Small changes on the road can yield big health improvements

‘Truck drivers have a life expectancy 16 years less than the average population’

This fireside chat recap is from FreightWaves’ Enterprise Fleet Summit on Wednesday.

FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: Unleashing the power of fitness in the trucking industry.

DETAILS: Dr. Mark Manera launched Supply Chain Fitness after years of working with professional drivers in a physical therapy clinic. He explains the ways drivers can improve their over-the-road lifestyles.

KEY QUOTES FROM MANERA:

On the need to address health concerns in the supply chain: “Truck drivers have a life expectancy 16 years less than the average population. … No one was really coming in and building specifically around this unique lifestyle that anyone in the transportation supply chain world has.”

On the big impacts of small changes: “There’s so many small changes that do not change the day-to-day life that you live out on the road that you can make that can make huge outcome changes to your health if you do it on a consistent basis.”

It’s not just physical: “The bigger aspect is the mental drain. You’re on for 11 hours a day of crazy cars cutting you off, trying to figure out directions … dealing with the shippers and receivers.”

More FreightWaves articles by Todd Maiden

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Todd Maiden

Based in Richmond, VA, Todd is the finance editor at FreightWaves. Prior to joining FreightWaves, he covered the TLs, LTLs, railroads and brokers for RBC Capital Markets and BB&T Capital Markets. Todd began his career in banking and finance before moving over to transportation equity research where he provided stock recommendations for publicly traded transportation companies.