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!