Aching muscles

It helps to put your hand on the wheel palm down and curl a couple fingers over the crosspiece. I still catch myself giving the wheel a darth vader choke hold every once in a while.

 

My biggest problem is my right elbow. Will start hurting while I'm driving and I actually have to stretch it out across my seat to get some relief. I'll even wake up in the middle of the night with it hurting...

 

Yeah, you can't go an entire shift leaning on it or will do that. The damage continues piling up until you have real problems. Same goes for your legs. If you're always sitting in the same position, blood clots can form that are a real threat. They can break loose and lodge in your heart, lungs, or your brain. They clog the wrong pipe and you're done.

 

I had to put a short 2x4 next to the foot treadle to elevate my foot because it was so high (compared to the other trucks I drove) it was making my ankle and calf/shin sore.

As far as shoulders, yes they will naturally become sore after several hours/days of long driving times. Like they tell welders, first you must be in a comfortable position before you drop the hood, same thing with driving.

Shoulder exercises may help too-- hold the dumbells in front of your thighs, lift up to your chin and back down. Do some sets of these and your shoulders will build strength/endurance/stamina.

 

I had some pretty bad pain issues with my left shoulder. What I found that helped was putting the seat in a more upright position. What I found was the pain was coming from not having enough support in my mid to upper back. Don't know if this will help for you, but it definitely helped me. Try not to have your shoulders slouched forward at all, as this will strain your muscles back there.