Trucking takes a toll on the body

I'm not overly familliar the US HOS but they sound a lot more restrictive than what we're allowed up here. Best part is no stupid 30 minute break for us.

 

Its a hell of alot easier to get in the cab than get out of it.

 

Sitting down anywhere for 8 hrs plus/ day is never good therefore it's no different then driving a truck. The best thing to do is take a break and simply walk at least 200 to 300 ft during that break. Exercise is also very important something most Adults forget that when they were kids they participated in physical activities during school at recess and at lunch time for a minimum of 45 mins & highschol even walking from class to class. The human body needs to be moving and just because we get older doesn't mean we shouldn't physically do anything. Laziness equals physical future problems.

 

My chiropractor likes to say "motion is the lotion".

 

Trucking isn’t what’s been hard on my body, getting run over loading and unloading, sitting on the floor and picking up an assembled 15 1/2 inch clutch to slide it up on 2 dial bolts in the flywheel as well as countless other task I was too hard headed to get a lifting device or proper tool for the job, wagon wrecks at chuck wagon races as well as multiple other things is why I’m sore and limping.

All night flights burnin cow truck lights is still the easy part.


For the record I rather go bow legged and blind than make the same circle all day dump truckin. Dad had 22 of em I’m still sick of em years later. They are a necessary evil and I’m glad there is folks out there designed to do it.

 

the thing is, many of us started back in the day of solid rubber tires, and no suspension systems.

and we had to lump our own freight.

so yeah, the younger guys will think they can handle it, or it'll never happen to them, but it will, soon enough.

 

I just started in the LTL world a couple of months ago. Before that I was OTR.

From what I've seen, the linehaul drivers seem to have the same weight issues that the OTR segment of trucking seems to have (and I don't say that to be mean about anyone but after a certain point the excess weight becomes a health issue, that's a medical fact). Meaning not all of the linehaul drivers are severely overweight just like not all OTR trucker are, but there's definitely a good percentage of them that are just like the OTR sector of trucking.

That said though, on the P&D side, there's a lot of older drivers that walk around with a noticeable limp. They're not all overweight (in fact the majority of them aren't) but you can tell either their legs or their knees are absolutely done for, for whatever reason.

I think the older P&D drivers who walk around with bad limps scare me a lot more than the overweight linehaul drivers. Because the weight thing I can control and I also have always naturally leaned towards the skinny spectrum instead of the overweight spectrum. But the limping from the older drivers is very worrisome and when I say older I'm talking in their late 50's and early 60's, so it's not like these guys are extremely old by modern standards where they will probably live at least another 20 years.

What I've been doing as a younger driver is I always get down from the truck very slowly and always with 3 points of contact, as to minimize damage to my knees. I never jump down from the trailer. I am conscious of when my legs start to get pain in them from POS clutches or because the trucks don't have cruise control (yes we have some of those lol) so I have to mash the accelerator the whole time. I'll try to switch seat levels while driving or move my legs around for a few seconds to counter the leg pain that I'll sometimes get.

I do have pain in on my left quad (and only my left quad) that is worrisome but other than that my body still feels alright. But I'm young and have only been in trucking for 2.5 years. I'm definitely going to try to look after my health though.

 

Trucking doesn’t take a toll on the body. Quite the opposite. I went from warehouse pick to trucking and my body has never felt better. I have plenty of energy and I’m very stress free on my time off. You guys just look like those lumps they hire to be HR managers. Neither job risks your life but the kinds of people they give these jobs to have zero shame. Just look at yourself in the pilot shower mirror and tell yourself “I’m fat. Really fat” every morning until you figure out how to stop shoveling food every day. Hell put a picture of yourself naked on your dash or something until you get the point.

 

The point of the comment i made was that myself and many others would rather take that pay cut if it meant working normal 8 hour days being home by 330 and home every weekend, enjoying home life and being around people that care for you. Versus living that life out on the road. Just fyi, flipping burgers was just an example. I for one work those 8 hour days and truck parked back in front of my barn by 330 and work m-f. 3500 a week. Goes back to what i said. OTR Guys must have a passion for it. They arent chained to it.