It turns out that repetitive stress injuries aren’t just for workers in factories. They can also affect truck drivers’ back muscles. When muscles are constantly in the same position, day in and day out, they start to get fatigued.
Operating a big rig also ensures that individuals are in a prone position in their cab many hours throughout the day. This could create chronic back pain problems, an inability to work, and a potential loss of income. In fact, back pain is one of the leading causes of people missing work in America.
Back Pain in the Spotlight
Did you know that nearly 65 million Americans reported a recent episode of back pain? Even worse, at least 8% of Americans report persistent or chronic back pain. Some estimated put that number even higher, positing that around 31 million Americans experience low back pain at any given time. And since one out of every five cases of acute back pain turns into recurring back pain, this is a serious problem for truck drivers.
Given the job duties truck drivers must undertake during their day, it should be no surprise that back pain is an issue truck drivers deal with on a regular basis. Many studies have demonstrated a link between spending long hours behind the wheel and suffering from back pain. And this link seems to be higher than back pain in the average population.
While the cause of consistent back pain is not clearly identified in many patients who suffer from it, many people have several common factors that connect these individuals together. Addressing these factors individually can help improve people’s quality of life and reduce the risk of chronic back pain.
These factors include:
- A sedentary lifestyle
- A high BMI
- Having poor posture
- Lack of exercise or significant movement for long periods of time
The fact is, back pain can be debilitating for people in just about any job, but for a truck driver, it could mean they can’t take a job. Even worse, these factors are all too common among truck drivers. Fortunately, though it can seem like a challenge, trucking companies can take steps to mitigate back pain for their truck drivers.
Top Tips to Combat Back Pain
One of the best ways to achieve a desired result is through education. Education is key in situations where back pain is prevalent. Truck drivers should be made well aware of what the common causes of back pain are and be given techniques and strategies to mitigate it. Do you have a policy in place to ensure your truck drivers know what to do to keep back pain at bay?
Smart trucking companies utilize known tools to assist them in this endeavor. Whether it be through videos on a company web portal, through a smartphone app, or even a policy handbook, ensure you have something in place to educate your truck drivers on how to best avoid, mitigate, or treat back pain.
Encourage your truck drivers to exercise. You need to have a long-term vision and a set policy in place to provide truck drivers with what they need to get some exercise. Light exercises and stretches go a long away, whether before, during or after they get behind the wheel. Stretching and exercising also helps increase blood flow and raises alertness levels, important for when they are behind the wheel.
Suggest that your truck drivers take walks and stay active when they are parked for a break or even just after a meal. It is important to remember that eating large meals can cause a form of sedation. The last thing a truck driver wants is to eat, then get behind the wheel and potentially fall asleep. It may be prudent to invest in fitness devices such as resistance bands or even fitness watches, great motivational prizes for top truck drivers.
It’s All About Adjusting
Truck drivers need to be provided with a blueprint to properly adjust their position in the cab. If the seat is not the right distance from the steering wheel, one of the two should be adjusted. Truck drivers should never have to hunch over or stretch just to reach the wheel and operate the rig. Make sure the wheel is always in comfortable reach.
Drivers should also have a second look at their mirrors. When your mirrors give you a properly adjusted view of the road, you won’t have to lean forward every time you want to make a lane change or check for vehicles in your blind spot.
It may also help to adjust the number of items in your pocket. You will be surprised at the difference it will make on your back when you are not sitting on a thick wallet or operating with heavy objects pulling on your pockets. Empty pockets will ensure you don’t have to deal with back pain.
Finally, consider adjusting the vitamins and supplements you take. There are many different natural remedies to back pain that do not include heavy pain killers. So, whether you use vitamins, minerals, or other supplements, turn towards modern healthcare to help keep back pain at pay or address the pain if it becomes a problem.
Invest in Health for Your People
If there is one thing truck drivers struggle with, it is the ability to get quality food while they are on the job. Too many rest stops and restaurants on the road offer little more than weak salads and lots of fried food. It is up to the fleet to provide a counterbalance to all the unhealthy fare truck drivers are forced to eat.
One way is to offer cab accessories that allow truck drivers to cook health food in their trucks. In combination with exercise and a healthy diet, truck drivers will experience less chronic back pain. You may also want to have a look at the equipment your truck drivers are using. Are their seats comfortable? If you are running older rigs, you may want to offer upgrades to the seating in your trucks.
You may also want to consider offering a discount or upgrading sleeper matrasses in the cab. If you decide to skimp on money and buy a cheap sleeper mattress for you or your drivers, it may not provide the support required to prevent back pain.
Whether it be better cushions or advanced lumbar or back supports to help ensure better posture, truck drivers not only appreciate these upgrades, they help eliminate back pain as well. And they help absorb some of the constant vibrations truck drivers endure as they are driving.
We also want to return to the topic of education. Make sure you teach your truck drivers to change positions on occasion when driving so that their muscles do not become stiff from sitting in the same position. Stiff muscles are often a precursor to back pain.
Warm-ups Are Key to Back Pain Prevention
We talk a lot about culture within a trucking company, and that’s because it is important. A trucking company’s culture drive so much of what it does and how successful it is. And culture is just as important to preventing back pain and promoting a healthy workforce. This is where you come in. It is important that fleet managers develop a culture that encourages truck drivers to do warm-up exercises.
Smart trucking companies gamify warm-up activities, offering incentives to get their truck drivers to participate. Warm-ups are important because they reduce the risk of developing an injury from every-day activities. And because it is so easy for truck drivers to lead a sedentary lifestyle, warm-ups help in many different facets of life.
It is important to watch for musculoskeletal imbalances in either you or your drivers. You can notice whether they are creeping in by watching for tightness in different muscle groups, from your hips to your hamstrings, the back of your thighs, your chest and shoulder muscles, and lower back. If you feel tightness in your glutes, back, or neck muscles, this could be a precursor to back pain.
In the end, trucking companies must be constantly aware of the health of their truckers. And with back pain being a constant battle for so many of them, it is a fleet manager’s responsibility to address back pain before it becomes an issue. Is that something your fleet is doing?