Truckers and Travelers

Hello, Fellow Truckers!  As you well know, having a successful trucking business or starting a successful trucking business doesn’t just have to do with a CDL, owning a truck, or making a living.  It also has to include you taking care of your health.  There are lots of stressors in the trucking industry, but your pocketbook depends on you being on top of your game both mentally and physically.  Those sleepless nights and bad eating habits will catch up with you.  So… let’s talk about one of the major complaints of truck drivers, pain the butt, literally!  The doctors call it sciatica (sy-at-i-ca) nerve pain.  What causes this is your butt muscle, or piriformis (peer-a-form-is) muscle is constricting your sciatica nerve that runs from the bottom of your spine to your ankles.  This is caused by sitting on your back side and driving too long without getting out to move around.  The blood supply to that part of your anatomy gets cut off and causes swelling to the piriformis muscle, which in turn causes nerve pain.

Would you like some relief?  I got this from Debra Hull, a licensed massage therapist who practices at the Pink Papaya (479-521-7465) in the Fayetteville, AR area.  She said to take a tennis ball and put it in a tube sock.  Yes you can use one of your old gray ones that you can’t get white in the wash any longer!  Put the ball and sock underneath one cheek about where you would carry your wallet and drive with it under your butt for two minutes.  Then switch and put it under the other cheek for the same amount of time.  Do this every two hours and it will release the tension from the piriformis muscle on your sciatica nerve.  You can also put your tennis ball/sock combo behind one shoulder blade for two minutes and switch to the other side to relieve that pain in the shoulders from holding the steering wheel. Remeber to you keep your wallet out of your back pocket when you drive.

In my June 15, 2009 post, I discussed drinking water with electrolytes in it, such as Smart Water or Voss.  You can buy these at some truck stops, quick marts and Wal-Marts.  Remember to replace some of your tea, coffee, and soda drinking with this water to replenish your potassium & magnesium.  You can also supplement with magnesium that you can buy at Wal-Mart.  The importance of this is that this water keeps your muscles from spasming as much.  It’s hot this time of year and when your loading or unloading or doing anything with a big rig, you sweat.  This causes you to lose electrolytes.  So, Fellow Truckers, your trucking business success begins with you taking time for good health and healthy dietary habits.  Be safe out there!

Three Simple Things To Improve Your Physical Health Without Much Effort!

Hello, Fellow Truckers!  Starting a trucking business takes time and preparation.  Did you happen to ready my blog on the 7 things to do before starting a trucking business?  Well, once you’ve done the preparation work to start a trucking business, you need to think about yourself.    The trucking industry has been lax in providing creative ways for drivers to improve or keep their physical health.  If you’ve been driving for a while, you know how easy it is to just drive, deliver your load, stop to eat, shower and sleep and hit it hard again the next day.  When do you take the time to make sure that the most important machine besides your rig is getting what it needs?  I know if you own your own truck you know the importance of regular maintenance.  Your body is no different.

If you will, let me suggest three simple and very easy things you can do to improve your physical health.  Without that, there is NO trucking business.  Am I right?    I remember when I was driving my rig, I had to be creative to stay in shape.   I went to the same truck stops you all go to.  I simply made a decision to take care of myself so I could do my job better.  So here’s three things to consider adding to your daily routine without taking a lot of time out of your already busy schedule.  this simple technique I call the “Pre-Trip Walk”.  It can be done during your pre-trip inspection.  As you walk around your rig checking your load, the sound of your tires with your tire buddy, and your overall rig, you’ve actually walked around your entire truck and trailer one time, at least.  Would it be such a stretch to do that four more times? Then try to improve this by increasing the times you walk around your rig.  Start out with five times, then do six times and so on.  The trick here is to only take an additional 10 minutes from your schedule.  If you do this first thing in the morning, then when you stop to eat lunch, then again when you stop at supper, you’ve actually exercised 30 minutes without much effort.  I bet you’ve sat in your truck jawing on the CB more than that a time or two.

The second easy exercise can be done when you’re sitting at a stoplight or when you’re docked and waiting to be unloaded, or just after you’ve parked for the evening.  I call it the “Stoplight Exercise”.  Since we all breath anyway, why not add a little breathing technique that will help stimulate your lymph gland system to get rid of toxins in your body?  All you have to do the next time you are stopped for a minute or more, is to breathe deeply from your diaphragm (just below your rib cage).  As you breathe in, count 1, 2, 3.  Then slowly breathe out 1, 2, 3.  Do that three to five times.  That’s all you do.  The benefit?  You increase the oxygen to your blood stream.  You will actually feel your body relax slightly.  And, as I mentioned above, releasing toxins out through your lymph system.

The third and last suggestion I call “The Water Bottle“.   Did you know that the number one complaint of drivers is cramping, especially leg cramping?  The major cause of this is what we drink not how much.  Most of us spend our days drinking coffee or sodas out of those HUGE mugs you can buy at any fuel stop.  They hold a quart or more of beverage.  The problem with lots of coffee and sodas is that they flush out the magnesium from your body.  Sodas also flush out calcium.  Magnesium is essential in balancing potassium, which in tun helps regulate blood pressure.  Instead of the sodas and coffee, replace some of what you consume with bottled water that contain magnesium and potassium.  You can buy these at most fuel stops and any Wal-Mart.  The ones I recommend are Smart Water and Voss.  Ideally you should drink half your body weight in fluid ounces.  If you weigh 180 lbs., that’s 90 ounces of water per day.  Hey, let’s be realistic though!  Just try to start drinking one or two of these small bottles a day and then increase it from there.  If you’re not a water drinker, put some flavor in your water with Crystal Light or some other additive that will help get it down.  Here’s what I do to get my water, I add lemon or lime juice and some Splenda.  It tastes like lemonade or limeade without the calories.

So, fellow Drivers!  Remember that YOU are the most important aspect of your trucking business. Be safe out there!