Trucker seat pads/cushions

Hi nj diesel...

Could you tell me how you've been making out with the seat cushion you were talking about in your last post with respect to the prostatitis issue?

I'm thinking of buying one to relieve the same symptoms and was wondering if you feel like it's really providing relief for you with the problem while your sitting for long periods.

Thanks a lot.

 

Here is the WonderGel pad itself. I just modified it this afternoon to take pressure off my tailbone. The two channels I cut for my legs were essential to keep circulation in my legs and eliminate chronic pain in my legs caused by sitting for long periods and getting "hammered" by the road.

Recently I got into a KW T700 and the seat is different than the Freightliner Cascadia, so I have much greater pressure on my tail bone, so I just cut out that area. In effect this is kind of the same as you see on high end bike seats.

I use a pair of scissors and it cuts through the honeycomb easily. The crude cutting on the leg portion was done by the scissors in a swiss army knife, so it didn't turn out as elegantly.

 

Thank you very much for providing the picture...it really helps.

if you don't mind my asking, do you find that it flattens out in any part of the cushion, (the way foam does when your using it), so that you end up just sitting on the support seat underneath the Wondergel - especially in the areas that you've trimmed down the most?

Thanks.

 

WG comes in three different thicknesses. At first I bought the thinnest one, not knowing they had thicker options. That didn't do the job, didn't provide enough "impact" cushioning and now my wife uses it at home. With the middle thickness pad I bought it never bottoms out.

The sales staff at Little America advised that they don't recommend the thickest one because they get a lot of returns from drivers because it is too thick, although I think it might be workable by modifying it the way I have.

The areas I've trimmed down don't need impact cushioning, under my legs and on the tailbone. I say the tailbone doesn't need the cushioning because I've just got a lot of pressure in that area that's constant and needs relief. I just "test sat" it while the truck is parked and I think that modification will help a lot.

Again, I was seriously thinking I might have to give up trucking last year. The pain was so bad it was difficult to walk after a day of driving. I couldn't drive for more than a couple of hours at a time without a stretch. Now I'm comfortable for up to 6-7 hours straight if needed, as long as my bladder can last....

For me this was a career saver.

 

Thank you ...this is the most helpful info I've got so far...it's great!

I am beginning to see now that my prostate is basically giving me the same grief as your tailbone is, and that it is possible with some careful planning and cutting, to contour a hollow in the areas that need to have the least amount of pressure / contact that creates the pain......it may be hard to visualize, but according to my specialist the slight rolling forward that my pelvis does when I'm drawing on a drawing horse has been pounding away at the old prostate all these years...and so basically I need to be comfortably elevated enough to relieve pressure on that area, but get comfortable support everywhere else.....I also very much appreciate your info on raising / lowering seat, as I can see that the angle of the thighs to the floor is crucial when it comes to not cutting off lower leg circulation.

Based on your experience, do you think the pad would provide enough support if it was on a piece of plywood or a hard surface like a wooden stool, and also, I've read in other forums that the cushion people received from the company in the mail was smaller than advertised on various websites selling the cushion?

Did you find that as well?

 

I think rather than put the pad directly on a hard board, I would recommend going to a camping store and purchase a 3/8" or 1/2" closed cell foam sleeping pad and cut that to size. It would cut the hardness for the WG pad on top.

I wouldn't know about differences in the cushion size (or surface area). I've only seen them at certain truck stops.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

I changed trucks. Now driving a 2015 KW T-680. The seat is more comfortable and the air ride suspension on the seat is the best I've ever had. Adding the Wonder-Gel cushion with the cut down front and tail bone areas is really a huge difference from where I was last year.

 

hey guys i just found this thread ...i ordered the 1.25 wondergel original 2 days ago ..found it on amazon for 46 bills ...should i have gotten the extreme?? but i notice talk about cutting down the extreme around the legs... did i make the right choice ?? thanks for the info