Physical Requirements For OTR Trucking Question

Looking to get started in trucking. My plan got derailed for a few months after a motorcye accident. Mostly healed up at this point, but still have a broken collarbone that's 6 weeks into healing. I feel pretty good, have full range of motion, but the doctor tells me i shouldn't do any heavy lifting with right arm yet. I'm wondering if there are any tasks for an OTR driver either in company training or on the road that will be hard for me to do at the moment? My preference is to go with Werner. Ill be done with school eay November, so that's another month or so for the shoulder to get right again. Thanks for the help. Jim

WOOOOOOOOO! Before you get to doing anything stop!

First, is in a one point break or multiple? Second, if you want it to heal properly I suggest you listen to your doctor. Third, I broke mine when I was a kid and that was 100 years ago and let me tell you, it still ain't right. I am sure you feel great and full range of motion sounds good, but the weight at this point would be critical to a possible re-separation.

Have you had a new x-ray? If not I would before I get out there trying to do anything.

This is not easy stuff. Check out some of the post in the forums. You will see that their is a lot of taxing situations that could hinder your performance.

You said it has been a few months. A few more weeks might be better for you. That's just a month. I say that because there is not going to be any company or trainer that is going to have any sympathy for you. If anything happens during that time and you get sidelined again, it's not going to look good for you.

Think of this. What if you have to help unload freight? You never know when you are out there. Opening and closing your trailer doors could make it hard on you. Just the long haul over the road can hurt too. Either sitting or driving.

Check it out at the end of November and then see.

Good luck

During the physical I had to lift a 50lb box from the floor. I think it was 50, I may be wrong. Either way you will have some kind of lifting during the physical.

Every company is different but this should give you an idea of what to expect:

Yeah, you're probably going to want to make sure you can do some modest lifting with it. At least 50 pounds. Not because you may not pass a physical, but because you might re-injure it out there and you definitely don't want that to happen on the road.

Thanks for the responses. If I wait to start school for a month or 2, I'll have my CDL in hand and be looking for an OTR job in the dead of winter. Are companies hiring aggressively during those winter months? Is winter a bad time in general to start an OTR career? Thanks again.

Well, winter certainly isn't the best time to get your career going but companies are still hiring. It's just a lot more difficult learning to drive in the snow. But millions of people have done it so it's totally doable.

Well, winter certainly isn't the best time to get your career going but companies are still hiring. It's just a lot more difficult learning to drive in the snow. But millions of people have done it so it's totally doable.

Brett's right about that. I started my training in December and I went solo in January. Learning to drive was hard enough but then you had to deal with the snow. It made it a lot more difficult but it certainly shouldn't stop you. I don't have any regrets about starting trucking in the middle of winter.