I've heard of "Truckers Knee" but I have pain in just one of my quads - Is this normal in trucking?

Thanks for the replies so far everybody.

On the wallet in the back pocket thing, I have never done that. My left quad is so sensitive now that I don't even put anything in my left pocket now. I can't even put a pen in my left pocket because it'll irritate the left quad, that's how sensitive it is to touch now.

As far as physical activity, I'm doing P&D now and home every night so I'm not living out of the truck anymore (meaning I get much more movement in, even just around the house doing basic stuff). So the longest I sit down for at work is 1.5 hours and then I get out of the truck when I get to the shippers/receivers. So I'm basically in and out of the truck quite frequently all day now. So while it's not strenuous activity, I'm also not driving for 4 hours at a time without stopping for a small break either. And none of the P&D stuff I've encountered so far would cause injuries, everything moving freight in and out of the truck is done with machines (like pallet jacks) so I don't really hand carry anything.

As for the blood clot thing, I had two doctors (not specialists, just general practitioners) look at my left quad last year and both said it wasn't a blood clot. They said blood clots usually occur on the calves and like I said, the only pain I have is on my left quad. The bottom part of my leg underneath my left quad feels 100% ok. It's just that quad on the upper part of my leg right above my knee that hurts.

The thing is, I had a few months off from work earlier this year. So I was able to rest and relax or whatever. The pain in the quad got a little bit better where it wasn't always "pins and needles" type of feeling, but it still stayed pretty numb basically all of the time. So if it was an injury I would've thought the few months off would've helped it, but it seems it didn't.

I know some pains are very common among truck drivers, like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, so I created this thread to see if quad pain in truckers was a common occurrence for our occupation like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is. Based on the responses it doesn't seem so and that this pain might be unique to me. I'll get it checked out some more here pretty soon, would be nice to not have to deal with this pain everyday.

 

Now that you're on medication and have taken control of the problem, is your left leg feel normal now, do you ever get the "pins and needles" feeling anymore or does it hurt anymore? Or does your left leg pretty much always feel like normal now with no pain?

 

I had a general practitioner doctor look at my quads last year for my pain in that left quad. I mentioned sciatica and he did a few "tests" where he had me stretch out my legs and tapped on my legs in various positions and he didn't seem to think it was sciatica. I think he might've looked at my back and did some similar tests there too but I don't really remember.

He didn't take X-rays though. I wonder if the doctor might've been mistaken and perhaps it could be sciatica?

What did you do @SteveScott to help treat your sciatica? Are you doing certain exercises, taking medication? How long did the doctor say before it'll get back to being better?

Also I'm not sure if my pain is worse at night but I can feel it when I lay down for bed, that's for sure. It's not bad enough to keep me awake yet but it's certainly not comfortable most nights