Trucking and back pain, tips for easing it.

I’m watching this infomercial, Dr Ho’s De-Stress compression belts. And they show people sitting in an office wearing this belt and smiling. I’ve seen drivers wear the old velcro type stabilizers. Some of you like these things because they give you “support “

Okay, first of all, I am not a doctor (then again, I seriously doubt Dr Ho is too). I used to have bad back pain as a teen. I used to wear the thick leather weight lifters belt. The thing I realized was, while I had that belt on, it did help my back pain. BUT my back muscles actually got WEAKER. The belt gave me the stability I needed, but since the little stabilizer muscles were no longer needed to give me balanced and keep me upright, they began to atrophy. In other words, I had to wear the belt all the time. That’s NOT what I wanted.

As drivers, the number one problem that’s going to give us back pain is Bad Posture. I used to drive with the seat leaned back, doing the ol ‘gangsta lean.’ Your hip flexors will stay constantly contracted and over stretch your lower back (think shin splints for your mid section). If you have the A Typical driver, office jockey lower back pain from sitting all day, here’s the simple solution:

1. Set your seat/chain up straight verticals. Sit up straight like your momma taught you. Bad sitting posture is the number one cause.
2. Stretch your hip flexors during breaks from driving. If you are unsure on how to do this, ask your doctor for help (there are videos on YouTube, but like everything else, it seems that no one can agree on a method)

Again, DONOT drive with one of those belts for lower back support. It will eventually cripple you.

Luck in battle.

 

Here you go truck driver. One Ho. Enjoy

 

Preventative maintenance for the body.

 

If you don’t mind, could you go into more detail of your rehab process and your maintenance program?