How To Prevent Back Pain For Truck Drivers
Hello to all those truck drivers out there. Coach Dawn, PTA is back with more tips for back care.
Whether you’ve injure yourself lifting a heavy load, you suffer from chronic low back pain (from a degenerative condition like arthritis), or you just want to take care of your spine. Coach Dawn shares a few tips for you while you’re on the road. But before we start, let’s be clear about when you should seek medical attention. If you’re injured and feel numbness, weakness, or tingling in the legs. Call the doctor.
For routine or mild back pain, here are a few helpful tips:
- Poor sitting, standing and bending positions can over stretch ligaments and the surrounding soft tissue, causing pain. Today, lets focus on your posture while driving.
- Watch your posture. Slumping makes it hard for your spine to support your weight. For every inch you flex forward you increases the wt. on your spine by 10 lbs. Poor posture also stretches the ligaments of the back and tightens the chest muscles. This causes pain and a kyphosis posture that can become fixed over time.
- Tips for maintaining good posture while driving – make sure you buttock is all the way back in the seat, shoulders back and head up and back.
- Use a towel roll to maintain the curve in your lumbar spine. We need to maintain this natural curve to take pressure off the spine.
- Stop as often as possible and perform extension exits 5 to 6 times.
- Walk a few minutes to decrease pressure on the disc and release the stress on the soft tissue. This is also important to stimulate the circulation to the legs and prevent blood clots.