wanabie just had back surgery

[ex_tileguy]

Hello forum....This maybe a dumb question, but Ive read many many post and replies on here and you guys and gals have a great forum. Im looking at changing careers after 25 yrs. of setting tile. Im recovering from back surgery and trying to nail down my next career. Ive had many guys tell me trucking would be the worst thing on my back and body. Others tell me with all the air ride upgrades in truck nowadays, its not that bad. Is there a certain type of driving better or worse then the other? OTR, Short Haul, Dump Truck, ECT. Or should I just bag the idea of trucking? Will ya"ll be so kind as to shed some light on this qustion? Thanks everyone, Ive learned alot reading and re-reading....Ya"ll be safe out there...
Tom

[magicman]

I think a lot is going to depend on what is wrong with your back, such as is it going to be a permanent problem or a temporary one that was fixed the problem, permanently.

My wife has degenerative disk disease and she won't be driving ever again It's hard for her to drive the Explorer 100 miles. When she does go out with me on the truck, she spends a lot of time on the bunk or in the seat with her feet propped up by a pillow on the dash.

With the ride in today's trucks, I wouldn't think it would be a huge problem for many people. A lot is going to depend on what you drive and having a good mattress in the truck. Remember, if you're an over the road driver, you spend more time sleeping on the mattress in the truck than you do on your bed at home.

I used to have a driver that had a bad back. It would just give him fits. I did what I could, as his boss, by buying a good seat with plenty of lumbar support and taking him down to a custom mattress place in Omaha to pick out a mattress that would fit his needs. That helped him so much that I started doing that for anyone that worked for me. A good night's sleep can make the job a lot easier. There's nothing like crawling out of bed, with a backache, tired and have to drive 600-700 miles. If you get good rest, your level of alertness is greatly increased and you won't make stupid mistakes, due to sleep deprivation.

One of the best things you could do is get with some driver that you know and get his company's permission to go on a short run with him. That'll give you an idea of how the trucks ride and if your bacl could handle it.

Good luck

Dave

[Uturn2001]

Dump trucks tend to be a really rough ride, even in a truck that is well equipped simply because of what you may end up driving on (unpaved roads, dirt lots, etc).

With any type of tractor trailer operation you, at the very least, are going to have to be able to sit for several hours at a time (min 3-4 hours with only a 15-30 min break in between multi hour stretches), be able to raise and lower the landing gear, pull 5th wheel and trailer tandem releases, and be able to climb onto or into the trailer.

If you feel you can do that, then the next question is how much freight handling do you think you can handle. Can you handle picking up boxes up to 50-75 lbs maybe 200 or more times in a few hours. Can you handle moving lighter weights but more often, can you push or pull a pallet of freight that might weigh 2000 lbs up a slight incline. The reason I bring this up is to help you determine what the maximum of freight you can handle so you can look for companies that do not require drivers to unload more than you are able to do.

What Magicman did for his employees is pretty rare in this industry. Companies generally spec their trucks the same for everyone with basic air ride seats and basic foam or innerspring mattresses. While I have never ran across a company that will not allow a driver to put a different mattress in a truck at their own expense, I have seen few that will buy an upgraded one on the company dime, and I have yet seen a company that will allow a driver to put in a different seat even at the driver's expense.

Giving where you live, you might try going over to Gordon Trucking and talking to them. Tell them that you are thinking about a career in trucking but want a better idea about what it is all about. They might let you go out on some "local" or short runs with one of their drivers or at the very least allow you to see and get into a truck to give you an idea of what it is like in there.

[BigDawg]

I will chime in here for a quick min,just read a artricle in www.thetrucker.com bout a ortho.Dr.they interviewed good read might want to check it out good luck.

[ex_tileguy]

Thanks for the input, I expect to fully recover as the surgey was mainly pinched nerves due to a generic prob. I also had to have 2 bulging disks partly removed due to the length of time setting tile. Its been 3 weeks since surgey and Im moving real well...... Thanks again, I will contact GTI and see if I can ride with a driver just to check it out.....
Thanks again, Tom