How can i prevent pain around shoulder blades when driving?
Friday, August 27th, 2010 at
7:30 pm
I work for UPS and when driving the truck long distances i get a pain on my right and left shoulder blades (or the muscles in that area rather). I try to change my posture or seat position and just can’t get rid of it. It doesn’t ever happen in personal vehicles though. Any idea of what I can do to prevent this? It’s getting to the point that I’m not enjoying the job like I use to because of this pain.
Filed under: Shoulder Blade Pain
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Review your sitting posture; something’s not correct. Move seat forward so you are not ‘reaching’ for the wheel, grip hands at 10 and 2 o’clock on the wheel (safer). Have your eyes checked (do you lean head forward of your shoulders?
Your head weighs approx. 9 pounds and every inch your ears are ahead of your shoulders multiplies that weight upon your neck (telescoping pain to shoulder blades).
could be because of the angle of the wheel in a van
only thing i could suggest is do some basic shoulder strengthening exercises, like standing with both arms held at shoulder height straight out and do small circles with your hands for couple minutes per day and build it up to increase strength
To help it get better you may need to go get a massage or take some muscle relaxers when you go to sleep for a few days. If you went to physical therapy they would give you exercises to strengthen those muscles. To prevent it, you can do low-intensity exercises for those muscles, stretches before you start driving, and try holding you hands at the bottom of the steering wheel.