diff --git a/src/geometry_mod.F90 b/src/geometry_mod.F90
index cf3adae4259d686581839b48b0c03b3cabde3af2..13d0ab5e8a1333e06aba155aaba85e0baf8f2159 100644
--- a/src/geometry_mod.F90
+++ b/src/geometry_mod.F90
@@ -88,6 +88,10 @@ CONTAINS
     READ(lu_in,geometry)
     PB_PHASE = .false.
     IF(shear .GT. 0._xp) SHEARED = .TRUE.
+    SELECT CASE(geom)
+    CASE('z-pinch','Z-pinch','zpinch','Zpinch')
+      parallel_bc = 'shearless'
+    END SELECT
     SELECT CASE(parallel_bc)
       CASE ('dirichlet')
       CASE ('periodic')