my back hurts...

I roll up a light jacket or fleece, and stuff it behind my lower back. My seat has lumbar support that inflates, but it just isn't enough.

 

I put extry foam in my seat back. It had a square cut out in the one-piece back for some stiffer foam at the lumbar area. I put some thicker, stiffer stuff in there and now I have a good 3" of firm lumbar support. It did wonders for my back. However, it is non adjustable but it's a small price to pay for a better back.

I did some research online about lumbar support and the max doctors seemed to use was 3" and that was for crippled folks with back trouble so I imagine anything more would be not good.

My mantra is proved once again - "if you want something done right, do it yourself."

 

Check and see if your seat has a "railroad setting". I'm sorry, IDK if it has another name. This setting allows the seat to slide forward and back about 1" while in motion and takes out a ton of the minor impacts from road bumps. Once I engaged that setting my back pain went down a lot.

 

My lower back pain comes and goes but I use a memory foam pillow the same kind you would normally put under you head to sleep. Most are contoured almost like a wedge and I put that on my seat and it sits nice on my lower back. My Chiro' wanted $95 for the same think I got at Wally World for $22.

 

Do some stretches before, during and after a shift. I scoffed at the idea at first but it's made a difference for me. Even use rubberbands to help with shoulders.

 

Sounds chronic go see a chiropractor u wont loose anything.

 

I also had some back problems starting a couple of months ago. The solution for me was to adjust the height of the seat DOWN so that my heels are pretty firmly on the ground AND to spend a fair amount of time (about half) driving leaning forward over the steering wheel. The forward leaning position helps stretch the lower back and takes pressure off it. I also concentrate on NOT slouching in the seat (although I catch myself slouching at times). Also try occasionally lifting your legs as if you are running to tighten your abdominal muscles and other exercises while driving, this has the added benefit of helping to keep you alert.

 

That's one of my biggest problems. I catch myself doing it constantly. I'm hoping one day I just sit up straight naturally and don't have to tell myself not to slouch, but I'm definitely not there now.