go hands-free, music plays through it, and my phone connects by itself when I get in. I use the maps more than I expected. But I bought it for one reason, and that reason is reversing.

Now, straight up: it won't fix your neck. Nothing gives you back the turn you had at 40. My physio was honest with me about that, so I'll be honest with you.

What it does is remove the one job that keeps tearing it. Stop making the twist, and the strain stops getting topped up. My neck hasn't gone off like that since. Mornings are better. I sleep through.

And reversing stopped being the worst part of my day. Ask anyone whose neck has ever locked halfway across a footpath what that's worth.

My wife noticed before I said a word. "You've stopped doing the wince," she said. I didn't even know I had a wince.

If your neck complains every time you reverse, or you've caught yourself parking somewhere silly just to avoid backing out, that's not a quirk. That's your range asking for help.

The one I've got is Australian owned and ships express from Brisbane. The reversing camera comes included, which is worth $80.00 on its own. More than 2,000 Aussie drivers have one now.

I'm not selling these. I'm just a bloke whose son got sick of watching him wince.

It's a screen. It won't make you a better driver. But it lets you see behind your car without asking your neck for degrees it doesn't have anymore.

The link is below. Check if they've still got stock.

Common Questions

The things I wanted to know before I'd have bought one myself