To the Editor: I have had increasing pain in my right hip over recent years, which now appears to have been caused by pressure from the lateral wing of the bucket seat in my car. The use of the right leg for both the brake and accelerator (my car is an automatic) explains why the pain is unilateral. The discomfort, which became intolerable recently when I was on holidays and driving an automatic hire-car with stiff bucket seats, was relieved by sitting on a roll of towelling!

The diagnosis was finally confirmed by ultrasound. The report revealed that “a small amount of fluid was present in the greater trochanteric bursa. Pain was accurately localised to the bursa over the greater trochanter . . .”.

My wife has suggested an appropriate name for the condition — “bucket seat bursitis”. She has already discovered that only three modern car manufacturers offer a flat seat as an alternative to bucket seats. I have now had the offending bucket seat wings removed at modest cost without disfiguring the seats. I wonder how commonly this condition occurs and why the old bench-type seats were replaced by bucket seats?