When completing a long haul journey that involves long hours of driving, it isn’t always easy to keep a good, healthy posture that helps with breathing and with spinal health. Fortunately, changing a few old posture habits during a drive doesn’t have to be difficult, and there are numerous ways to correct postures that may cause damage to our back muscles or spines in the future. Here are just a few ways to ensure that your posture isn’t holding you back from great health and comfort.
Consistently Leaning to the Side
The way we ordinarily sit might seem comfortable and even second-nature to us, but the truth is that the sitting position that we find comfortable in the short-term may be putting unnecessary stress on our spine in the long-term, a habit that can lead to future back problems. Since driving requires long periods of sitting, truck drivers can create back injuries even by consistently leaning to one side, putting stress on the back that can cause serious pain. Sitting up straight, rather than curving the spine to our sides, can do wonders for long-term health.
Slouching/Not Keeping the Back Curved
When we become accustomed to slouching our shoulders forward, we often don’t realize how much pain we might be inducing in our back muscles or spine. Sitting up straight, keeping the spine in its natural curve, and holding our heads up can not only help us feel better and breathing easier throughout the day, it can also ensure that we won’t have back problems later in life.
Seats Make a Difference
If driver seats are worn out our broken, especially when old springs are poking into our backs and causing muscle knots, it can be very difficult if not impossible to assume a good posture. Fortunately, many excellent companies provide ergonomic Isuzu truck seats designed to naturally place the back into a healthy position, meaning that you won’t even have to think about your posture to achieve a healthy sitting position throughout a long and tiring shift.
Not Relaxing Shoulders
When we’re tense and feeling stressed, we may not realize how much pressure we’re putting on our backs. Tension especially affects the back when our shoulder muscles are tightened, so when we’re stressed out, we’re probably negatively impacting our spines in ways we don’t realize. By practicing deep-breathing exercises or simply challenging stressful thoughts, we can help ourselves to keep our backs healthy. Remember, relaxation is important.
For these reasons, finding ways to adjust our postures to ensure good health doesn’t have to be difficult, even if it feels that way at times. It may take a bit of correction and the creation of new sitting habits, but with the right attitude and practice, we can rest assured that we won’t be dealing with unnecessary back pain in the future. And that is healthy living done right.
